Runaway Heart (A Game of Hearts #2)

by Sonya Loveday

  An idea clicked into place.

  “Do ye know anything about hurricanes?” I asked Hannah, trying to recall what little I knew. There was something about an eye. However, not having to deal with such storms back home, it wasn’t forthcoming in my memories.

  “A little. Why?” she answered, pulling a comforter and sheets out of the linen closet.

  I took the sheets she handed me. “Remind me again, there’s an eye to the storm, right?”

  “Yeah, it supposedly gets really calm and then all hell breaks loose again,” she replied with a worried look on her face.

  “Nothing we can do about that but get through it, yeah? But I think I know how we can make that bloody noise go away.” I tipped my head in the direction of the aggravating sound.

  WHEN THE WINDS DIED DOWN, we grabbed all the towels, and whatever else we could get our hands on, and opened the door to Maggie and Phillip’s room. There wasn’t any helping the damage that already happened inside, but Hannah did rescue Maggie’s overturned jewelry box and a handful of pictures.

  The door was an absolute bitch to close with all the towels and washcloths in place, but we managed.

  Once we had that taken care of, Hannah spread out a clean comforter on the mattress in the hallway, sprawling on top of it with a groan. “Come to Rum Cay, Hannah. It’ll be fun, Hannah,” she mumbled. “I never want to see this island ever again,” she said, propping herself up to look at me with those incredible blue eyes.

  “Up until today, it’s been good.” I tried to put a positive spin on it for her.

  Her impossibly thick lashes fluttered. “Yeah, I know. Don’t listen to me, I’m just tired.” She sighed, burying her face in the crook of her elbow.

  I knew how she felt. Even though it had been a little over six hours since we’d learned of the storm, it felt like we’d been at it forever. Seeing how Hannah handled the first half of it worried me about how she’d do when the eye moved over us… and all hell broke loose again.

  “It’ll be worse, you know,” she said, sitting up and putting her arms around her knees.

  “Will it now?” Damn. I didn’t need to know that.

  “Yeah, the backside of the storm is stronger, or at least I think I remember hearing that,” she said as her head bent down to rest on her knees.

  I leaned heavily against the wall. “We’ll get through it. Together.”

  She turned her head to peer up at me. “Storms like this don’t bother you?”

  I shrugged. I’d been through heavy storms, but nothing like what we were huddled up against. At least it wasn’t blowing drifts of snow over the rooftop. I’d gone through one particular storm as a child where the fire kept getting doused out by the wind, and my parents huddled us close under a tent of blankets and several layers of clothing just to get through it.

  Being so young, I didn’t fully understand the severity of the situation we’d been in at the time, because my father had done his job at keeping us safe and warm and, in doing so, kept my mother calm. What I remembered most was how we rode the storm out under a makeshift tent that seemed sort of magical in my childhood memories.

  Maybe that would work again.

  Pushing myself from the wall, I strode out to the kitchen and grabbed two chairs, and then went back and grabbed two more.

  “What are you doing?” Hannah asked as she watched me set the chairs against the mattress before disappearing into the bathroom.

  “Ye’ll see,” I called back at her.

  A few sheets and a couple of curse words later, I stood back, smiling at my accomplishment.

  “I can’t believe you built a tent.” She lay on her back, looking up at the floral-printed sheet stretched over our heads.

  “Correction, I built us the best damn tent on the island.” The smugness of my idea made me feel somewhat cocky.

  She turned on her side to face me, her hair spilling over her shoulder. “Ed, I really appreciate everything you’ve done to help me get through this.”

  I crossed my arms behind my head, secretly pleased she was happy with what I’d done. “Think nothing of it, love,”

  “No. I mean it. Not many men, well, maybe none of them, would have put up with my fear. I’m sure most would have already bolted. Hurricane or not.” Her eyes didn’t meet mine as her finger traced an invisible pattern on the quilt.

  A heart.

  I rolled over onto my side and reached out to touch her chin when her eyes met mine. “Who hurt ye, love?”

