In A Heartbeat by Hilary Storm Read Free Book Online Page B

question.” I say , hoping he will play my silly game.
    “Bud or Coors?” He asks me.
    “Neither really. I like rum and coke. Text or Call?” I quickly ask.
    “Usually text, but I have a feeling that will be changing soon. Shower or Bath?”
    “Apparently s hower, but I love taking baths. Pepsi or Coke?”
    “Neither. But if I had to pick, I like Coke products better than Pepsi. Tucked or Untucked?”
    “What?” I am confused.
    “Your sheets , tucked or untucked at the foot of the bed.”
    “Definitely untucked. I feel like I am suffocating if I don’t drape a leg out of the covers. Republican or Democrat?”
    “American. I vote for the person, not the party. Lights On or Off?” I look back at him confused again by his question. Then it dawns on me that his recent questions are insinuating a heck of a lot. Two can play this game.
    “Umm either. Night or Morning?” I ask, and notice he is smiling at my question.
    “Both . Don’t forget about daytime and evening also. Bed or No Bed?”
    “Depends on where we are at.”
    “I like how you said ‘we’.” He turns my head and we are kissing again. This time it is more sensual than overly passionate. He nips at my bottom lip and I had no idea that I loved that until just now. We are still sitting with my back to his chest and I want to deepen the kissing so I flip my legs over the side of the bench seat.
    He starts running his hands through my hair. It is up in a messed up bun. “Take your hair down.” He whispers. I do it and he starts to r un his hands through the full length of it. I usually hate when someone touches my hair, but he has a free pass any day.

    ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
    Talon

    My plan to be distracted is completely working because there is nothing on my mind except Eaven. She is everything that I want in a girl. She has the looks, brains, personality, and sense of humor. This is someone I could spend day after day with and never get tired of her. I had better quit kissing her or I will not be able to hold back any longer.
    I know she has been up for everything I have thrown at her so far, but there are a lot of things we have to talk about before I will go any further with her. This is the part that I don’t want to relive and put out there for anyone else to know about me. How I failed to keep my family safe. How I failed to do the most important job of a father and protect his child.
    “Eaven, I need to tell you some things about me. I am not this happy, carefree person that you seem to bring out in me. I have dark secrets and disappointments that haunt me. You make me forget the old me. I have felt more alive in the past few hours than I have in years , and for that I want to thank you.”
    How do I start this conversation? I know she is not going to understand what I am going through, but I feel like I can talk to her. I guess I should just go for it.
    “I should have become a father today.” I feel her tense up as I say that. I should never have said anything to her. I start to get up.
    “Talon, you can tell me anything. Please don’t be afraid to let me see you, all of you. I don’t ever want there to be any lies or acting between us. What happened? Don’t leave it like this.” She grabs my hand and pulls me back down beside her.
    “My ex-girlfriend, Nicole, and I knew each other since we were kids. She was addicted to pain pills our junior year in high school. I helped her through a lot of difficult times in her life, one of them being getting off of the pain pills to deal with her emotions. After we started dating, she seemed happy and I didn’t really worry too much about her and the pills. Then we moved here our freshman year of college. Things continued to go great until she found out she was pregnant. I wanted to keep the baby and she didn’t. She didn’t handle stress well and went for the pills to help her deal with the newly added stress. One night she overdosed and the baby didn’t make it. Taron and