Managed Hearts (Players of Marycliff University, #3)

by Jerica MacMillan

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGTH

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  EPILOGUE

  The End | <<<<>>>>

  CHAPTER ONE

  Her hands were clammy on the steering wheel as Hannah pulled into the parking lot of Eco Utilities, the ice crunching under her tires while she found a parking spot. They’d been in a cold snap since classes started last week, and she cursed again about the fact that she’d forgotten her coat in her rush to get to the first day of her new internship on time. Her burgundy blazer and black dress pants wouldn’t do much to keep her warm in the frigid January air. She’d just have to hurry in from the parking lot and hope she didn’t slip and fall on her ass.

  She’d busted said ass to get this internship, going up against almost every other marketing major for the one marketing intern they took on, and she was determined not to screw it up, certainly not by showing up late on the first day, even if that meant freezing on the way into the building. It was a highly sought-after internship because the company, Eco Utilities, had a reputation of hiring their interns once they graduated. Unless you completely screwed everything up, you were pretty much a shoe-in. And Eco Utilities commitment to conservation and helping companies become more green fit right in with Hannah’s passions. She’d been helping with trash pick-ups and was even the president of the Conservation Club at her high school, where she organized donation drives to help clean up efforts after the major oil spill in 2010 and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima the year after.

  One day she’d be able to go there herself and help clean up after natural disasters, but she’d never been able to afford to go before. Someplace like Eco Utilities would make it possible for her to do what she cared about without having to sell out and work for a corporation that contributed to the problems she was out cleaning up after.

  Pulling down the sun visor in her car, she used the little mirror to swipe a fresh coat of lip gloss on her lips. She was so nervous, so eager to make a good impression, that she’d already chewed off the coat she’d applied before she left home. Dropping the gloss back in her purse and flipping the visor up—because she definitely wouldn’t need that to block the nonexistent sunshine on this frigid January day—she took a deep breath. You got this, she reminded herself for the millionth time, climbed out of her car, and hurried across the parking log. With another deep breath she opened the door to the building and walked in.

  A receptionist sat behind a large desk, her red hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, black rimmed glasses perched on her nose. She glanced up and gave a polite smile. “May I help you?”

  Hannah smiled back, forcing it through her nerves. “Hi. Yes. I’m Hannah Glover. I start my internship today.”

  “Welcome to Eco Utilities. I’m Alice. Let me know if you need any help with anything. I know it can be intimidating when you’re starting somewhere new, but everyone here is really nice. You’ll have your HR orientation first, and then they’ll take you to whichever department you’re interning with.” She gave directions to get to the HR meeting room on the second floor and then glanced at the clock. “You better hurry! The meeting starts in about five minutes, and you don’t want to be late!”

  Hannah gave her another smile, more genuine this time. “Thank you!” She hurried to the stairs Alice had indicated and took them two at a time. With another deep breath at the top of the stairs in a futile attempt to calm her racing heart, she held up her head and walked confidently to the meeting room.

  And stopped in the doorway, her heart slamming in her chest. The tingly feeling in her stomach that she’d been feeling all morning turned into full-on butterflies rioting in her abdomen. She felt like everyone could see her chest moving from the strength of her heartbeat, and her skin must be writhing from the strength of the butterflies going crazy inside her.

  “Excuse me.” A polite male voice behind her brought her out of her daze, and she took a step into the room and another to the side, turning her head to look at the newcomer.

  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled and made her way to a chair where she kept staring at the man who’d made her stop in her tracks.

  It was him. Matt. Her Matt.

  His hair was a little shorter now, his face free of the stubble he’d worn, and it looked like he’d filled out a little more, his shoulders broader than she remembered under his white button-down shirt. Of course it had been three years since the summer they spent together. In some ways it felt like a lifetime ago, in others it was as fresh as if it had happened last summer.

  She couldn’t take her eyes off him, wondering how his pecs and abs now compared to her memories. If the light fuzz of hair across his chest and in a line down the center of his belly had darkened or thickened in the last few years. What it would feel like to run her hands over him again with the freedom she used to have.

  All they’d had was one summer when she had just turned eighteen, meeting a week before her birthday, and he was nineteen. Two perfect months that she’d spent with her best friend Elena’s family in Westport. Elena’s parents had gotten a vacation rental and taken the girls and Elena’s brother. Hannah had met Matt one day on the beach where he was surfing. He offered to teach her when he saw her watching the beginning surfers taking a lesson one morning. He’d been home for the summer from Marycliff University.

  They’d spent the days on the beach, the evenings around fires, and more time than she’d ever thought possible in each other’s arms. He’d been her first, and he was the one that she’d compared to all the guys that came after him.

