Two Hearts: Beyond Control (Two Hearts Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  The air became thick as soon as the doors closed. His fresh clean scent wrapped around me like an ocean breeze. Intoxicated me. I tried not to look at him but couldn’t resist the strong pull. I shifted my eyes. Just one tiny peek.

  He was watching me, casually leaning against the far wall. A faint smile played on his lips. Mischief sparkled in his warm brown eyes when they locked on mine.

  My pulse raced, his effect on me magnified in this small space.

  Will draped his other arm across my chest, pulling me into a tight embrace. His possessive hold suggested even he was able to feel the energy between Nico and me. He reminded me of a boy on the playground, clutching his favorite toy so the other kids couldn’t take it away.

  The elevator stopped at our floor. Will ushered me out as soon as the doors opened, without saying a word.

  I risked a glance at Nico as I passed, wondering if I would ever see him again.

  He simply winked and flashed that sexy smile.

  Chapter Five

  Seeds of Doubt

  We pulled up in front of Jen’s house a full thirty minutes ahead of schedule.

  “Told you we had plenty of time.” I glanced at Will as I reached behind my seat to grab my bag. No doubt he knew exactly what I was referring to, but his stoic expression concealed whatever thoughts he had on the subject.

  As I climbed out of the passenger side of Will’s car, my sister’s front door flew open, releasing a three-foot-eight blur of energy named Caden. I stooped and braced for impact.

  “Aunt Danni!” He ran across the snow-covered lawn and crashed into me with the full force of his forty-pound body. His little arms wrapped tightly around my neck as he planted a sloppy kiss on my face.

  It was perfect.

  “Hey, little man. Happy new year!” I ruffled his mop of blond hair and wrapped my open jacket around him. “You must be freezing. Where’s your coat?”

  “Mom said I didn’t havta wear it, but I couldn’t go out without my boots. See?” He squeezed my shoulders as he lifted one leg, providing the evidence that he’d followed orders. He returned his foot to the ground and continued his excited chatter without missing a beat. “Mom said we havta be extra nice to you ’cause you’re old today.”

  I heard the low rumble of Will’s laughter as he came around the back of the car. Caden’s hand flew up, ready for their customary high-five greeting.

  “You’re the only one who could get away with saying that, buddy.” Will tapped his palm against Caden’s. “What your mom meant is that today is Aunt Danielle’s birthday.” He leaned down to whisper in Caden’s ear, which happened to be right next to mine. “But you don’t want to ask her how old she is.” Will laughed and backed away.

  I released Caden and walked up the shoveled path to the house. Will and Caden tromped through the snow, stopping occasionally to make snowballs and toss them at each other.

  Boys.

  My sister waited inside the door to greet us, her pale face and bloodshot eyes proof that she’d partied hard last night.

  “Happy new year! You look like hell,” I said as I walked into her open arms and squeezed her tight, “but it’s good to see you.”

  Jen laughed, returning the hug. “At least I don’t feel like hell. Happy new year, and happy birthday!”

  I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath through my nose. “Mmm . . . it smells great in here.” The aromas of fresh-baked apple pie and roast pork filled the house, making my mouth water. The cookies I’d eaten on the ride here hadn’t done much to satisfy my hunger.

  “Hey, Danni, happy birthday!” Jen’s husband, Ryan, entered from the kitchen carrying a large bowl of pretzels. “You look as young and beautiful as the first day I met you.” He leaned forward to give me a one-armed hug and kissed my cheek.

  “Now I see why you keep him around.” I winked at Jen and nudged Ryan with my elbow as he released me.

  “Yeah, he has a few redeeming qualities.” Jen brushed the side of her husband’s face with her fingertips. Her sparkling eyes fixed on his, conveying an unspoken message. It was easy to feel the love between them.

  Ryan hooked his arm behind Jen to pull her close then pressed his lips to her ear as he spoke, his volume unaltered. “One of which is making you scream wildly.”

