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Rubbing her arms, he slowly turned around to face her.
“Good.” He leaned down to kiss her as her arms wrapped around his neck. He could already feel the pull of wanting her again, and he needed more than just her body. Hannah Paletti had been his unfinished business, the one that got away, and now he knew why he could never quite forget her.
He loved her.
Holy shit, did he really just think that?
“What’s wrong? Your face just went confused.”
“I just, um, I think I was supposed to touch base with the task force today,” he said, trying to recover. He shook his head as if he could fling away the feel of his heart pounding and warmth that spread over him. He wasn’t ready to tell her what he was thinking, and he doubted she would be receptive to hearing it.
“Okay, we can skip breakfast. It’s cutting it close for me anyway.”
“Nah, the place I have in mind is fast. Besides, what kind of man would I be after wearing you out all night to then send you to work on an empty stomach?” He lifted her off her feet to hug her and kiss her smiling mouth.
“You wore me out? I seem to remember I was the one who had to coax you awake that second time last night by straddling your—”
His mouth enveloped hers before she could finish her sentence, but not before the memory of her rocking over him in the middle of the night popped into his mind. She was sexy, desirable, and loving. He loved her and wanted to keep her forever. Now the stakes were even higher, no matter what happened with Mariah. If he couldn’t prove his innocence, he’d have to at least prove to Hannah how much he cared for her, or she would never let herself love him back.
Chapter Seventeen
Hannah couldn’t stopsmiling and then crying. It was a vicious cycle. First she would think about how amazing her night and morning were with Conner. The next moment, she remembered she couldn’t tell anyone, and she couldn’t keep him. Her throat tightened and tears began to fall as she laced up her sneakers while sitting on the side of the bed in her simple paramedic uniform.
There was no use getting upset about it. Hurting Parker wasn’t an option. Disappointing her family was a non-starter. There was only one person who had any power to make things right, and Mariah Gordon would never admit that she’d lied. It was probably naive, but Hannah believed Conner without a doubt that he hadn’t slept with Mariah. But it didn’t matter what she believed. It only mattered what they could prove. In the end, she knew there was no future for them.
Standing, she grabbed her things. As long as she could compartmentalize her feelings for Conner, she could at least enjoy some time with him before it ended.
She tortured herself with what-ifs throughout her ten-hour shift until she was struck with an idea.
Mariah loved to attend posh events so she could post it all over her social media. She liked to document every aspect of her life to look glamorous, like a nonstop party. Hannah discovered this when she went down an internet rabbit hole to figure out who Mariah had turned into. There was a chance her ego was too big to attend the charity gala, but there were several of the D.C. elite pledging their support, and local professional athletes. Maybe Hannah could somehow trick Mariah into thinking she was a sought-after social media influencer and get her to attend the gala. Then she could confront her about what happened with Conner.
That night, she emailed an invitation to Mariah’s social media page from the community center fundraiser account. It was worth a shot for a chance to expose the woman who had destroyed her brother, ruined a friendship, and stood in the way of a relationship with Conner.
Then Hannah took a shower and put on her coziest pjs, made some tea, and sat down in her living room. It was eleven o’clock, and her body felt like she’d attempted a triathlon. She checked her phone. No new messages. Conner had reached out earlier to remind her about dinner at his parents’ tomorrow. She had managed to give away her shift so she could attend, but was still unsure that was the best move. Half of her dreaded it, and the other half looked forward to spending time with him and his family.
The Maguires were a close-knit, hard-working family with a well-respected name in the area. Conner’s mother was a judge, and his father a retired police commissioner. His only sister lived in New York, and his other two brothers were local: one a cop, the other an attorney. She suspected his family get-togethers mirrored her family’s, with one big difference: his mother.
Hannah had always wondered what it would have been like if she’d had her mom growing up. Would there have been more softness, more outward signs of love, and girlier activities? No one taught Hannah how to do her makeup, unless you counted the ladies at the cosmetics counters in the mall. No one told her about becoming a woman, until the school nurse had to show her how to use feminine hygiene products. She’d never had a consistent female role model in her life.
Her father was loving and a great provider, and her brothers always looked out for her, but it wasn’t the same. She’d inevitably been a guy’s girl, but then, even that changed in high school when her hips and her boobs grew. Guys who had been her friends started to look at her differently, and her brothers got into fights to defend her honor. Finally, her college roommate, Mia, took Hannah under her wing and taught her how to maximize her assets and understand boys. Mia was right, too, about every guy except Conner. They’d both thought he was starting to let down his guard with her, and then he’d supposedly slept with Mariah and ruined it all.
A soft knock at her door pulled her from her memories just as a text from Conner popped up on her phone.
“It’s me at the door. Are you still awake?”
Her ire was up, and she wanted to snap at him, even though she knew it was unreasonable for her to punish him for allegedly sleeping with someone five years ago. A lie she didn’t believe anymore.
She opened the door to find him with a huge bouquet of white roses in front of his face.
“Come in,” she said with more annoyance than she felt.
He lowered the flowers and stepped in. “Is something wrong?”
His T-shirt hugged the muscles along his broad shoulders and chest. A day’s growth of scruff accented his square jaw and full lips. He was gorgeous without even trying.
“No, I was just thinking what a mess this is. Are we just fooling ourselves, thinking we can convince Parker you’re not a terrible person? What if you are a terrible person, and I’m just under your spell?”
Conner set the roses down on a nearby table before his hands cupped her face. The warmth sent goose bumps over her skin.
