Page 110 of Shattered Hearts

Riley Brennan…has a crush on me? And has for years? What the hell does that even mean? She’s told me plain as day she’s sworn off relationships. Besides, when Harper returns—ifshe returns—I’m still technically her fiancé.

I want Riley. I crave Riley. I desire Riley.

But acknowledging anything deeper than this mutual attraction and chemistry we have would be foolish. The minute I let my heart get involved, I endanger Riley’s life. Well, more than I already have.

I can’t ever fall in love with Riley. My love for Bri ultimately killed her. I won’t make the same mistake twice.

Will I live in the moment and soak up every second of every day that I have to spend with Riley, even though we have an inevitable expiration date?

Absolutely.

Keep it light, Finn. Don’t try to analyze her crush on you. Just live in the present.

I bend down, arm circling her legs.

“Finn?” She gasps my name as I throw her over my shoulder.

Moments later, I deposit her on my bed and anchor her to the mattress with my body. “You are so fucking sexy. I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on me. Why did you wait all this time to tell me that?”

She blushes, and I’m about to find out just how far that blush goes. “Not like I could admit I liked an enforcer, especially one way older than me.”

“Way older?” Grazing her navel with my teeth, I rip off the leggings she wore downstairs with vengeful fingers. I kiss her pussy over her panties, inhaling her scent like ambrosia. Spiced earth and lavender. “You’re going to pay for that comment.”

Tonight, she’s mine, and I have no intention of letting her go.

Vibration drags me from rest.

With difficulty, I tear my gaze from Riley’s idyllic sleeping face and rotate my head. That buzzing. My phone or?—

“Mmmm,” Riley groans, stretching like a cat against my chest. I freeze beneath her, desperate to do something about this morning wood.

It would be too easy to slip my stiff cock into her soft, supple ass. My brain spirals away into my anal wake-up call fantasy, all the blood in my body rushing south.

With a big breath, Riley rolls off me, her hand groping my bedside table until her fingers find the source of the buzzing. Eyes still closed, halfasleep, she tucks the phone to her ear and answers the call.

A sound comes out of her mouth that doesn’t resemble human language, but the caller on the other end immediately begins talking. For a few seconds, Riley still appears completelyunconscious as she holds her phone to her head while a rapid succession of sentences I can’t quite parse funnels into her ear.

Then her eyes fly open, and she jerks up from bed. “Really?”

A moment later, Riley startles, noticing for the first time that I’m staring at her. Her cheeks redden, and she settles her soft, cool hand over my face to stop me from watching her. “Wait, wait, wait. Ann, start over.Whocame by?”

I kiss her palm as many times as I can before she retracts her hand and mouths to me,Cut it out!

“Henry said that?”

Unable to resist, I push her back down on my bed and climb over her, pinning her to the sheets. Before she can protest, I kiss her nose and lean our foreheads together.

“Your hair is like modern art,” I whisper.

She nails me in the back of the head with a pillow, annoyance curving her mouth.

I bite her plump lower lip, drawing her into a good morning kiss while the phone’s still pressed to her ear. Can’t remember the last time I actually thought itwasa good morning.

She pushes my chin back with her fingers before I get carried away.

“Thanks for calling me. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

Finn watches me end the call. “Who was that?”

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