  “Shhh . . .” Jen clamped his lips between her fingers. “You’re awful!” A hint of laughter seasoned her voice, and a rosy glow covered her pale cheeks. She dropped her hand to Ryan’s chest, forcing him to take a step back as she glanced down the hall toward the entrance and the murmur of Will’s voice.

  “That’s not what you said this morn—”

  “Don’t you have a football game to watch or something?” She swept her fingers forward, motioning for him to be on his way.

  Ryan wiggled his eyebrows at Jen and stole a quick kiss before calling to the foyer. “Hey, Will. When you’re ready, there’s a frosted mug with your name on it in the den.”

  “I think I hear it calling. I’ll be right in. Just gotta get this little monkey to sit still long enough to pull off his boots.”

  Jen waited until Ryan neared the den, his chuckling fading as he went, then turned toward me. “I didn’t expect you to get here for at least another hour.” Jen slid her hands in mine as she looked at me then shifted her gaze past my shoulder to glance at Will, studying him for a brief moment. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “So? How’d it go last night?”

  Good question. “You know, I’m not really sure.” I shook my head, remembering the roller coaster of emotions from last night and this morning.

  Jen tilted her head and gave me a questioning stare. “How can you not know? Either—never mind. We’ll talk in a few minutes.”

  Caden raced toward us, offering a welcome interruption. I wasn’t ready to delve into everything that had happened. Hell, I wasn’t even sure what had happened.

  “Mommy, I’m gonna take Uncle Will to the man cave so he can watch football with me and Dad.” Caden tugged on Will’s sleeve. “Come on, Uncle Will.”

  Will gave Jen a quick hug and wished her a happy new year then scooped up his nephew. He draped the giggling four-year-old over his shoulder. “Anybody see where Caden went? He was here a minute ago.”

  Caden’s giggles turned to squeals of laughter. “Uncle Will, I’m back here.” He kicked his legs and pounded his small fists against Will’s back.

  “Well, what the heck are you doing back there?” Will returned Caden to his feet and smoothed the boy’s hair before grabbing his hand. “Come on. Let’s go find your daddy. We’ve got man stuff to do.”

  The two of them disappeared through the family room toward the den.

  Jen took my arm and pulled me into the kitchen. She dropped her cell on the table as she motioned for me to sit then grabbed a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge and two glasses from the cabinet before joining me. She leaned forward, hands folded in front of her, and pinned me with a determined stare. “Alright, spill. What’s going on with you two?”

  For a younger sister, she could be rather bossy at times. I sighed and poured some tea, stalling as I tried to figure out where to start and how much information I wanted to share. Once I got going, everything flowed until I had spilled every detail about the party itself, Will’s attentive behavior, his disappearances, my encounters with Nico, making love with Will, and his shift back to indifference this morning.

  When I finally finished, I looked at Jen, who had been quiet the whole time. Her jaw was hanging down, and her eyes were opened wide.

  “Wow! That has got to be some sort of record.” She pressed the button on her phone to show the time. Fifteen minutes had passed. “You really needed to get that off your chest, didn’t you?”

  I shrugged, not quite sure what I needed. “I think I’m just confused. Aside from a few bumps in the road, last night was great. Amazing, even.” I paused, remembering how great the sex had been last night. My smile faded as I shook off the memory. “But this morning—I don’t know
what happened.” I took a giant gulp of my iced tea to wash down the lump that had formed in my throat.

  Jen hesitated, poking at an ice cube in her glass. “Maybe . . . I don’t know. Are you sure last night wasn’t just an act or something?” She paused to look at me then reached across the table and took my hand. “You said yourself that he was being more affectionate and playful than he’d been in months.”

  “So you think he just pretended to care last night? That’s pretty insulting, don’t you think?” I could hear the pain in my voice but couldn’t decide if it was there because her question hurt or because a small part of me was afraid it could be true. I tried to pull my hand away, but she tightened her grip.

