Page 35 of Hearts Colliding
Everything? I don’t think so…Ryan rubbed at the back of his neck.As quickly as he could, he told Joss everything that didn’t matter about the previous night, and nothing that did.
“So you were deep in enemy territory. Must have been a bit awkward. Did you get a chance to poke around for something incriminating, you know, something we could blackmail him with?”
“Erm, like what?”
“I don’t know, that was for you to find out. Anyway, other than eating microwave dinners, what else happened?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, did you talk about his plans? That’s all I meant.” Joss’ face fell, a picture of hurt, and guilt squirmed in Ryan’s gut. It was his fault for not thinking and opening his big mouth, then letting Joss drag him into the café. If the situation were reversed,he’dwant chapter and verse and wouldn’t give up until he got it.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. It—it was a difficult night. The storm was horrendous, and all I wanted was to get home but I couldn’t leave him stranded, could I? I had to stay, I didn’t have a choice. I kipped on the floor, so I, erm, didn’t get a good night’s sleep.”
He held his breath. Was he saying too much? Was he overdoing it? Would Joss smell the lies?
“See your point. Yeah, must have all been a bit weird. I’m sorry for giving you the third degree.” Joss picked up his coffee, and took a sip, his gaze fixing on Ryan over the rim. “Alex Love, though. I mean, if the situation were different…”
“What?”
Joss put his cup down. “Alex. He’s public enemy number one, so you probably don’t want it getting out that you stayed over with him. Think of all those raised eyebrows and the whispers to go with them. But it doesn’t stop him from being seriously hot, though. And just your sort.”
Ryan’s heart rate picked up.All those raised eyebrows… the whispers…The coffee in his stomach turned sour. Joss had a face as innocent as an angel’s but he was smart and sharp — and right about Alex being the sort who pressed his buttons. He needed to tread very, very carefully.
“Yeah, he’s hot. Can’t deny that.” And complicated and mixed up, cold, and vulnerable, and a whole lot more… “But he’s everything we’re fighting against. Ending up staying at the New House, it was circumstances, that’s all. We didn’t say much about the plans, and we kept our distance.” Their backs to each other, him on the floor, Alex curled into a tight, defensive ball on the sofa. Yeah, they’d kept their distance in the end, no question of that.
“I suppose. But if—”
“There’s nobut if.”
Joss laughed. “Okay, I swear I won’t say another word. I promise. Really.”
Ryan eyed his friend, silently counting down until he broke the promise he’d sworn to keep.
“But, come on, he is really, really good looking,” Joss burst out. “Don’t let Oliver hear me say that, me nearly being a married man and everything, but you’d have to be dead from the neck down to not find him attractive. And like I said, he’s your type. When you went up against him at the meeting, I tell you, the atmosphere was sizzling. Then there was getting caught in a storm, a dramatic rescue, and spending the night in his big posh mansion — I mean, it’s pure romance, so—”
“It’s also a load of crap.” Ryan’s stomach clenched because wasn’t Joss right? “Your imagination’s going into overdrive. Just do me a favour, and not — not speculate? Like you’ve already said, people will put two and two together and come up with five. Or one-hundred-and-five. We’ve got enough of a fight on our hands without gossip and rumour getting in the way.” Even if it was true.
“You’re right. Sorry, Ry.” Joss leaned across and squeezed his hand. “But, you do look kind of good together, even if it is a load of crap like you say. Just a shame he’s the big bad wolf. Look, I’ve got to go because we’ve got a very difficult tortoise booked in. Catch you later.”
“A difficult…?” But Joss was already heading out.
Ryan stared after him.He’s your type… Pushes your buttons… Look good together…Maybe all that was true, but he and Alex had been stopped dead in their tracks, as soon as they’d emptied their balls, and maybe that was best for everybody.
Maybe.
CHAPTERNINETEEN
Alex flopped down on the rough, pebbly sand and stared up into the blue, cloudless sky. The storms of only a few days before might never have been. It was just a shame the same couldn’t be said about his own personal storm, the one still raging inside of him.
“Why did I back off?” His words were met by the squawks of gulls high above, dipping and rising on the thermals. Maybe they were mocking him, but he couldn’t blame them, not when he’d scurried away as he’d run scared.
The high that had carried him into the stratosphere had crashed, taking him oceans deep. He’d opened himself up, confessed to being scared, confessed to it being so long since he’d experienced… closeness. His lips twisted. Closeness. Did he just mean sex? Maybe, with anybody else, but with Ryan it hadn’t beenjust sex. He craved so much more. Closeness. Connection. Reassurance. Ryan had seen it all, had known what he’d needed and given it willingly.
Yet what had he given in return, other than distance and a cold shoulder?
Sitting up, he stared out at the sea and sucked in the salt-laden air. One in, one out, one in, one out, the rhythmic breathing exercise he’d learnt so long ago beginning to soothe his jagged nerves. What had happened, had happened, but it wouldn’t again. He was back in Love’s Harbour to do one thing and one thing only, and when his mission was successfully completed he’d walk away and never, ever look back.
His breathing hitched, and something sharp twisted in his gut.
