Tangled Hearts (Evermore 4 Book Box Set)

by ANDREA SMITH

  Chapter 5

  My eyes swept over him surreptitiously. I could see that Seth had matured physically, and I was fucking impressed.

  Taller than even two and a half years prior, he had to be six-one, maybe six-two. He was muscular and tanned; his hair was a bit longer I could tell, even as it fringed out beneath the ball cap he had perched on his head backwards.

  But those eyes?

  Even in the darkness the blue was radiant. He looked like a fucking rock star and he wore that look well.

  “I wasn’t running away,” I finally sputtered, “I was just going up to my house.”

  “Ah,” he replied, cockily, eyeing me with no reservation. Most likely he was taking the same physical inventory with his blue orbs that I’d just taken with my brown ones. I wondered how I measured up in Seth’s eyes?

  I was five feet four and a half, and had been for the past year, so I didn’t think I’d be getting any taller than that anytime soon. I was slender, and my dark blonde hair fell well past my shoulders. I’d been thinking about going blonder, but up to this point, I’d not taken that step.

  “Looks like you filled out some,” was his remark. “You look good.”

  “Ditto,” I replied, my teeth tugging at my bottom lip as my pulse quickened. What was left to say here?

  “You staying here by yourself?” he asked, nodding up towards the yard where our house sat.

  “Yep. Dad’s on a cruise with the wife. I thought your family was in Aspen?” I immediately regretted the last remark because, well, because it made it obvious that I somehow knew their business, or more accurately, his business.

  “Got back yesterday. You know Laura and Kent with their New Year’s Eve parties. It’s a tradition with them.”

  I laughed lightly.

  That was a fact.

  I remembered the years I had lived here that every New Year’s Eve the Drakes would host a big party. Mama and Daddy had even gone on a couple occasions. When we were younger, they made sure one of the staff kept the children entertained with rented movies, pizzas and soda, and out of the hair of the adults who were there for one purpose and one purpose only: to party until at least some of them puked.

  “What are you thinking about, Tennessee?” he asked softly, bringing me back to the present.

  It seemed perfectly natural in that second to hear him call me “Tennessee.” So natural, that I didn’t even hesitate before answering. “Just thinking about the parties your folks had when mine came over, and how we used to spy on some of the celebrities that got totally wasted. Too bad I didn’t have this camera then,” I finished, tapping the one that hung around my neck.

  Seth chuckled too. “No shit. You could’ve sold some of them for major bucks. Neighborhood paparazzi, right?”

  I nodded but remained silent. That word. Paparazzi. It held some major negative vibes for me and I guess it always would. But for that, my parents might still be together this day. But deep down, I knew that wasn’t the truth. It might have expedited the split, but I was old enough now to see the truth. Their split was inevitable. They’d outgrown one another; they had different dreams. It happened. No sense in dwelling on the past.

  “So, pretty nifty camera you’ve got there. You taking up a different hobby?” he asked.

  “Just a new one,” I replied, and deep within me my heart ached to tell him all about the photos I’d taken this evening.

  Sharing.

  It was one of the things Seth and I had done.

  A million years ago.

  He nodded, and started to say something more when someone from down on the beach hollered up to us. “Seth! Dude! Come on! Need to get some more refreshments down here. What the hell kind of party is this, man?”

  “I’m coming, Jack!” he hollered back, “Chill your shit, man!”

  He turned back to me. “Hey, well it’s been nice seeing you, Neely. I got a party to get back to. You living back here now or just visiting?”

  So, he didn’t know.

  I was sure Laura had seen me breeze by on more than one occasion, though I made it a point not to look over when I drove past. I just felt funny about everything.

  “Living here,” I replied. “Since September. Do you like New York?”

  “Ah, yeah, New York is badass. I go back on the tenth. Can hardly wait.”

  He stepped back and shoved his hands into the pocket of his cargo pants, “Well, I gotta jet, Neely. Take care.”