  “Don’t get defensive. Just hear me out, okay?” She waited until I nodded to confirm my willingness to listen. “I know Will cares about you, loves you. He understood how stressed you were about turning forty—”

  “Still am.”

  Jen narrowed her eyes then continued. “Alright, how stressed you are about turning forty. Maybe he was trying his best to give you a happy memory of that night.” A timer went off, but Jen continued talking as she got up to remove her pie from the oven. “I think what I keep getting stuck on is that you described his behavior as being more than just that, almost like he was trying too hard. You know, overcompensating for something?”

  “I don’t know what you’re getting at.” I grabbed our empty glasses and carried them to the sink then washed the peppers that were sitting out.

  Jen was piling the pork into a bowl. She paused with the ladle in the pot and faced me. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she spoke, her voice gentle. “Do you really buy that story about a fight?” She held up her index finger to ward off an interruption. “Think about it, Danni. Wouldn’t other people have heard or seen it? Stuff like that usually causes a big commotion.”

  I paused to let her think I was considering the possibility. “Of course I believe it. Will wouldn’t lie to me about something like that.” I crossed my arms, tensing as a sudden chill ran through me.

  “Maybe you just want to believe him. You know it would be easy to confirm his story. Prove me wrong.” Jen raised her brows as she looked at me then looked at her phone on the table. “All you have to do is call Elevations and ask.”

  “I’m not calling.” My sister moved toward the phone herself, as I’d expected, but I reached the table first. I stood facing her, my arms still crossed. “And neither are you. If it were Ryan, would you trust him, or would you call to check his story?”

  “If I thought he was lying and feeding me some ridiculous bullshit line to cover what he was really doing? Yes. I’d call in a heartbeat!” She reached around me and picked up her phone then held it out to me. “You taught me to be tough, Danni. So when are you going to learn to stand up for yourself?”

  I drew in a shaky breath before answering, my voice quiet and laced with despondence. “Will always says that a good marriage is built on trust.” I took the phone, turned it over in my hand, and placed it back on the table. Squaring my shoulders, I stared into Jen’s eyes and hoped I looked more confident than I actually felt. “I trust my husband.”

  “Mommy!” Caden’s voice echoed through the family room as he ran to the kitchen, allowing me to escape my sister’s inquisition. “Daddy and Uncle Will wants to know when the food’s gonna be ready.” He stretched on his toes to get a better view of the pie cooling on the counter. “Mmmm, can I have some of that?”

  I loved this little guy as if he were my own and couldn’t resist the chance for another hug, especially after that emotionally draining conversation. Kneeling down to wrap my arms around him, I placed a kiss on his soft, warm cheek. “You bet you can. And I bet Mommy has vanilla ice cream to go with it.”

  “Yum! So we can eat now?”

  “As soon as Daddy and Uncle Will are ready. Can you tell them?”

  Caden started calling out his message for Will and Ryan as he ran back through the house.

  When I turned to face my sister, she stood watching me with her hands on her hips.

  “We’re not finished with this conversation, just so you know.” She picked up the bowl of pork and walked toward the dining room.

  I groaned, wondering when and how our roles got reversed.

  Will bounced into the kitchen a few minutes later with Caden riding piggyback. They were singing “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers,” and I couldn’t tell which one of them was having more fun.

  “Hey, monkey,” I said, prying Caden off Will. “You want to help set the table?”

  “Sure!”

  I handed him a basket of utensils and a stack of napkins, and he took off for the dining room, almost crashing into his mom as they passed in the doorway.

  “Dinner smells great, Jen.” Will leaned against the counter, next to where I was working, and reached in front of me to grab a strip of red bell pepper. He held it up for me to take a bite before popping the rest of it in his mouth.

  “That’s because my wife is an amazing cook,” Ryan said as he entered the room. He hugged Jen from behind and nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “Among other things.”

  She turned in his arms, clasped her hands around his neck, and pulled him down for a kiss.

  A sense of pride swelled inside me as I watched them, seeing her so happy. Even after eight years of marriage, they always needed some sort of physical contact whenever they were together, almost as if they were magnetically drawn to each other. Maybe Will and I were that way in the beginning, but I couldn’t remember it.

