Fated Hearts Read online

  “At the back,” she whispered.

  “Show me.”

  She nodded, her blonde hair moving like a sheet of silver in the faint light drifting in from the street light outside. Then she was walking down the corridor and I was right on her heels.

  She was tiny, small but curvy, and when she walked she swayed her hips. I wondered if she was doing it on purpose to drive me crazy or if she had no fucking idea how Goddamned sexy she was. I suspected it was the latter. This girl had the air of sex and innocence around her, which was driving me crazy.

  She pushed open the door to her room. When my eyes lit on the bed in the middle of the room and her standing in front, it I reached for her, pulling her in to press my mouth down hers. She smelled like lavender and she tasted like tequila and lemon, reminding me that she’d been drinking. Inching back, I looked down at her face, at her mouth hanging open, lips all full and swollen, pupils dilated and hair slightly mussed.

  “How drunk are you?”

  She blinked and it was a moment before she answered. “Not drunk. Not drunk enough for you to think I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  I nodded. That was good enough for me. She didn’t seem drunk, but I needed to make sure.

  Kicking the door shut behind us, we were ensconced in darkness, just slivers of moonlight seeping in around the edges of the closed curtains. But in the darkness our passion and desire revealed itself and soon Lia was kissing me back with as much desperation as I had kissing her. She clung to me, rising on her tip toes to wind her hands around my shoulders, burying her fingers in my hair and leaning her full weight onto mine. I cupped her butt and pressed her fully against me, hard, so she could feel my desire, and she made a little sound that was almost like a growl.

  I wondered if she would let me take control. She’d said she was a girl who always did as she was told…

  Disentangling myself from her, I stared down at her. Her chest rose and fell with steady breaths and she looked like she was going to reach for me again, but I moved back a little more. “Take your clothes off,” I ordered quietly.

  Her mouth dropped open and she stared at me for a long moment. I could almost sense her hesitation. The inner battle. Then she moved, her hands grabbing the edge of her short dress and hoisting it up and over her head before discarding it somewhere on the floor. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noted the pale hue of her skin, the gentle curves of her full breasts and hips, the flat stomach. She kept her gaze locked on mine, the whites of her eyes shining in the shadows, as she unclasped her bra and let it fall. Then her panties followed suit and she was standing in front of me completely naked.

  And I was in fucking heaven.

  I took a moment to take her all in, committing every curve, every detail to memory. The swell of her heavy breasts, the rosy hue of her nipples, the indentation of her belly button, the curve of her hip, and the valley between her legs. The scar on her stomach that looked surgical, the mole on her shoulder, the way her hair hung like a shimmery curtain around her shoulders, how she drew her bottom lip in between her teeth. If I had to guess, I would say she blushed a dark-crimson color beneath my obvious examination.

  “You are fucking glorious,” I murmured at length and was amazed when she shivered at my words. “So fucking sexy.”

  “Oh…” Her mouth dropped open.

  I moved closer. “What? Has no one ever told you how beautiful you are?”

  “Beautiful, yes,” she confirmed. “Sexy? No.”

  I chuckled. Seriously? I’d known since the moment I’d seen her across the bar that this woman was sexy as all hell. I’d also known I wanted her.

  “Well, you are seriously sexy,” I told her and then adjusted myself as if to make that message clear. “And I can’t wait to be inside you.”

  Her eyes went wide again and I laughed louder. “Get on the bed.”

  “Oh.” She glanced behind her at the bed, hesitating and unsure. I saw it in the flicker of her eyes. I was being too bossy. I needed to slow it down.

  Reaching for her chin, I pulled her mouth up to mine for another long, lingering kiss that I dragged out until I felt her go a little limp beneath me. Then I tried again. “Bed, Lia.”

  She nodded and climbed on the bed, scurrying up the covers to the pillows. Kicking off my shoes, I followed her until I towered over her and she was pressed back against the pillows. I stared into her eyes for the longest moment. They were blue, heavy lidded and watery with desire. God, I wondered, how could even her eyes be so fucking sexy?