  As he turned to leave, something inside of me screamed to not let him leave without hearing something more from me. “Seth,” I called out, “About the letter—”

  His face contorted into something that resembled pure anger, though since I’d never seen Seth angry, I couldn’t be sure of it. “Don’t,” he snapped, and then calmed immediately. “Don’t give it another thought, Tennessee. I haven’t. Our lives are both good, yeah?”

  I nodded slowly. Even though it wasn’t quite true for me.

  “Then that’s all that fucking matters.”

  And then he was gone.

  chapter 6

  It was just after midnight when I was awakened by a loud pounding on our front door, along with the intermittent ringing of the doorbell.

  What the hell?

  I jumped from my bed and padded down the hallway and into the large entrance hall where I could see someone standing out front in the cut glass side views. I peered through one of them and gasped in surprise.

  It was Seth.

  As soon as I opened the door, I could see it was an inebriated Seth. I was stunned by the fact that he was standing there with what looked like a bottle of champagne dangling in one hand, and a shit-eating grin on his face.

  “Seth?” I said, my sleepy confusion was apparent.

  “Yeah, Neely, it’s me. Happy Fucking New Year!” he shouted, taking the open door as an invitation for him to sweep inside the house as if he were invited. “Let’s toast 1997, babe. This is some freaking Dom Perignon I snagged from the party. Where’re your champagne glasses?”

  I was still dealing with the fact that he’d left his friends to come over here. “Wait. What?”

  “It’s champagne. It’s what people drink to toast the New Year in, okay?”

  His eyes were doing a bugging out thing that quite frankly, I didn’t care for one little bit. It was if he thought I was some back woods hillbilly that didn’t comprehend the whole toasting thing on New Year’s Eve, and hell no, I didn’t appreciate that shit one bit.

  “Now you just wait one damn minute, Seth Drake! You don’t come over to my house in the dead of night to treat me like some ignorant hill jack, got it?”

  He smirked, cocking his head a bit. “Yeah, Tennessee, I got it. Didn’t mean to be an ass,” he relented, giving me his crooked grin. “So, how about it? Will you have a glass of champagne with me?”

  “Well, maybe just one,” I conceded, heading into the dining room to get the glasses.

  My one glass of champagne turned into three, but Seth was way ahead of me in that regard. I noticed he hadn’t finished his first glass yet. Had that been his plan?

  “So,” I said, “Is the party over at your house? Is that why you’re here?”

  “Nooo,” he said softly, taking the glass from me and placing it on the coffee table. “That’s not why I’m here, Neely.”

  My skin prickled with goose bumps as his eyes assessed me brazenly. I was wearing the pink silk nightie that Tiffany had given me for Christmas. And by the way Seth was perusing me, I might as well have been sitting next to him naked. “Why are you here?”

  He shrugged. “Not sure. I just felt like our conversation earlier was cut short, I guess. A lot of things were left unsaid.”

  I shifted, tucking a leg underneath me and turned my body towards him on the sofa. “Listen, Seth, about what I wrote—”

  “No, Neely,” he cut in, “I don’t want to talk about that damn letter. Not now or ever. I want to tal
k about how beautiful you looked when I first saw you again. Tonight on the beach. The moon and the stars as your backdrop. Just you and me in the darkness. It felt…I don’t know how to explain it…it felt surreal. I guess I never figured I see you again. That you’d never come back here for any reason.”

  It struck me as odd that Seth had given it so much thought, one way or the other, but the fact he’d just said as much, made me feel a bit giddy. Or maybe the champagne was just kicking in, either way, I felt giddy and warm.

  He was watching me. It was my turn to say something I realized. “So much has happened, Seth. I don’t even know where to start.”

  “How about we start right here?”

  Before I could process the meaning of his words, his lips crashed down upon mine with a passionate hunger that took me by surprise. In the same moment, his body pressed against mine, his weight pinning me against the couch pillows. I finally was able to struggle free from him.

