Page 12 of Scarred Heart

What a shame for him because it meant losing out on a hell of a kid.Somebody he might have been proud of.Somebody who had his eyes and a wicked intelligence she made sure nobody ever forgot about.

“All set!”Hannah announced as I finished washing my face in the bathroom sink.“Can we put on a movie?If we keep the volume down real low so it won’t keep me up?”

“Only if you make me a promise.”I finished drying my face, glancing at her in the mirror when she stood behind me.“From now on, no sneaking off to your room to play video games until you’ve cleaned up after yourself downstairs.Deal?”

“Deal,” she mumbled, chewing her lip.“Sorry.I was waiting all day to play.”

“I get it.”I tugged her braid on the way down the hall, savoring her giggles.There would come a day when she wouldn’t be so eager to spend time with me.I needed to take in as much of it as I could while I had the chance.

It took her no time to fall asleep, regardless of how excited she was to have a sleepover.She left me lying awake, staring at the television without following the movie she chose, remembering the man who’d helped create her and how thoroughly he had crushed my heart.

5

SPENCER

It was rare for me to wake up in my sun-drenched Beverly Hills bedroom.

Almost as soon as I came home from the overseas trip that Dad forced on me, I got a place in the Bay Area.Knowing what I wanted to do with my life meant the need to be close to the action.That meant moving to Silicon Valley.

I didn’t have the heart to get rid of this place, though.It had come in handy.There were nights over the years when I’d crashed here after partying harder than expected.I’ve loaned it to friends, though that’s something I stopped doing after a Fourth of July weekend that ended with a tearful call from my cleaning lady and more than a little redecorating.Sometimes, it didn’t pay to be generous.

Saying Rowan was the first thing to go through my mind when I opened my eyes wouldn’t be quite true since thoughts of her never stopped once I closed them.I had fallen asleep after hours of thinking about her.She was the star of every dream last night.The accident, of course—vivid and graphic and so damn real.Though, it wasn’t the only thing.I closed my eyes again, trying to hold onto the memory of her at the club.

Then, the world around me faded, and I was back in the crowded, dimly lit club.The air was thick with the scent of beer, sticky liquor soaking into the worn floors.The thrum of bass pulsed through my chest, vibrating up my spine as voices rose and fell in an almost primal roar.Bodies pressed together, jostling for space at the bar, a hot, chaotic wave of people, but all I saw was her.

She was there, behind the counter, pouring drinks with a practiced grace that made it look easy.Her ponytail swung with every movement, catching the light just right, gleaming like gold.Her smile cut through the noise, wide and unguarded, as if nothing could touch her here, in this moment.I watched the way her eyes caught the room—bluer than the ocean, bluer than anything I’d ever seen.It’s like she knew something the rest of us didn’t.

How wasn’t every man here hopelessly in love with her?I couldn’t tear my gaze away, and for a second, it felt like I was the only one who saw her for what she was—more than the usual faces that blended into the city nightlife.There was nothing typical about her.She moved like she owned the space, her steps light, quick, her presence magnetic.

It wasn’t her beauty that had pulled me in like a fish with a hook in its mouth.It was her.The warmth she exuded.I could hardly hear a word she said, but I felt her genuine decency like a quiet warmth settling over me.She wasn’t flirting, shoving her tits in my face in hopes of a bigger tip.There was nothing false about her.

I found out later that night the rest of her was very real too.My hands and mouth had examined every inch of her body until I had her memorized.

There was another regret to be added to the rest.I was a dumbass kid then, twenty-two, thinking I had the answers when it came to taking care of a woman’s pleasure.What I had lacked in skill, I made up for in stamina.Now, with another decade-plus of experience under my belt, I could make her toes curl in record time.

The thought took my concentration and moved it south, thickening my dick.I couldn’t stop the groan that vibrated in my throat.Fuck, she was a living sin, strikingly beautiful beyond words.

She responded to my touch with a palpable intensity—her eyes dilated, and her breath quickened, betraying the heat that surged through her.

She loved it like this, from behind, relishing the way I filled heras I gripped her hips and drove into her.Her squeals and desperate pleas for more sent a fire through me that I didn’t want to be doused.

Memories of her were vivid.Her fists twisted in the sheets, her ass jiggling.She loved it when I wrapped her hair around my fist and tugged.

She had made me feel like a king, claiming her, fucking her until she was a pretty, sweaty mess.

I was hard as steel by the time I wrapped my fingers around my shaft.The precum oozing from my tip served as lube.I used it, coating my cock, imagining it was her tight, hot cunt clenching around instead.Or her mouth.She loved giving head and would get wet sucking on my length, bobbing up and down.Sometimes, I would have her turn around so I could eat her pussy, while other times, I’d settle for fingering her while she gave me great head.Those muffled, throaty moans used to drive me crazy.

The sound of my breathing filled the room as I fucked my fist with her face in my mind’s eye and the memory of her whispers in my ears.“Fuck me, Spencer.Make me come for you.”

My long, low groan was an exclamation point, filling the bedroom as I spurted once, twice, still indulging in memories that had been locked away for years, waiting to be brought out one day.

One thing was clear by the time I got out of bed and walked naked to the bathroom—I had to see her again.No way would I leave things as they were, with her walking out on me.I couldn’t let the team down by risking the worst.There had to be a way to smooth things over.

My mind was made up by the time the first beads of icy water hit my skin.Cold showers always snapped me out of any lingering brain fog, which was what I needed after a restless night full of broken dreams.

There was another task I had to tackle first.My heart was heavy when, still wrapped in a towel post-shower, I texted Miles.He deserved to know what I was juggling, especially since he’d come clean with me the minute we heard Damian was digging into his past in London.

Me:Give me a call when you can.Not an emergency.

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