  Lowering my mouth, I drew one perfect, rosy nipple into my mouth and sucked hard. Immediately, she arched beneath me, her hands coming to rest on my shoulders as she whimpered. I sucked harder, before sweeping my tongue over the rosy crest and sucking again. She cried out and I moved my attention to her other breast as my hands reached between her legs.

  “Open for me,” I demanded and she did, dropping her knees to the sides and revealing her hidden valley for me to explore.

  I slid my hand up her thighs and growled when I reached her center. “Fuck,” I murmured, “you’re already wet.”

  She nodded, but didn’t say anything as I slid my fingers between her slick folds. She stilled beneath my exploration and gasped when I found her nub and pressed down on it. I pressed again and then again, and she groaned in the back of her throat, so I did it again.

  “Spread wider for me, Lia,” I whispered. She did, opening herself to me fully.

  I shifted, moving down the bed, kissing her stomach and her thighs before I nestled my head between her legs and traced my tongue over her center. She groaned loudly and moved her feet up the bed, spreading her legs even more for me.

  “God, you taste good,” I told her as I licked her again. “Fucking delicious.”

  She groaned again. I tasted her, teased her clit until I felt her orgasm begin to build. It didn’t take long. She was already halfway there before I’d even touched her. When she came, she squeezed her thighs against my head, her cry of delight almost tipping me over the edge, and I was still fully clothed.

  She was still panting, still coming down from her orgasm as I ripped my own clothes off and rolled on a condom. I moved up and between her legs.

  “Lia,” I murmured, and she opened her eyes.

  “Mmmn,” she whispered, looking up at me through limpid eyes. “Yes…”

  That was all I needed. Holding onto her hips, I entered her swiftly and quickly, filling her to the hilt, feeling her stretch around me to adjust to my size. Her eyes went wide and she arched against the bed. Lowering myself, scared to move in case I came right then and there, I kissed her again, slowly and tenderly as she got used to the feeling of me inside her. She was tight. Small. I didn’t want to hurt her. It was only when she rocked against me that I began to move, slowly at first and then with more confidence as she relaxed and welcomed me. Thrusting hard and harder into her, our bodies slick with perspiration, I closed my eyes and lost myself in everything that was Lia.

  She was sweet. She was adorable and she was so fucking sexy.

  As she cried out and arched beneath me, her fingernails digging into my shoulders, I finally came undone, losing myself in the moment and this woman.

  Chapter Three

  Lia

  I stared at the phone the whole time it rang. Declan’s name flashed across the screen, as well as a picture of him. He was smiling his perfect smile that years of orthodontic work had perfected. He looked like the quintessential boy next door. Which he quite literally was.

  The boy next door.

  Declan and I had been friends since we were little kids. Our mothers were friends and our fathers played golf together. When we were younger, we used to ride our bikes in the street and made a secret clubhouse in his back yard. When we were teenagers, things got a bit awkward for a while until senior year when we got together. We were prom king and queen and voted ‘couple most likely to last’. We went to the same college and everything was perfect. We were perfect
.

  And then we weren’t.

  The phone stopped ringing and I exhaled. I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding my breath.

  “You have to talk to him eventually,” Anna commented, strolling into the kitchen. She pulled a carton of milk from the fridge and drank straight from it.

  I shrugged. “I know.”

  “You going to tell him about Jacob McGaren?”

  I flushed. “Of course not.”

  “Agreed,” she said. “I mean, it’s not like you owe him an explanation. And besides, nothing will come of you and Jacob.”

  A flutter of something turned over in my stomach and I looked away, staring out the kitchen window at the morning sun which was just starting to break through the clouds. It’d been two days since that night with Jacob. That wonderful, fantastic, wish-I-could-repeat-it night. He’d been superb, everything I’d imagined and everything I’d been missing, and he made me feel as if I’d suddenly woken up as a sexual person, someone who had their own desires instead of….

