Page 30 of Reckless Hearts

Reaching over, I rest a hand on her head, pushing her hair back, her head still resting on the table. I want to tell her that it will all be worth it, but she doesn’t need to hear that again. Right now, it feels like a long and hopeless road.

“I’m bartending tonight,” Daisy says, shrugging, and I know this is not something she wants to keep doing. We’re all just out here trying to make it work.

I get up from the table, putting back the rest of my coffee, and heading to my room to get ready for my run.

I get in a three-mile run, and the girls and I surf for about two hours before we all have to go our separate ways.

Heading over to The Pipe Dream to start my shift, I walk up and find Nate under Mitch’s old SUV, his feet sticking out from under it. I laugh when I hear the music playing, his toes wiggling to the beat, and it’s funny to see him so happy. Even funnier to see him attempting to fix that old thing. He is not the mechanical type, leaning more toward art and surfing.

“Nate!” I call out, but he doesn’t emerge from under the car, and I roll my eyes. He’s clearly caught up in what he’s doing, that or he’s trapped under there.

I yell out again, and when he doesn’t respond, I grab him by his ankles, pulling him out from under the car.

But instead of Nate, I’m met with Flynn. Sliding between my open legs, I’m now hovering over him. He’s on his back, an old skateboard underneath him, and when the shock leaves his face, he’s smiling.

“Alana,” he purrs, that damn accent making my panties wet almost immediately. And this was not at all what I expected was going to happen when I yanked on his ankles.

Here I am, basically straddling him standing up and if I were to sit down, I’d be lined up perfectly with his dick. An image I know all too well and something my body has been missing despite it not even being that long since we last had sex.

“Can I help you with something?” he now asks, swiping the back of his hand over his forehead. I step to the side, almost embarrassed by how this played out.

He stands up now, shirtless, his hands covered in grease, and a dirty towel thrown over his shoulder, and holy shit, he looks so damn good. All tanned skin and rippled abs, and pale blue eyes with dark lashes that hardly seem real. He has these lush, full lips that are so disarmingly perfect and my mind flashes to all the times they were on my body. Why the hell does he have to look so good, and be so fucking off-limits?

“Um, no. I’m sorry,” I splutter out, caught off guard. “I thought it was Nate under there.” I swallow hard, trying not to ogle him and his broad shoulders and chiseled abs.

There has never been a guy on this island who has made a pair of boardshorts look as good as Flynn does. It’s only a matter of time before women are throwing themselves at him, desperate to see what lies below the tie that barely holds the shorts on his hips. They’re slung so low that it should be illegal, or maybe not. But I’m willing to fight off anyone who tries to get near him.

Go ahead and fucking try.

Something rages inside me at the idea of Flynn with another woman, and as much as it shouldn’t matter because we aren’t acouple, it does. Heat blooms, filling every inch of my body, and I love the feeling, the spark of desire, wanting more of it even if I know it’s wrong.

“It’s good to see you,” Flynn now says, stepping closer to me. “You get any training in today?”

“I did,” I reply, nodding, but I don’t want to talk about surfing. I want to talk about us, about making this thing that happened something real, something more than just a fling.

There’s a tension that fills the space, sending my heart racing, and I wonder if he can feel it too. Wetting my lips, his gaze falls there almost instantly, and a spike of lust finds its way between my legs.

Get yourself under control!

“You working on Sage’s car?” I now ask, trying to keep the conversation going, but also away from me asking him if he wants to sneak off into the cottage.

“Yeah, it’s been acting up. My dad is a mechanic, so I told Nate I’d take a look at it.”

“It’s older than dirt,” I joke. “It belonged to Mitch, Sage’s dad, and she can’t bear to get rid of it. I get it, though. It’s kinda her only real connection she has left of him besides the shop.” I toss a hand over my shoulder in the direction of The Pipe Dream.

“It’s a classic,” Flynn says, looking back at it. “Should be able to get it running better.” He crosses his arms over his broad chest, and my stupid brain just will not let it go. He’s talking about old cars and I’m thinking about him naked.

“There you are,” I hear Nate’s voice say. “You are here.” Rife with annoyance that I’m late, he comes over to where Flynn and I are standing. “Your shift started ten minutes ago.” Hitting me with a jab of his elbow in the side, he smiles.

He likes to act all grumpy, but we both know the truth. Underneath it all, he’s the sweetest guy I know. Even if I didforce him to become my friend. He wouldn’t get rid of me now. We’re stuck together forever.

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter back, playfully glaring at him. “I’ll be in there before the tour bus comes through, don’t worry.”

“I need you in there. Sage is at class, and you know how I suck at small talk and fake smiling at tourists,” Nate says, and Flynn lets out a laugh.

“Mate, I can help you out with the tourists if you want. I don’t have much else going on today,” Flynn adds, and fuck my life again. I can’t seem to get away from him, and there’s no way Nate is going to turn down free help.

“Actually, I was just going to see if you’d be interested in helping out this afternoon. We run this surf school thing, where the local schools bus in kids for an after-school program. We could always use the help.” Nate waits for Flynn to answer, and a part of me wants to beg him to be there, but I also know that spending more time with Flynn is exactly what I don’t need.

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