  Her mouth quirked on one side as she answered, “No one hurt me.”

  I called her out on her lie. “Your reaction earlier tells me that’s not true. I’ve seen what violence does to a person. Ye thought I was going to knock ye ‘round.”

  Her eyes closed tight. Just that simple admittance burned holes through my stomach.

  “I can promise ye on the moon and stars above, Hannah, I’d never lay a hand ye didn’t want on ye.”

  Her lashes fluttered open as her eyes sought mine. “I know. I don’t know how I know… but something in my gut tells me that. And that in itself scares me.”

  I took her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the soft curve of her warm knuckles. “Why?”

  The innocence in her eyes struck me hard… right through the heart as she said, “Because you’re not like any guy I’ve ever met before. At least… not from what I’ve seen so far. You’re funny and kind. You’re strong, but you’re not arrogant. Well, at least not in the pig-headed kind of way that always has me running for the hills. You’re like—”

  She paused, her hands flying up in the air as if she was trying to grasp exactly what she was trying to say, and then a sort of calm smile overcame her face as the answer seemed to settle in.

  “You’re like that unattainable list I made when I was younger of everything I’ve ever wanted in a guy, but knew I’d never find.” She stilled, blowing out a long breath before continuing, “You’re what I know I can’t have. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.”

  My heart swelled inside of my chest with her admission, and then deflated more than I was prepared for. I wasn’t sure I knew just how much I really liked her until that moment. Until I knew, looking in her eyes and hearing from her lips, we wouldn’t be a thing.

  And maybe that was for the best, because I wasn’t so sure I could handle another heartbreak. Maybe, what we could find on the island, during the storm, didn’t have to be something that grew into something more, but could be something that helped heal those old wounds.

  That could take two lonely, broken hearts, and separately mend them back together.

  The shadows of the past swept out with her exhale, removing every reason why I shouldn’t take her in my arms and never let her go.

  Damn the consequences. Damn the past. Damn the future.

  I ached to pull her against me. To bury myself inside her and never come up for air. I wanted to claim her and all of her fears, making them slink away with my presence alone. I wanted it so badly my entire body shook with the need of it.

  I had to have her.

  “Did ye know inside this tent, all time stops?” I asked, feeling my way through the emotion she’d set loose inside of me.

  She chuckled. “Oh yeah? How does that work?”

  I let go of her hand and moved closer to her, propping myself up on my elbow to look down at her as she rolled over onto her back.

  “Here, but only here, in this tent, is our own world. There are no rules. It’s just us, and that’s it,” I said, tracing my fingers down her arm as she shivered under my touch. Another round of goose bumps broke over her skin as she sucked in a sharp breath.

  And just like that, something caught fire in her eyes. “I was never one for rules anyway,” Hannah said, reaching up and grabbing my neck as she pulled me down against her for a searing kiss.

  I met her with just as much force, falling harder than a kiss ever made me fall before. My hand greedily worked its way up the curves of her side until it was under
her shirt. Her skin was like silken fire burning against my hand as she moved against me, urging me on.

  Patience was lost between us the instant we connected. There was just lust, desire, and all the images her swollen lips crushing against mine put into my head.

  With a soft moan, her fingers twisted into my hair as she moved her hips until they were flush with mine, practically begging for me to give her what we both wanted.

  And, God, did I want to give it to her. Hard.

  Pushing her bra out of the way, I flicked my fingers against the tip of her peaked nipple, smiling against her lips when she gave me the moan I was looking for. She arched into my hand as she grabbed the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up with a haste I could relate to.

  When she got it over my head, I shucked it from my arms and made quick work of hers, wanting to be closer. To feel the heat of her skin against mine.

  The lace of her bra brushed against my chest as I rubbed my body against hers, kissing a path from the delicate slope of her neck down to the sensitive skin of her collarbone, taking my time to run my lips over her skin.

  She lifted her breasts up, showing me exactly where she wanted my mouth. “Please.”

