Page 79 of Cross Check Hearts

She smiles at me for a second and takes another longing look at the mask before she returns it to the closet and hangs it back up where she found it. She reaches for the nearest of my sweaters, and although it’s obviously too big for her, when she slides it over her head it still looks perfect on her—just like everything else.

“Do you mind if I get some air for a second?” she asks, gesturing past me at the sliding glass door leading to the small balcony beyond it.

“Sure.” I step over to the door to unlock and open it, and although it’s late October, a gust of unseasonably warm air rushes in.

Smiling, Hannah walks past me out onto the balcony and rests her hands on the railing, staring out at the view and letting the wind lift her beautiful dark hair. Watching her like this feels like being part of some Hollywood production, like the starlet of the day is standing on my balcony and getting her glamour shot taken. I step out behind her and settle onto one of the chairs I keep out on the balcony.

She sighs and turns around, resting her back against the railing. “This is amazing. You’d never get me off here if I had something like this.”

“Well, anytime you want to enjoy it, it’s yours.”

Hannah smiles and sits down across from me. We sit admiring the view and enjoying each other’s quiet company, and I don’t feel like I need to say a word. This is perfect. We don’t have to say or do anything. As long as I’m spending time with her, that’s all I need. But when I glance over at her and see how tired she looks, worry twists in my stomach. She’s been pushing herself super hard since I got to town, and I’m sure that isn’t new for her, but I don’t want her to burn herself out.

Maybe it isn’t my place to ask, but I’m genuinely concerned, so I decide to test the waters.

“Can I ask you something?” I say slowly.

“Sure,” she says as she leans back in her chair and her eyes flutter shut.

“Is studying law what you really want to do?” She sits perfectly still in the chair with her legs extended and her hands resting on her stomach, but inside, I bet her mind’s going a thousand miles an hour. She takes several seconds of quiet before she finally opens her eyes and brings them back to mine.

“No, it isn’t,” she says so quietly that I barely make out the words. It’s probably the first time she’s ever said it out loud, but I highly doubt it’s the first time she’s ever thought it. “But I have to stick it out with school. Law’s not my passion, but I want the stability that a career in it will bring me.”

“That’s understandable. But there are lots of other paths to stability. Based on what I’ve seen, I think yoga could do that for you too.”

Hannah considers me for a second, turning my words around in her head. “Maybe, but I don’t want my parents to constantly worry about me being able to provide for myself if I tried to start my own studio. And I know they would.”

“I think you could do anything you put your mind to, and I’m sure your parents think so too.”

She smiles at me, but the soft hiss of rain cuts off the conversation. Hannah doesn’t seem like she wants to go inside, but I don’t want her catching a cold when she’s already running so low, so I stand up. “We should go inside.”

Hannah stands up too, but she walks over to me and takes both my hands in hers to squeeze them. “Stay here with me. Please?”

I look down into her gorgeous blue-and-green eyes as they search my face, silently pleading. She looks absolutely stunning with the setting sun’s rays hitting her perfect skin and rain drops falling around her, giving her a halo. I can’t tell her no for anything, so I pull her into my arms and lift one of her hands with mine to lead us in a slow dance. She chuckles as she follows my lead, and although there’s no music, I hear a symphony in my head.

Because as we slowly sway, our bodies and hands pressed together in perfect sync, I feel something powerful swelling between us. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but it’s a pull, a gravitation like she’s the sun in my solar system. Like she’s everything I want my life to revolve around. And in so many ways, she already is.

It feels just like that first night we met, when we crashed into each other at Opal and Oak. Even though she was wearing a mask, her beauty just about knocked me on my ass. But she’s just as gorgeous and alluring on the inside. As we dance among the raindrops, I’m more convinced than ever that we were supposed to meet, that something like fate brought us back together here in Denver.

And I’m done resisting it.

I lean down to kiss her, and she meets me halfway. I swear I feel sparks fly when our lips touch, and the whole world fades away as I lose myself in the feeling of her soft, full lips moving against mine.

When we break apart, she looks up at me with her eyes on fire. “Now take me inside.”

Chapter35

Hannah

We stumble into Declan’s condo together, soaking wet and tangled up in each other’s arms. But even through it all, our lips stay locked, and our kissing is getting more heated and frantic as our hands tear across each other’s bodies, picking and pulling at each other’s clothes in a desperate attempt to peel the wet and sticky articles off.

I don’t know how we make it without incident, but somehow, we get to Declan’s bedroom without a fall, and as we keep kissing and stripping each other down, Declan pulls back to take my face in both his hands. “Are you feeling okay for this?”

“Better than okay,” I insist and kiss him again, but he stops me one more time.

“Alright. But you’re in charge.”

I grin at his words as heat spreads inside me. “Oh, I’m in charge, huh?”

---