Cross My Heart
Dangerous, but worth the risk?Evie and Ryan are selective. Not just any man will do. After weeks of trying to make a connection online they finally extend an invitation that outs their sinful search to their widowed landlord, Seth. And then Seth reveals a secret of his own: he’s more than eager to become his young tenants’ playmate.In spite of the explosive dynamic the threesome find in bed, Ryan’s insecurities bubble to the surface. He wanted a lover who wouldn’t hurt Evie, but as he watches his woman writhe with the ecstasy another man gives her, it becomes clear that Seth isn’t the one Evie needs to worry about leaving with a bruised heart. Sharing the control in bed was the easy part. Losing control of his emotions could destroy what he has with Evie.
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Mischief
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An eBook Original 2015
Copyright © A. M. Hartnett 2015
A. M. Hartnett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Ebook Edition © 2015 ISBN: 9780008148775
Version: 2015–06–03
Contents
‘Sneaky, sneaky.’
The deep voice coiled around Evie from the darkness. She gasped, her heart slamming against her chest three times before her common sense banished her panic.
It was just Seth.
She leaned against the metal rail of the fire escape and grinned at the man in the window. He wasn’t entirely in darkness: there was a light on in the bedroom beyond, but his living room was unlit and the shadows cast over him made him seem like a devil. Add to his long-haired and bearded appearance the arms darkened by ink, the glow of his cigarette and the black cat draped across the windowsill in front of him, and he might as well have been a devil or a warlock greeting her at the gates of Hell.
‘I thought you quit those.’
‘Where would you get an idea like that?’ he replied with a chuckle. The end of the cigarette glowed angry red as he took a long drag. He blew a stream to her left, stroked the cat with his free hand and cocked his head. ‘I don’t know why you sneak around like this. You can just walk up the stairs or take the elevator.’
‘You know why: I don’t want Mrs Boyd giving me that look. The one that says she knows I’m about to do something sinful under her roof.’
‘It’s not her roof, it’s mine. My building.’
‘As far as she’s concerned, after forty years here it’s her roof and she just lets you own it.’ Evie let go of the railing and bent down to give Marco a scratch between the ears. The feline vibrated and purred as his tail flicked like a small whip. ‘Besides, he leaves the window open for me.’
‘What will you do in the winter?’
‘We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.’
She glanced up. She could see the blue flicker of the television Ryan had no doubt fallen asleep in front of, a beacon calling her to continue her ascent to his bed, to him.
Still, she smiled back at her landlord. ‘Care for a quick drink before I head up?’
Seth shook his head, took another drag, then stubbed his smoke out in the coffee can just outside the window. ‘Can’t. It keeps me awake, and I already have trouble sleeping these days.’
‘Since when?’
He hesitated, and she wished she hadn’t asked. Ryan had mentioned something about the anniversary of Rita’s death coming up. No matter how many times Seth said it was OK, it never felt OK to talk about it.
‘A few months ago I started to notice it,’ he told her. He got up from his chair and hauled the cat into his arms. ‘Must be the hops or something. Though if you want one, I’ll sit with you.’
‘No, I’ll feel bad that I’m getting a buzz and you’re getting insomnia. Maybe tomorrow I’ll come down and we’ll have some tea.’
Seth raised his arm and flattened his hand against the top of the window. ‘Give him a big sloppy kiss for me.’
With a giggle, Evie said goodnight and continued her trek up the fire escape. On the next landing, the one next to her own apartment, she felt a twinge of guilt.
I should have sat with him for a little while, she thought. A drink of Coke or something. Let him sit there and talk and smoke.
Yet as much as she enjoyed their talks, she wasn’t in the mood to sit with Seth. If she had stayed she would be doing something he had told her specifically not to do since she first found out about his wife: pity him.
At the very top of the fire escape, as expected, Evie found the window open. She climbed in and closed it behind her.
Barely midnight and Ryan was already out like a light. Then again, he had been getting up at five o’clock these past two weeks. She envied the money he made at the hospital, but she didn’t envy his hours when he drew the early shift, or those nights when he was on call.