  I wasn’t quite sure how to finish that. Declan was the only man I’d ever slept with, until Jacob, and until a few months ago, I would have described my sex life as satisfying. I mean, we did it regularly, it was nice, he was always satisfied and sometimes I was too, although I didn’t always come and he didn’t seem to care if I did or not. It always just seemed like a bonus if I did.

  But Jacob… He had made it seem as if his mission was to make me come and his orgasm was of secondary import. And the way he bossed me around, telling me to get undressed, to spread my legs … just thinking about it made me feel hot again and I wondered how far he would go, how bossy he could be.

  And how much control I would be willing to give up to him.

  Immediately, my mood soured because it was quite clear that our liaison was a onetime event. After fucking me senseless twice, he’d dressed, kissed me on the cheek, told me how great I was, and left. He never asked for my number, never asked to see me again.

  Not that I was expecting more. He’d made no promises, in fact, he’d made it pretty clear that it was a one-night stand. And that was what I wanted from him. We were from two different worlds—he had commitments and I was quite literally running from mine.

  “Earth to Lia,” Anna was saying now.

  I turned back to her. “Sorry? What were you saying?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I hope you weren’t daydreaming about Jacob McGaren?”

  I flushed. “No. Of course not.”

  She eyed me, my lie obvious. “Right. Anyhow, while you were staring out the window reimagining the best sex of your life, Declan called again. You really need to talk to him.”

  “It was not the best sex of my life,” I argued. Another lie. “But you’re right. I’ll call Declan today.”

  Anna nodded. “And good luck on your first day, too. Ellis and I are meeting for dinner tonight. Do you want to join us? You can tell me all about it then.”

  “Sounds good.” I nodded, just as a text came through from Declan. I sighed. Anna was right. I really needed to talk to Declan.

  ****

  “About time, Lia,” Declan said into the phone by way of greeting. “I’ve been calling you for days.”

  I drew in a deep breath and reminded myself to be brave. Declan and I were over. I did not owe him an explanation. “I can see that, which is why I’m calling. Declan, you have to stop.”

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop calling me.”

  Silence greeted my statement. I could imagine him frowning on the other end of the phone, maybe rubbing his forehead the way he did when he was confused.

  “Why would I stop calling you? I love you.”

  “Declan…”

  “Lia, how much longer are you going to keep punishing me? I’ve apologized. I’ve apologized profusely and you said you forgive me and yet…”

  “And I do forgive you,” I assured him honestly. “I really do. But just because I forgive you doesn’t mean I want to marry you.”

  “But why not? You wanted to marry me before.”

  He had a point. I had wanted to marry him. I’d been dropping hints about getting engaged for months before he proposed, and after our engagement, I’d enthusiastically planned every detail of the wedding. Finding out that he’d cheated on me with Becky had been a blow, yes, but it’d been an even bigger blow to realize that I was relieved. That his infidelity had opened my eyes, made me realize I didn’t want to marry Declan at all, that I didn’t even want to be with him.

  “Everything was different before,” I told him. “I was different.”

  “You think you’ve changed?” he asked, his voice sulky. “You think your little holiday interstate has changed you?”

  I thought about Jacob and how he’d made me come so many times I’d lost count and how he’d left me half-conscious, fully satisfied, and sleepy in my bed as he crept out in the early hours of the morning. “Yes. Yes, I have changed.”

  “No, you haven’t,” he argued. “You’re still Lia. You’re still the girl I’ve known since I was five. You’re still the only girl I’ve loved and you’re still the girl I want to marry.”

  “Declan…”

  “I’ll give you some time,” he continued, “to have your revenge or whatever it is you think you’re doing. But Lia, I can’t wait forever.”

  “I’m not asking you to! I’m not asking you to wait for me because I don’t plan on coming back, and I don’t plan on changing my mind. I love you, you know that. I will always love you, but not in that way.”