  Half in love with him by the end of the summer, she’d been crushed when he hadn’t stayed in touch. She’d emailed him for a while, but he only responded a few times, and eventually she decided to stop. One of her deepest secrets, that only Elena knew, was that he was the reason she’d decided to attend Marycliff. It was a good school and she’d gotten some academic scholarships, so no one thought too much about it.

  She hadn’t ever contacted him, though. The fear of rejection too powerful, the feelings she maintained about their summer romance too precious to her to risk on trying to make more out of it, especially when he hadn’t displayed any continuing interest before.

  She waited for him to look up from the papers he was arranging, unsure if she wanted him to recognize her or not. Her hair was shorter now, and she’d matured some in the intervening years as well. Since she obviously hadn’t meant as much to him as he had to her, she doubted he’d even recognize her anyway.

  Forcing herself to look away, she reached for her bag that she’d set under her chair to pull out a pen. One thing all jobs had in common was paperwork on the first day. She was sure an internship, even if it was unpaid, would be no different. Some documentation so she could get credit for it with her program or something.

  When she looked up again, her eyes locked with Matt’s. There was a curiou
s expression on his face, but then he seemed to shake himself and got the meeting started.

  Well, that was that, then. No flicker of recognition. Nothing. Barely even a pause. For all she knew he was just checking her out since she was one of only two female interns in the room. The other three were guys. She didn’t recognize any of them. She’d hoped maybe one of her classmates from her other business classes might be here, but no such luck.

  Matt cleared his throat and started the orientation meeting. He had them all go around and introduce themselves. When Hannah said her name and what she was hoping to get out of her internship, he gave her that quizzical look again, like maybe he did recognize her but couldn’t figure out where from. But it passed once the next person introduced himself. Hannah was too dazed to catch anyone’s names. The only one she could remember was the other girl, Jolie.

  Matt kept the meeting light and funny while still getting through all the stuff they needed to cover. It was pretty short, only about thirty minutes after the round of introductions, and then they were filling out a few papers before it was time to go meet the people in their departments. She could feel eyes on her as she followed the others out of the room, and turned her head in time to see Matt staring at her, his brows creased. If he didn’t remember her, she didn’t feel the need to help him out, so she just gave a polite smile and left the room.

  The rest of the afternoon went by in a whirlwind, keeping her busy and distracted so she didn’t continue to obsess about Matt. Most of her time was spent being a gopher—getting coffee, taking files and memos between people. One of the marketing assistants took her around for the first hour or so, introducing her to everyone and getting her oriented to the office area. After that she was more or less on her own. In addition to fetching and carrying for everyone, she was also helping with the social media presence for the company. She was excited to get to put some of the ideas she had into practice. She just hoped she’d get the chance.

  At the end of the day she caught a glimpse of Matt climbing into a green pickup when she came out of the doors. She stood watching him until he turned the truck on, and then the wind picked up, reminding her that she wasn’t wearing a coat, and she scampered to get to her car, cranking the heat so she wouldn’t freeze to death. Blowing on her hands and rubbing them together, she couldn’t help her thoughts turning to Matt some more. Would he ever figure out who she was? Would it be worse if he did or if he didn’t?

  * * *

  Hannah Glover.

  Matt sat on the couch, beer in hand, repeating the name in his head over and over. He knew he should recognize it, should be able to figure out where he knew the girl from. The TV was on, playing reruns of Big Bang Theory, turned up loud enough to try to cover the sounds coming from Chris and Megan’s bedroom. You’d think those two were trying to set a record or something. They were at it more than Lance and Abby had been when they’d first started dating, and that was saying something.

  You’d think that he’d have gotten used to it after living with it for the last four months or so. Mostly it hadn’t been too bad. But since Thanksgiving when they’d worked out whatever problems had come up, they’d been going at it practically non-stop. He didn’t know how Chris found the energy between going to class full time and working out and practicing every spare moment to get ready for the Regional Combines next month. Still. It got a bit much, especially when they were having loud, enthusiastic sex on the other side of the living room wall where he was trying to relax after a long day of work.

  A particularly loud moan coming through the wall had him downing the last of his beer and heading to his own room. This was the reason he was really looking forward to this summer and the end of their lease. He could finally get his own place on not have to listen to his roommates fucking at all hours of the day and night. The worst part was that he couldn’t help getting turned on by the sounds he couldn’t block out.

  With a resigned sigh he stripped off his shirt in his bedroom, grabbing a clean towel and heading to the bathroom. As he waited for the water to warm up the name Hannah Glover floated through his mind again, along with the face that went with it. Chin length blonde hair that was almost the same color as the wheat fields around here in the summer, held back by some kind of clip on one side. Green eyes. A cute little nose that turned up at the end. It wasn’t just her name that was familiar, her face was too.