  “Please, what?” I teased the crease of her lips with my tongue, wanting to hear it. To hear her say my name.

  Her eyes filled with more hunger than I could tolerate. “Please, Ed.”

  Fuck, she was so hot. I lowered her bra strap and slid my hand around her back, popping open the clasp. The second my lips made their way across the slope of her breast, her hands went to my joggers, massaging me through the material.

  I groaned against her skin.

  “Ed…” She sighed my name as I took her nipple into my mouth and swiped it with my tongue before gently biting down.

  She went crazy in my arms, her fingers threading through my hair as if to hold me in place while I licked and nibbled first one breast, and then the other.

  Her cries of pleasure had me teetering on the edge of release before I could even free myself and slide into her warmth. It was all I could do to keep from completely ravishing her. I wanted… no, I needed to have all of her. Needed her like the tide needs the moon in order to keep going. But I also didn’t want to push her into something she didn’t want to do because of my own selfish wants.

  I pulled back to look into her eyes. “Ye’ll have to tell me to stop, love, because I can’t do it on my own.”

  Her hooded gaze drove something deep into my soul. So deep I had a hard time breathing.

  Instead of answering, she trailed her fingers down my chest until they reached the waistband of my joggers, and then, with a coy smile, her hands disappeared under the material.

  I let my forehead rest on hers as I fought everything in me not to take what I wanted as her hand wrapped around my dick. “I’m trying to do the right thing here, love. I don’t want either of us walking away with regrets.”

  Her eager voice slid over my skin, down into my soul. “I don’t want to do the right thing, Ed. I want you inside me. Filling me. I need that. I need you. Please don’t hold back.” She opened her legs and pulled me down against her as she grinded her ache against my own.

  Lust and responsibility warred inside me. “I need my wallet,” I said, rocking my hips against hers, unwilling to move away from the friction we made with our bodies so close to joining.

  “For what?” She gasped as I ground against her, our chest shuddering as the heat rose between us.

  “Condom,” I answered, sucking at her bottom lip.

  She panted against my mouth as we pulled back from a kiss so heated my lips felt swollen. “Don’t need it. Depo shot. Tested every year. I’m safe. Are you?”

  “Love, I haven’t had sex with anyone in two years. And even then, I wore protection,” I answered, my mind spinning with need.

  Hannah pushed her hand against my chest as her mouth latched on to mine again, moving me until we both sat upright.

  When her lips broke from mine, she trailed her hands down my sides, stopping only to grab the waistband of my pants and boxer briefs.

  “These need to be off,” she brazenly said, slowly pulling them down my hips until I took over and pulled them low enough for her to push them the rest of the way off with her toes.

  Her chest rose and fell in rhythm with mine as she wrapped her hand around me and stroked up and down. Her eyes locked on mine. My dick strained for release in her hot palm. She had me so worked up that I almost gave over to the pleasure from her body, her hands, and her movements. I had to will myself not to burst.

  My chest heaved in short, uncontrollable bursts.

  I stilled her hand and brought my own to her hips, pulling at the material of the thin cotton pants she wore.

  “Lay down, love.”

  Her hips lifted up from the mattress when I pulled them down her legs, not taking my eyes from hers.

  Once they were free, I leaned over her body as her legs drifted apart, leaving her bare but for the scrap of fabric I’d intentionally left there so I could remove it with my teeth.

  My fingers dug into her hips as I lifted her to place punishing kisses down the tight plain of her stomach, stopping briefly to nip just below her belly button. She arched into me with a wanton cry when my tongue played with her through the material of her underwear.

  When her hips bucked, I lost myself and jerked the material out of my way with such force that the elastic at her hip snapped. Her hands went to my head, urging me to take what I wanted.

  My tongue laved against her as I pushed my finger inside of her, working her with first one finger, and then two.

  Hot. Wet. Heaven.

  She moved against my mouth, hips rocking as she sought release. Her body clenched down on my finger as she teetered on the edge I suspended her on and nearly took me right over with her.