  He snorted. “I’ll wait, Lia. You’ll change your mind.”

  I sighed and hung up the phone, staring at it for the longest moment. I couldn’t keep speaking to Declan. He had to stop calling. We’d had this conversation countless times and each time it just seemed to fall on deaf ears. I honestly had no idea on how to convince him that I didn’t want to marry him and that I wasn’t doing all this for revenge. He didn’t listen to a word I said. Not even moving away seemed to convince him I was being truthful.

  Tucking my phone away in my purse, I decided not to think about Declan anymore. It was my first day of work and I was excited to meet the second graders I would be teaching.

  I would think about Declan another time.

  Chapter Four

  Jacob

  Ava threaded her hand into mine and my heart skipped a little beat. Such a simple thing. Something she did every day as I walked her into school and yet every time she did it, my heart turned over. Tilting her head back, she smiled up at me, her big blue eyes almost too big for her sweet little face. She had my eyes, thank God. Once, before Tara found her way into drugs, I’d wished for our children to have her eyes, but those eyes were gone now, replaced by glazed, desperate, void pits that gave nothing away of the girl she’d once been.

  Such a fucking waste.

  “I have a new teacher today,” Ava announced.

  “That’s right.” I vaguely remembered the email from the principal announcing the previous teacher had retired and starting today, Ava had a new teacher. A Miss Henley, I think it said. I hoped she was nice, and understanding. I made a mental note to make an appointment with her, to explain the situation surrounding Ava and Tara and me…

  I followed Ava down the corridor and waited as she unpacked her bag before we went inside the class. The new teacher was hovering by the door, busy greeting her new students. I didn’t notice her at first.

  “Hello, I’m Miss Henley.”

  “I’m Ava McGaren,” my daughter said confidently, “and this is my daddy.”

  Swallowing over the tight knot in my throat, I raised my eyes to meet hers. And it was, although in those few moments before I saw her I was desperately hoping it wasn’t … her.

  Lia. Lia Henley. I hadn’t bothered to ask her last name the other night, not that it would have changed anything. I wouldn’t have realized she was Ava’s new teacher. I was thinking about nothing but getting laid. A one-night stand with so
meone I would never see again. A girl who was visiting from interstate, staying with her cousin.

  Her face colored, from embarrassment, I guessed. The pink stretched up over her throat and cheeks. Despite that, she kept her chin tilted up a little, which made her look a little snooty and I was reminded of the look she’d given my car the other night. Her hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and she wore black pants and a white shirt. There was nothing overtly sexy in her outfit, but still, maybe remembering the other night, I felt myself react. Shit. This was not good.

  She stared at me long and hard, the shock of seeing me too transparent on her features. There were a lot of other kids and parents around and I really didn’t need any more gossip, so I quickly thrust out my hand as if just meeting her for the first time.

  “Jacob McGaren,” I said pleasantly, “nice to meet you.”

  Her soft hand slipped into mine and I had to almost steady myself, the urge to pull her toward me and kiss her was almost overwhelming. Whoa there, I told myself, steady.

  “I’m Miss Henley,” she replied, her voice quiet and catching a little, “the new teacher.”

  I nodded, wondering how I hadn’t thought of this the other night. Had she mentioned she was a teacher? I couldn’t remember. But I know I mentioned I had two daughters. Why did she not think…?

  “We are so thrilled to have you here,” another mom was saying now. Lia withdrew her hand and turned her attention to the mother who was giving her a welcome lecture like she was the fucking queen.

  I turned my attention to Ava, giving her a hug and kiss and promising to pick her up later before I left. Hurrying away from there as fast as I could. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I screwed Ava’s teacher? That was not good. That was not good at all.

  As I headed out to my car, I felt Laura Belling fall into step beside me.

  I really didn’t need this right now.

  “Jacob, hi,” she said, a little breathlessly. Had she run to catch up with me?

  “Laura.”

  “I was wondering,” she began, “if Ava wanted to come for a playdate with Hannah?”