Fated Hearts (Southern Bride 8)

I shook the crazy thoughts away.

No. I don’t make love. I fuck. That’s all I know how to do.

“Are you okay, Roger?” Annalise asked, her hand moving to mine.

I drew it away as if I’d been burned, and instantly regretted it when I saw the hurt look on her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I was caught up in a moment, and you startled me.”

She nodded and gave me a soft smile that didn’t reach her eyes. I knew it was forced because I’d spent the last few hours seeing a real smile on that beautiful face of hers. It made her blue eyes shine like the first rays of the morning sun. Her real smile made her cheeks blush slightly and the corners of her eyes crinkle in the cutest way. She looked away from me now, pretending to read over the menu.

It made my heart feel something I knew I couldn’t allow it to feel, let alone let myself even think about.

Before I could say anything else, the waitress walked up and started to take everyone’s orders. My appetite had left me the moment I realized I’d hurt Annalise’s feelings, but I ordered a breakfast sandwich anyway, and hoped I’d be able to eat it by the time it came out. Annalise ordered avocado toast with a bowl of fruit and a tea.

“So, what are you two doing today?” Annalise asked Mary and Dylan.

“Probably going back to the room to have a movie marathon. What about you guys?”

Annalise shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“There’s a snowman-making contest going on later. I saw the sign for it at the front desk. If you’ve got warm-enough clothes, we could enter,” I said to her before taking a sip of my coffee.

The brightness in her eyes came back. “Really? You’d do that?”

With a laugh, I asked, “Why do you sound so disbelieving?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I can’t really picture you making a snowman.”

“I’m wounded, princess. Truly wounded.”

Annalise rolled her eyes, but I saw the corners of her mouth twitch with a hidden smile.

A part of me wanted to tell her everything about me. Give her my phone number, tell her to call me whenever she wanted. Hell, I’d even fly out to see her every now and then.

No.

No, that wasn’t going to happen.

That wasn’t what we had agreed on. No strings attached.

The pang from earlier came back, but this time it felt stronger and more familiar. I had vowed a long time ago that I would never allow myself to feel it again.

Not since her.

Not since Kerri.

I closed my eyes and saw her face staring up at me, covered in blood.

“Don’t you dare leave me, Kerri! Do you hear me? Don’t you dare leave me!”

The corner of her mouth lifted slightly into a smile as she whispered, “I love you, Roger.”

“Are you not hungry?”

Mary’s voice pulled me from the memory, and I stared down at the breakfast sandwich the waitress had brought. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”

“Seem to be doing that a lot this morning,” Dylan stated with a laugh.

I nodded and chanced a look over at Annalise. She was cutting her toast in half and seemed to be somewhere else herself.

After we ate breakfast and talked for a bit more, we all stood to leave.

“We should head on back to the room and grab our coats,” I said. “The contest starts in thirty minutes.”

Annalise nodded, then focused on Mary and Dylan. “We’ll see you both before we all leave, right?”

“Of course!” Mary said. “How about we do dinner tonight?” She looked at Dylan. “Is that okay?”

Dylan nodded. “Dinner sounds good to me.”

Everyone swung their heads to look at me. “Dinner sounds great,” I said.

Annalise clapped. “Great! Then how about we plan on meeting in the lobby, say, around six?”

“That works,” Mary and Dylan said at the same time.

Dylan slid his arm around Mary’s waist and guided her out of the restaurant. I placed my hand on Annalise’s back as we followed our new friends toward the elevators. A part of me wanted to ask her about the room she turned down this morning, but I didn’t want to ruin any part of today. She clearly felt the same way I did. Neither one of us wanted this to end, yet the end was only hours away.

The elevator stopped on Mary and Dylan’s floor. They said their goodbyes as they headed down the hall.

“They’re totally not watching movies,” Annalise stated, and I laughed.

“I’m sure the TV will be on.”

She peeked up at me and grinned. “As much as sex with you right now sounds heavenly, you mentioned a snowman contest, and I have my heart set on winning.”

My head fell back as I laughed again. “I think I may have met the one person on this Earth who’s just as competitive as I am.”