Page 60 of Rival Hearts

“Aren’t together. We’re nothing. After she took your signs and lied to me, I talked to her and then stopped taking her calls. I haven’t spoken to her in weeks.” I drew her closer, and she went willingly, wrapping her arms around me. “Feel better?”

She nodded against my chest, and when she sniffed, I tipped her chin up. “You’re crying. You’re not feeling better.”

“I am.” Her voice was thick with unshed tears.

“Why the waterworks?” I passed her a tissue from the box on the counter and studied her.

“I hate that I care.”

“About me?”

“About any of this. I thought you were making a fool out of me.” Her voice hitched on the word fool, and she dabbed at her eyes.

“Hey.” I kissed her forehead. “Hey.”

More tears streaked down her face.

“The only thing I want to make you is happy. That’s it. Nothing else matters to me anymore.”

When she looked up, the last of my resolve crumbled and fell away. I couldn’t remember why being with her was a bad idea, why I’d ever wanted to be anywhere else. Her tear-stained cheeks tugged at the strings of my heart, strumming a song only she could play. Her fingertips grazed my cheek as though she was testing out the contact. Under her lashes, her dark eyes flicked to my lips, and it was all the invitation I needed. Lowering my head, my lips grazed hers, tentative at first, teasing. Would she kiss me back or slap me for trying?

But when I angled my head to deepen the kiss, she sighed into my mouth, and her fingers tangled into my hair, pulling me closer, deeper. I spanned her back with my arms, using my palm to draw her pelvis tight against mine. Then I slid my hand up her thigh, my fingertips just under the edge of her skirt.

Her back arched, and the kiss between us became more insistent, less controlled. Nothing else mattered but the feel of her pressed against me, her breasts skimming my chest, her fingers twisting in my hair, her tongue slipping in and out of my mouth in sync with my own.

I groaned and yanked her forward a little more, needing her to feel how much I wanted this, wanted her. I ached with wanting.

“Grady,” she gasped, breaking the kiss.

I found the hollow of her neck, grazed my teeth against her earlobe and discovered the most sensitive spots, the ones that made her wiggle against me. I could do this all day, touch her, kiss her, taste her. Exploring her was like arriving in a new country, and I wanted to light up all the paths, explore each one, map her body with my hands, then my tongue.

The door creaked. But I ignored the sound. Whoever it was would go away. We were busy. There was a sign on the door.

“I fucking knew you wouldn’t listen to me,” Trent said.

My pulse stuttered to a stop, and I broke off the kiss. I rested my head against hers for a beat, collecting myself, before turning to face Trent.

Fists clenched, Trent was inside the bathroom door, glaring at me, not acknowledging Maggie at all.

Brothers first.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Maggie

Igathered my sweater tighter. Grady angled himself so I could barely make out Trent’s form around his shoulders. I closed my eyes, trying to gather my wits. Why had I let him kiss me? Not just kiss but devour me. If Trent hadn’t come in, how far would we have gone? My body was throbbing, primed for him, desperate for more contact. Half of me wanted to drag him into the stall, pretend Trent wasn’t there at all. Why had Trent come in here? Did no one care that it was the ladies’ room?

“I fucking told you to leave her alone,” Trent said.

At that, I hopped down from the counter and straightened my skirt. I wasn’t a kid anymore. Beside Grady, I put my hand on the small of his back. Unlike last time, we didn’t need to bear this tryst alone, in isolation.

“I know why you’re saying that to him, but whether I’m with him or not is my choice.” I kept my voice even, reasoned. None of us needed this situation to escalate. I’d already been afraid they’d come to blows on the stage earlier. The tension in the room was palpable. When they were younger, they’d be laughing and joking one minute, hurling insults and wrestling the next.Good-natured, if a little violent. That wasn’t the vibe in the room now.

“He didn’t see you.” Trent flicked his hand in Grady’s direction and eyed his brother with disgust.

His meaning was clear, but I was glad he didn’t spell it out in front of his brother. I hoped Grady never knew all the tears I’d cried over his stupid song, how I’d sat across from Trent when I’d visited him in jail and refused to tell him why his brother’s opinion mattered so much. “We can’t go back. We all did dumb things, sometimes for the right reasons, sometimes for the wrong ones. You can’t deny it.”

Trent looked away, pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans. “I never wanted you to get hurt.”

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