  He racked his brain, thinking over past conquests and chicks he’d met at parties over the years. Now on the opposite side of the house in his bathroom with the water pounding down around him, he couldn’t hear anything from Chris and Megan anymore, finally letting his brain wander over the catalog of women in his mind. He soaped up out of habit more than necessity, his mind continuing to tick through the years trying to place Hannah Glover. He palmed his cock, the slippery suds in his hand feeling good, and he felt less like a creep jacking it over a chick from work, even if she was off limits, than over the sounds his roommates made in the sack.

  He worked himself faster, squeezing harder, feeling the pre-come start to leak out. “Oh, God.” He couldn’t stop himself from groaning under his breath, imagining Hannah’s hands on him. Even if he couldn’t remember why he recognized her, she was pretty and sweet with high, full breasts, a trim waist, and an ass that begged to be spanked. Imagining she was stroking him, dropping to her knees to take him between her lush, red lips, suddenly the image in his head morphed into a girl with the same color hair, but longer, past her shoulders. And she was kneeling on a bed over his reclining form getting ready to wrap those same lush lips around the head of his cock.

  His legs trembled and his hips jerked as he came to the memory of Hannah Glover giving him her first blow job the summer he was nineteen. The sweet little virgin that had rocked his world. Not that she was still a virgin by the time the summer was over. And man, she’d learned fast.

  He’d been captivated by her from the first time he’d seen her on the beach with her friend watching the surf lessons at Westhaven State Park. Summer wasn’t the greatest time for surfing in Westport, but after he’d left home to go to Marycliff, it was the only time he had for surfing. He’d taken a job at one of the surf shops teaching lessons for the summer. There was always a demand for more teachers during the summer because, with the little waves it was the perfect time for beginners to try it out, and everyone was off for summer vacation.

  He couldn’t help noticing the two girls lounging on the beach, the wind blowing their hair around, one dark and one fair. Hannah had been watching him teach the lesson on the beach with rapt attention, too far away to hear his instructions, but her eyes eating up every movement of his wetsuit clad body, the longing on her face almost painful to see. Her friend, whose name he couldn’t remember now, was less interested, spending more time reading the book she’d brought with her than anything.

  By the time he was done teaching, the girls had moved into the water, laughing and splashing and playing in the waves. It had been a warm day for June, warm enough to brave the frigid waters of the northern Pacific to cool off after spending time in the sun. After stashing his surfboard and peeling down the top of his wetsuit to expose his upper body to the sun he made his way back down to the water and stuck up a conversation with Hannah and her friend. He’d even agreed to meet Hannah for some one-on-one surf lessons at no charge just for the chance to see her again. The radiant smile she’d turned his way had been worth it.

  By the time he’d found out she that she still had a year left of high school, and was only a week away from turning eighteen, it was too late, he was already hooked on her. He couldn’t let her go for such a silly reason if he’d tried. The rest, as they say, was history.

  They spent the next two months together until he had to go back to school and she had to go home to finish high school. She’d emailed him after that. He’d responded a few times, but the truth was that he sucked at keeping in touch with people. Everything he wrote sounded stilted and stupid, and with practice and clas
ses, he wasn’t able to talk on the phone much, and he never knew what to say then either. He was much better at face to face communication, especially with relationships. Long distance wasn’t his thing. And it wasn’t like they’d done much talking when they were together, anyway. Sure, yes, some, but he much preferred communicating by touch. He still did, truth be told. Too much time spent talking exhausted him. Touch, movement, physical presence were the things he handled best.

  He’d convinced himself she’d be better off if he just drifted out of her life so she could focus on her senior year and all the important things that happen like homecoming, and prom, and graduation. Ghosting his way out of her life was kind of a dick move, but he didn’t know how to explain what he was thinking to Hannah. And the way his teammates were giving shit to one of the other guys about still dating his girlfriend from back home who was still in high school didn’t give him any incentive to keep up a relationship with a girl still in high school herself. After a while she’d stopped trying to get in touch with him, and with the busyness of classes, football, and other girls to catch his attention, Hannah became a distant memory.

  Until now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Hannah was sitting on the couch with the TV on and her books for tomorrow’s classes spread around her when Elena walked through the door. “Hey, chica. How’d the first day go at the internship?”

  Hannah pulled her head out of her textbook, her eyes slowly coming to focus on Elena. “Hmm? Oh, it was fine.”

  “Fine? That’s all?” Elena arched one dark eyebrow at her before she tossed her keys on the end table by the door, dropped her backpack on the floor, and took off her coat, tossing it on top of her backpack. She came all the way into the living room and flopped down in the chair, taking the pencil out of her black hair that held it in a bun and shaking it out over her shoulders. Putting her feet up on the end table, she leveled a look at Hannah. “You’ve been talking about this nonstop since classes started up again. Actually, you started talking about it around Thanksgiving when you found out you got it. And now all you have to say about your first day is ‘fine’?”