  “Alright. You two are sickening.” Will grabbed Ryan by the shoulders and guided him toward the dining room. “Get moving before I lose my appetite.” Will collected the tray of veggies from the counter with one hand and took my hand in his other, then he placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Let’s go eat.”

  Chapter Six

  Blind Devotion

  Will brushed his hand along my arm as we pulled into the garage around ten that evening. “Wake up, babe. We’re home.”

  I collected my things and got out of the car, my movements automated. Thoughts of a long, hot shower and a good night’s sleep served as my only motivation. Jen’s words ran through my head the whole ride home, accompanied by the pounding bass of Will’s head-banging playlist of eighties rock bands. Better add aspirin to that list of things I’m looking forward to.

  After dinner, Jen had upheld her threat to resume interrogating me on Will’s behavior, telling me she admired my devotion to my marriage but worried about my blind trust. “Just promise me you’ll think about everything I’ve said . . . and keep your eyes open,” she had said.

  When that topic ran dry, she moved on to Nico, though I didn’t know why. She seemed entertained by my juvenile reaction to him, gushing as she recounted a similar encounter with Ryan when they first met and babbling something about chemical attraction. I was half-afraid she was going to suggest braiding each other’s hair and swapping first-kiss stories at any minute.

  I followed Will into the house, lost in my thoughts. If he realized I hadn’t spoken, he didn’t mention it. He tossed his wallet and keys on the kitchen table, kicked off his shoes beside one of the kitchen chairs, and slung his jacket over the back of it. His usual routine. I paused for a moment then decided I could wait until morning to straighten up.

  I slipped on my nightgown after a nice, long shower and crawled into bed, anxious for sleep to take away the uneasy feeling I’d had all evening. I clung to the edge of the king-sized mattress, my back toward Will’s half of the bed.

  The covers lifted as he climbed in and slid over to spoon me, not taking the hint that I wanted to be left alone. My body tensed as his hand caressed my waist then skimmed over my hip to my thigh. He pushed my nightgown up as he retraced the path and pulled me against him.

  “I get that you’re upset about this morning.” His lips grazed my jaw when he spoke. “It’s still your birthday, you know. Just in case you feel like open
ing your present one more time.” He rocked his hips, pressing his semi-hard erection against my backside.

  I raised my hand to rub the arm he’d draped across me. “I’m really tired. It’s been a long two days.”

  Will rolled to his back without a word and tucked his hands behind his head. Several minutes of awkward silence passed as the tension hanging between us grew.

  “Have you ever lied to me?” My eyes flew open wide, and I held my breath. The thought had been gnawing at me for hours, but I’d never intended to just blurt it out.

  He remained quiet, making me wonder if he was already asleep. I hoped he was.

  “That’s a loaded question,” he finally said. “Everyone tells lies . . . sometimes they’re a good thing if they prevent hurting the other person.”

  “Is that what happened last night?” I cringed and bit the inside of my lip.

  Will’s voice was calm when he answered. “What exactly are you asking me, Danielle?” His arm moved, and I imagined him rubbing his forehead the way he did when he didn’t want to talk about something. As he continued speaking, I could hear his struggle to maintain a placid tone. “What do you think I lied about? Because I put in a lot of work to make your birthday special. For you.”

  The mattress shifted. Will got out of bed and grabbed his phone off the night table.

  I propped myself on one elbow and watched as he walked toward the door. “Where you going?”

  Will turned to face me, illuminated by the glow of the nightlight in the hallway. He leaned into the door frame with an exaggerated sigh. “Kitchen. I’m thirsty . . . you want something?”

  “No.” I dropped my head back to the pillow and pulled the covers up to my chin. “Nothing.”

  As he walked away, I glanced over my shoulder at the bottle of water on his nightstand. My eyes fell closed, but I couldn’t escape Jen’s words as they echoed through my throbbing head.