Page 46 of Reckless Hearts

Her giggles turn to laughter, and she bites her bottom lip.

“You should see yourself right now.”

My gaze flicks up to her eyes. Even in the dark, they’re blown wide.

Her cheeks are a rosy pink, and I want to know if it’s from the heat or me.

“You should see yourself.” It escapes before I can hold it back, my filter missing in the dark.

Her mouth parts as she sucks in a slow inhale, and I’d do anything to taste it.

Time freezes like an unturned hourglass.

Tension builds between us, steam blocking out the rest of the world.

I dip my head lower.

She tilts her chin up.

I want her more desperately than I’ve ever wanted anything.

Not a win. Not a championship. Not the gold buckle I’ve spent my life chasing.

None of it compares to her breath warming my lips.

“Do you really hate him?”

Her words are a slap, reality crashing in.

I shift away from her.

Hell. Did I just read her wrong?

She’d been so close we shared the air between us… and while I’d been consumed by the need to taste her, she’d been thinking about Maverick.

My gut curdles.

Acid claws up my neck.

I have to count to ten before I can answer.

“I knew this was coming eventually,” I say lowly. “I just didn’t think it would be now.”

“Is that what’s keeping you up?” I ask.

“Part of it.”

She hums. “I need you to help me understand. Because no matter how I look at it, I can’t make sense of it.”

I’m not as fast with a response as I should be.

An immediate yes should spring from my lips, a restatement of how much I hate him. That nothing could make me like him again.

But the words are thick in my throat.

When I search myself, I don’t find the same conviction I once had.

It’s not as hard to be around him as it used to be.

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