  When I pulled my fingers free and placed a chaste kiss to her pelvic bone, she yanked at my arms, pulling me up as she opened her thighs wider.

  I nudged her opening, anticipation clawing at me. She gasped when I slid inside her with one hard thrust.

  Everything stopped. My heart. Our breaths.

  And then, like a strike of lightning, we crackled to life. Her hips bucked against mine. Her legs came up to wrap around my waist, driving me deeper into her heat. Into her. Over and over until she stiffened, crying out my name.

  I snapped, unable to keep myself from pounding into her as my thrusts became harder and deeper. With every slam of our bodies joining, I found myself saying things I’d never said before as she tightened against my dick and dug her nails into my back, whimpering as another release squeezed the walls of her wet heat so hard against me I swear I saw stars.

  “Hannah, I’m gonna… Oh, fuck… Hannah.”

  I think my heart exploded as I collapsed against her chest and then rolled her over to lie in my arms as I tried in vain to catch my breath.

  “I THINK I’VE FOUND HEAVEN,” Ed announced through shaky laughter, his words covering me like a cool morning fog.

  It took a moment to process. To collect my thoughts that were still five minutes behind when his hands, his tongue, and his movements took me to a place I’d never been. A place where pain was an afterthought. Where pleasure was the subject of every conversation.

  A place I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to leave.

  “And yourself?” he asked, his voice soft and husky against my skin. “Was it everything ye thought it’d be?”

  And more, I thought to myself, biting my lip as the storm he brewed inside me began to subside.

  His head was comfortably tucked in the crook of my neck, his warm breath moving over my skin, sending small waves of goose bumps down my arm as we both tried to catch our breath. As our chests rose and fell in a mismatched pace, connecting us in such an intimate way.

  The urge to kick him off me and run for the hills had yet to set in.

  Odd.

  Our tiny oasis was filled with soft, golden light from the l
antern resting beside the bed as the rain pounded against the roof… the storm raging right along with our thundering hearts. I couldn’t pry my eyes away from the pink floral pattern on the sheet above us. It was a design I knew would be etched in my brain forever. A design that, when seen, would take me back to this exact moment when Ed rested on top of me, his weight more comforting than I thought it would be. When, just for a second in time, there wasn’t any fear of what tomorrow would bring, or of what type of shadows he had hidden within, waiting for me to discover.

  There were just his lips pressing lightly against my cheek and my fingertips skimming up and down his back. Just his feet playfully moving against mine, and my lips finding the smooth skin of his neck.

  The world was practically falling down around us, and I wasn’t sure either of us cared because it was true, what he said. Our little haven was safe… free of danger, risk, and most importantly… expectations.

  I blinked. Thought about how good his fingers felt as they lazily played with the ends of my hair in such a natural way. Like they were made for me.

  A small wave of heat moved to my most sensitive parts. He didn’t even have to do anything, and I was turned on again.

  “I don’t think… no… I know I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was so… so intense,” he said, pulling his head back so he could look down at me. “Do ye agree?”

  Smiling, I rested my palm against his chest. Against the steady thrum of his heart.

  He smiled back, his hands cupping my face and my name on the edge of his lips. It was then I realized this was one of those moments. The kind you wished you could store inside your jewelry box and pull out every so often to wear when you were feeling ugly, or down, or just invisible.

  Because the way he looked at me, like I was made for him, flipped me inside out, exposing all my crippled, dented armor I’d worn for far too long.

  “I’ll take that smile as a yes then, yeah?” he said when I didn’t answer him right away.

  I heaved a contented sigh. “Take that as a hell yes.”

  His lips kissed my eyelids, my nose, ending with a feather-soft kiss to my mouth before he rolled to the side, propping up on one elbow. “I know ye have a certain hate for clichés, but I just have to say I think ye’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on.” His finger skimmed down my cheek, over my chin, and then down the center of my chest. “Perfection,” he said, his eyes roaming hungrily over my breasts.