  “Seth—Seth, wait.”

  He pulled back; his voice was now husky with need. “I don’t want to wait for you a minute longer, Neely. Don’t you understand? I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to be with you, to make love to you, to be inside of you. Are you going to deny me this? Tell me to go, and I swear to God, I’ll go. Tell me, Neely, tell me to walk out that goddamned door and I’m gone. Say those words to me.”

  But I couldn’t say those words. If I said those words to him they would all be a lie and I knew it. My heart knew it, and my soul was sure of it.

  “No. I don’t want you to go, Seth. I want you to stay.”

  I stood up from the sofa, and held my hand out for him to take. He did, rising up to stand next to me. His eyes peered down at me, and I could tell that my words registered by the quiet calm in his face.

  For a moment we just stood there, face to face, gazing into one another’s eyes for the truth. I knew he could see mine, but when I looked into his blue eyes, I was having trouble reading his. It wasn’t like me to not be able to read Seth’s emotions, but then again, a lot might’ve changed over the past couple of years.

  So, I did the responsible thing. I broke the silence with four simple words: “Do you have protection?”

  Chapter 7

  We were in my bedroom, lying buck naked on my bed, with nothing but votive candles lit on my dresser. Tiffany had insisted the staff distribute Christmas scented votives all throughout the house for the holidays. Right now they served up a sensual tone rather than a festive one.

  Chalk one up for ole Tiffany I thought to myself as I admired Seth’s body. He didn’t seem to mind. “Like what you see, Neely?”

  And that caused me to blush, because yeah, I’d been pretty obvious about eye fucking him. But then, I was a virgin so this was a pretty big deal for me. I wasn’t about to go into this with my eyes wide shut and miss it all. I was an artist, and a ‘maybe’ photographer some day, so everything was a visual opportunity from my perspective. Maybe it would even inspire an awesome element for my “Sin” montage.

  “Second thoughts?” Seth whispered as he turned on his side and ran his fingers slowly along the swell of my breasts. He moved his face to my neck, and allowed his tongue to gently trace a path along my collarbone. I shivered, and rose to my knees, my body now faced his as he reclined on his side, his chin now perched on the knuckles of his right hand.

  “No, but you need to know something, Seth. This will be my first time, and I make no apologies for my lack of sexual expertise.”

  There. I had put it out there. No mincing words for me, because that wasn’t my style and Seth knew it.

  He drew up from his reclined position, and scooted closer to me. One hand cupped my chin and he tilted my face upward. His gaze penetrated mine and, for a second, I saw a flicker of something pass over his face.

  Was it surprise? Did he simply presume that I’d replaced him with someone else, or that I could have even done that so easily?

  Doubt? But why would he doubt me? Did he really think two years had changed me into someone who regarded sex with casual nonchalance?

  Indecision? Was he having second thoughts now?

  Whatever it was, it was gone in a flash. He lowered his lips to mine and kissed them softly. “Whatever you say, baby.”

  And then I looped my arms around his neck to pull him even closer because this was Seth. And for this moment, he was mine again. I wanted him to claim me, to make me his again. I craved our lost connection. I wanted the time and distance that had come between us to be irrevocably removed, if not forever, then at least for now.

  Our naked bodies were now pressed against one another, and I felt his bold erection between us. I gasped just a little.

  Seth pulled one of my arms from around his neck, and moved my hand downward between us, placing my hand where he wanted it. I closed my fingers around his erection, not sure just how careful I needed to be when handling it.

  He must’ve sensed my apprehension. “Monty won’t break, Neely. I’ll let you know if you get too rough, don’t worry.”

  And I immediately felt more at ease, smiling against his lips at the reference to “Monty.”

  He remembered.

  I refused to allow thoughts of Seth being with other girls over the past couple of years invade my thoughts. It was none of my business. He’d had every right to move on after I’d left the note for him. I didn’t want to know. I only wanted now.

