Lies of the Heart by Laurie LeClair

ambivalence on coming home to Connecticut had strummed to life. There hadn’t been any question in honoring his granddad. But there had been in seeing Tessa again. In his heart he longed for the meeting, yet knew how risky the prospect would be; he suspected he’d give away his buried feelings. He hadn’t counted on them rushing to the surface and nearly choking him though.
    Just thinking about it now had him shifting uncomfortably in his seat and drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. “Come on, Tessa, don’t keep me in suspense here.”
    Dropping her hand, she blew out a gusty sigh. Turning to him fully now, she aimed her piercing green eyes straight at him. He swallowed hard. “I can’t see what good this will do any of us, Chance. First of all, you don’t play by the rules.”
    Confused, he asked, “What rules are you talking about?”
    She threw up her delicate hands. “Oh, brother. You mentioned the baby in front of my granny when I motioned to you not to.” Pain throbbed in her voice, piercing his heart.
    Last night rushed back to him now and he winced. “How was I supposed to know she’d react like that?” He still shook at the old woman’s sobbing, as if her heart had been breaking. He’d never have thought it of her, thought that old lady Warfield had any emotion in her. He was wrong. And that fact bothered him.
    “If you’d just went along with me, none of that would have happened at all. I can’t trust you.”
    It felt as if she punched him in the gut. How many times had he heard that from the people he’d let down? Composing himself, he hung on by his fingertips. “This has nothing to do with trust, Tessa.” He waved a hand back and forth between them. “We have nothing to do with trust.”
    “Hah!” she snorted. “We have everything to do with it or this marriage you’re pushing for can’t work.”
    “How do you figure that?” It’s just a business arrangement. He wished she’d stop talking in circles and just tell him what the problem was.
    “First this, then who knows what else?” Panic entered her large, luminous eyes, catching him by surprise. She was dead serious about this. “The next time I turn my back what will you tell granny, huh? About the times we used to sneak into the old Greenville house with the neighborhood kids? Or all the times we met when we shouldn’t have? Are you going to tell her about playing spin the bottle with me and the others, too?”
    All the memories came rushing back to him now. Forbidden to see each other, he had pushed the limits and sought her out on more than one occasion. But it was the experimental kisses that haunted him. Hers were so soft and innocent. “We once had our own private game of spin the bottle away from the others. Do you remember that?” His voice grew huskier with each word. A coil of heat churned inside him, low and deep.
    He watched the transformation in her. The fear leaked out of her expression. Her lips parted and a pink flush colored her flesh. Dropping his gaze, he spotted the rapid pulse at the base of her throat. Lower, the black vest she wore over her white shirt strained as she sucked in each quick breath.
    Chance slid closer to her. With his hand gliding along the back of the seat, he tentatively reached out, snaring a spiral curl in his fingers. “So soft. I always imagined it would feel like this.”
    Lavender tickled his nostrils, drawing him in. “You were thirteen I think the first time…” He stared at those lips, so full and alluring.
    She nodded. “It was over too soon. I wanted more.” Heat licked through him when she looked at his mouth, and then slowly back into his gaze.
    In the depths of her eyes, he saw her need crying out, just like he had last night. His middle clutched. With everything he had in him he resisted leaning in and taking what he desperately wanted. Tenderly, he reached out with his left hand and cupped her satiny cheek. He brushed his thumb over the softest flesh