Page 1 of Runaway Hearts: Seduced by Danger

Chapter 1

Take Me Away

Just one more hour until I can leave this place. As the clock nears midnight, I speed through the sterile halls of Palco Springs’ Hospital. My pulse quickens with excitement. Just one more hour until my grueling shift ends, and my long-awaited vacation begins.

Oh, the sweet pull of freedom...

Before I round the corner, I see Victor leaning against the security station with a smirk. “Ready to escape, Marianne?” he teases, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief. The old man’s stare had a peculiar light that whispered of a troubled life and a thousand wild adventures. That light usually puts me at ease.

But I chew on my lower lip and glance at the nurses’ office at the end of the corridor. “Is she in there?” I ask, my voice in an angry whisper. I don’t want to confront my boss right now.

Victor replies while sucking on his never-ending mint, “You know it.”

“I’m cursed!” I shake my head in despair, but a small smile tugs at my lips when the man’s calloused hand lands on my shoulder. Its warmthenvelops me like a shield. The only masculine touch that doesn’t make me recoil.

“You’ve handled worse,” he says with a sad smile.

Yeah, he’s talking about my ex.

A painful sniff flies out of my nose, and I lift my big brown eyes at the man I consider my grandpa. “Doesn’t make it any easier. My shift ends at midnight, but she’s short-staffed, and I can’t say no to her.”

Since Eric, standing up to authority has been impossible. His voice still echoes in my mind, criticizing my every move. At work, it’s easier to comply to avoid confrontation.

“You can do this, Care Bear.”

No, I can’t. She makes my blood boil, and I don’t even know why. Maybe because she’s a raging bitch?

With a quick flick of my wrist, I sweep my thick, dark brown bangs away from my face and tie them in a high ponytail. “Only one hour left, and I’m going on vacation.”

Victor wiggles an eyebrow. “Beach and books?”

“Yes. Gotta catch up on my reading goals for the season,” I say, earning a nod. I want to finish the second book in my current fantasy series and join the sexy intergalactic arms dealer, Seito, in his spaceship. I have a sweet spot for fictional villains. The darker, the better.

The story is unlikely, but I’ve been hooked since the first page when Seito escaped an interstellar jail. I want to hug the thug, to run my hands through his blazing red hair. He would look at me with piercing purple eyes and hold me close in his tattoo-covered arms. I wish for him to whisk me away to a distant galaxy where I could slip out of my skin and be somebody else.

I always thought villains loved better.

But it’s a fantasy that exists only within the pages of my books.

Real men are assholes.

“Text me when you hit the road,” Victor says before returning to the ER’s entrance. “And be careful with who you pick up.” He stops halfway and pops another mint in his mouth.

Since the day I met my best friend Arietta by picking her up on the side of the road, I haven’t stopped picking up hitchhikers. My therapist said it was a hidden need for adventure. I call it “helping people.” A small thing that makes me feel good about myself.

“Sure thing, Pop-Pop. Don’t get in trouble while I’m away,” I tease my pretend grandpa and give him a corner smile.

“Trouble always finds me.” He chuckles, shaking his head.

I sigh and make my way to the ER sorting unit. I pause at the nurses’ station, where my boss, Carole, stands, scowling as she barks orders at the staff.

Carole’s gaze narrows, and the air ices as her bright red lipstick glints under the fluorescent lights. Her perfect hair bounces with each step, and her crisp white coat rustles against her skirt as she approaches me.

I’m trapped.

“Hey, Marianne,” Carole greets me, and my blood freezes. “You’re almost done with your shift, right?”

I force a tight smile, my shoulders tensing with the weight of her haughty stare. “Yeah, just a few more minutes.” Twelve minutes until midnight.

---