Page 20 of Hearts Colliding
The crowd had been easy enough to read, the questions thrown his way as predictable as day following night. The only blip had been the shouted out comment about him returning to raise an heir. It had stopped him in his tracks, because there would be no heir. Not in the New House. Not anywhere.
Yet, despite the predictability of the meeting, he was buoyed up, the blood in his veins fizzing. For the first time in so long, he felt himself to be truly challenged. Not by the village community, their concerns and questions were nothing he hadn’t come across a thousand times before, but by the young publican.
The man’s power and energy had radiated from him. It was exciting, when he was so rarely excited anymore. Ryan’s fervour was undeniable, his raw passion for what he believed in could be neither concealed nor contained — and it was everything he had to fight and push back against if he were to get the project through.
On the breeze, the muffled sound of voices met his ear and he cocked his head, narrowing his eyes as he listened. The unmistakable sounds of a noisy, packed pub. Alex snorted. The Fisherman’s Arms, no doubt capitalising on its artisanal gin promotion. The plug had been tongue in cheek, but Ryan was a businessman and hadn’t let the opportunity to drum up trade pass him by. Just as he, too, was a businessman. Maybe they had something in common after all.
On the harbour square, the soft golden light streaming from the low, half timbered pub was picture post card perfect and tempting. The rise and fall of voices, of company, of being a part of a larger whole… A good G&T, or a glass of red, maybe a bite to eat… Alex shook his head. He’d be as welcome as shit on the sole of a shoe. He should go back to the house, but the thought was a depressing one. Was Ryan behind the bar, laughing and joking with the community he was so much a part of? Was he still wearing the ridiculous T-shirt that had stretched tight across his muscular, defined torso, the one he’d raised a disparaging eye to but which had shot a bolt of lust deep into his groin?
The last of the light was fading but he was restless, his body flooded with energy. He’d leave his car in the village, and walk back to the house.
He took the path leading towards High Top, which would fork off in the direction of the house. As he climbed higher, the wind buffeted against him, and he breathed in deep, filling his lungs with salt-tinged air.
Away from the shelter of the harbour, the crash of the waves rolling in from the Atlantic was loud and angry. Alex’s lips twisted into a wry smile. Like the villagers had been, until he’d presented them with a vision of the hell of urban decay, ready and waiting to invade their rural idyll.
It’d been an easy button to press, and it hadn’t been the first time he’d done it, plugging into all those latent fears simmering just below the surface. The eyes that had stared back at him had been a mix of frightened, angry, and dismayed, until he’d shown them an alternative, of what his proposal could mean… Then, he’d seen something else, just as he knew he would: calculation. New opportunities, and a better chance of keeping children and grandchildren close. The solid wall of opposition, as ever, held a few loose bricks. He’d met each and every pair of eyes, but the eyes that had seared into his, with an intensity that had made his stomach flip and his skin tingle, had been deep blue, burning with confidence and a keen intelligence, eyes that refused to look away, eyes that—
Alex tripped, only just stopping himself from falling flat on his face. Lost in his thoughts, he’d wandered from the narrow path. He looked around himself, to get his bearings. How had it got this dark, so quickly? Perhaps leaving the car behind hadn’t been his smartest idea.
“Have you forgotten how dangerous these hills can be? Stumbling around them in the dark isn’t the smartest. Reckon you’ve been away too long.”
Alex jumped and swung around, his heartbeat racing at the disembodied voice he’d recognise anywhere.
Ryan, little more than a shadow, took a step closer. Alex’s heart thudded. It was the shock of a voice in the darkness, that was all, of encountering a stranger on a lonely stretch of upland. Except, Ryan was no stranger.
“Were you following me?”
“Why would I be doing that?” Ryan stepped in closer and cocked his head, and Alex resisted the urge to stagger backwards. “You’re safe out here. This is Love’s Harbour. What do you think is going to happen to you?”
Ryan was so close Alex could feel the other man’s breath breeze over his face. Alex’s heart rate picked up another gear, going into overdrive. Ryan was the only man in so long who’d stepped up to challenge him, fearless and passionate in a way Alex had never been. A man whose physicality sparked a primitive, naked desire, sending his pulse racing, and stiffening his cock.One breath in, one breath out…His heart rate, at least, began to steady.
“That was a good sales pitch you made in there.” Ryan jabbed his thumb over his shoulder, towards the village. “Conjuring up visions of squalor, and swarms of grungy squatters invading the place. Very clever, pressing all the buttons.”
Pressing all the buttons… Just as Ryan was pressing his.
“I wasn’t spinning anybody a line. Everything I said was true. The only options for the New House and the estate are development or decay. What I’m proposing will add to the village, not—”
“I heard it all, remember? And I don’t buy any of it.”
“I don’t care whether youbuy it, or not.”
“This village will fight you all the way.”
“I’m not looking for a fight.”
“Aren’t you? What is it you are looking for then, Alex? Hmm?”
“I…” Whatever words he had, whatever defence, dissolved into nothing as Ryan moved in even closer.
“What is it? Cat got your tongue? Where’s your slick, smooth answer now?”
The buffeting breeze that had wound its way around them softened, and fell away. All Alex could hear was the rush of blood in his veins and the heavy, ragged pound of his heart; even the never ending crash of waves against the cliffs had fallen silent.
“You still haven’t told me, Alex. What is it you really want?”
Without thought for what was to come, Alex rested his palm against Ryan’s warm cotton clad chest. The beat of a heart no less frantic than his own thudded through him. What did he want? He’d never been able to truly answer that question, but for now he’d settle for this.
Alex closed his eyes as warm, strong hands clasped him on either side of his face and tilted his head to the side.