  Seth pressed me back against the mattress so that I was now flat on my back. His eyes flickered over my body, taking in every inch of it with his hungry gaze.

  I did the same with him. His sculpted body mesmerized me. Corded muscles, flat abs, broad chest, strong shoulders, and a chiseled face with just enough five o’clock shadow present to make him look a bit older than his nineteen years.

  Artists appreciate perfection in every subject matter, and Seth Drake was masculine perfection personified. There was no doubt in my artist’s mind, or from my perspective as a woman. A woman who right now wanted to feel every part of him with her own hands.

  So, that’s what I did. I reached up, letting my hands graze across his powerful thighs slowly and languidly as he straddled me. I explored his manhood tentatively, my fingers testing the flesh in amazement at the different textures of skin. Velvety soft in places, hard muscled and rigid elsewhere.

  He drew in a ragged breath as I continued to stroke him. But like I told him at the start, I wasn’t well-versed by any means in the art of pleasuring a guy. I was going by instinct, something I was sure Cosmo would frown upon.

  Seth abruptly changed his position, causing my hand to release him, and spread my thighs with his knees as he now took his place between them.

  He crouched over me, his mouth hot and wet, covered a breast and soon his tongue circled the nipple. But he wasn’t going to linger there for long. He moved his attention lower, his lips skimmed my belly and then moved down even further.

  I gasped as I felt his lips and tongue invade my folds masterfully, my knuckles blanched as I gripped the bottom sheet tightly with my fingers, allowing a soft moan to escape on my next exhaled breath. I could not only hear the wetness, I could feel it between my thighs as Seth made soft sweet love to me with his mouth and tongue.

  “Please!” I pleaded, my body now consumed with this innate need to feel his fullness inside of me.

  Seth straightened up and grabbed the condom he’d placed on my nightstand when we’d first arrived in my room.

  With his eyes boring into mine, he ripped the corner with his teeth, and extracted the condom. In one swift motion, he rolled the latex onto his length, and my mind registered the fact that he did this with practiced precision.

  Don’t go there, Neely.

  He now hovered over me, resting his weight upon his arms braced on either side of me. I felt his warm breath caress my cheek as he whispered huskily, “Are you ready, Neely?”

  I nodded quickly. Better to have the first part over wi
th as quickly as possible and replace the pain with pleasure I decided.

  Seth’s lips met mine as he guided himself with one hand, and then pressed himself inside of me in one, swift and deliberate thrust. I felt a sharp stab of flashing pain and despite my resolve not to, I groaned. Seth stilled immediately. I could feel the thunderous beating of his heart against my own. I sucked in a deep breath, wondering if that was as bad as it would get.

  “You okay?” he murmured gently, his lips placing soft kisses along my jaw line. “Want me to stop?”

  “No,” I answered quickly. “I think the worst is over.”

  He then slowly and methodically moved inside of me. The pain started to ebb and I realized that I wasn’t split in half. I had survived the desecration of my hymen with everything else intact. And now I wanted more.

  I wrapped my legs around his hips firmly, and allowed my body to pull him inside deeper. That was my body’s signal to Seth that all systems were go.

  With our bodies firmly entwined, Seth continued to move and thrust within me. The uncomfortable tightness was quickly replaced with my own body’s instinctual need for sexual pleasuring.

  I moved against him, meeting him thrust for thrust. And when his tempo increased, my body arched up against his until the budding, splintering feeling of having our bodies fused together released the most ecstatic sensations I’ve ever known. It was as if my core had its own pulse as wave after wave of pleasure was released from deep within. I didn’t even try to stifle the primal moans that spilled from my lips, and at the apex of it all, I cried out his name over and over again.

  When he relaxed against me, our breathing was still coming fast and hard. His lips found their way to mine, and I kissed him so hard and fiercely it surprised even me.

  “Seth,” I gasped. “I fucking love you.” And I continued to pepper his face and neck with kisses because I knew what I had said just now was the only truth, and it always had been the truth for me.