Read Online Unbreak My Heart by Teresa Hill - Free Book Online

cry all over virtual strangers or even what passed for close friends. She didn't let anyone see how the past still ripped her apart inside and sometimes came spewing out of her in a slew of desperate sobs and angry tears.
    She'd been desperately lonely for so long, and all of that seemed to catch up with her tonight. Surprisingly, she found that it helped a great deal to not be so alone. If the price she had to pay for this kind of comfort was letting someone inside her life, maybe it would be worth it. With him here, she was no longer afraid. The darkness was like a cloak, curled around them, pushing out the rest of the world. Even the house lost its menacing presence, and for the moment, she thought she'd done the right thing in coming here.
    He held on to her long after her tears stopped falling, even when she was thoroughly spent from crying and utterly drained. She lay there curled up against him, feeling every breath he took, feeling so in tune with him.
    Something happened then. The comfort he'd so generously offered became something else entirely. His hand tangled in the hair at the back of her neck, and he bent his head down to hers. His soft lips settled against the side of her cheek, where he found what was left of a single tear and kissed it away.
    One minute, the kiss was gentle and soothing, and the next it deepened into something more. Something hot and deep and slow that set her pulses to pounding. Something dangerous and enticing and real. It felt so real, despite the fact that it was over almost before it began.
    "I'm sorry," he said, tucking her head against his chest. "Megan—"
    His voice was raw. Low and strained and barely above a whisper, but the name was unmistakably clear. Megan?
    Allie scrambled to her feet, all the pleasure she'd found in that kiss simply disappearing, overpowered by the feeling that she'd made a mistake. A terrible mistake.
    "What did you say?"
    "I know who you are, Allie. I was going to say that once, before your sister left, she asked me to watch out for you, and I doubt this was what she had in mind."
    "I doubt it was." She wasn't sure she believed him, either. Not about what he was saying now. Maybe not what he'd told her last night. That he and her sister were never more than friends.
    "Allie, I never kissed your sister like that."
    "Why not?"
    "Because I never wanted to."
    He got to his feet and came to the edge of the porch where she stood. With him towering over her this way, Allie felt anew the differences between the two of them. He was so much bigger, so much stronger, so much more powerful than she was. But she wasn't afraid of him. Not exactly. She was afraid of the connection between them, the strength of her reaction to him. That so easily, he could hurt her.
    He pulled her close and placed one quick, breath-robbing kiss on her lips again.
    "God, Allie." He sounded as frustrated and confused as she felt. "This is the last thing either one of us needs right now."
    She just stood there staring at him. No one had ever kissed her quite like that. Like he wanted to devour her whole in the next instant. Like he was fighting the impulse even now. Still... he'd called her Megan.
    She cleared her throat, tried to find a no-nonsense tone. "I need to know about you and Megan."
    "She lived next door. I'd known her my whole life, Allie. We were friends."
    "You know something," she insisted. "Something about the reason she ran away."
    Allie watched carefully. It happened so fast, she almost missed it. But for a second, the warm, charming man was gone. In his place was Stephen Whittaker, real estate tycoon, all steely determination and rock-hard resolve. She wondered how many other sides of him there were, sides that she hadn't yet seen. She wondered which, if any of them, were real.
    "I wish I knew," he said, and just like that, Mr. Kind and Considerate was back.
    "No," she insisted. "You know something."
    "I don't think anyone but Megan knew for sure why she ran away, and as far