Read Online A Numbers Game by Tracy Solheim - Free Book Online Page B

chest ached painfully and the tears leaked out of her eyes. She was in the middle of an epiphany. As much as Merrit hated to admit it, there had been some truth in Grant’s ugly accusations. She hadn’t been able to give him all of herself because the man currently stroking her body held the most important piece of her: her heart. And he always would. She gulped back a sob. “Heath!” she pleaded, reaching her hands out to him.
    He raised his head and his eyes met hers. The resolve she saw in their depths stole her breath.
    “But that’s not what connects us,” he said as he slid up her body and positioned himself at her entrance. “This does.” He entered her with a single deep thrust, and Merrit shuddered with the ecstasy of it as her arms closed around his sculpted back.
    “
This
is all that matters, Merrit,” he said, before tenderly kissing the tears lingering at the corner of her eyes. “Our connection is too powerful—too special—to let die.”
    And then he began to move. Wrapping her legs around him, Merrit quickly matched his rhythm until they were moving as one. Just as they always had.
    Afterward, her body felt so peaceful and sated that she was sure she would float to the ceiling had it not been for Heath’s heavy limbs anchoring her to the mattress. How had she lived without this man for the past decade? How had she almost married another man? Heath was right: their connection defied everything else. What they shared was special enough to allow her to throw all her doubts out the window. She’d never stopped loving him. And it was time to give herself permission to allow that love to grow.
    Heath nuzzled her shoulder, his heart still beating a furious pace in his chest. “Promise me you won’t run from me again,” he murmured against her skin. Merrit’s own heart skipped a beat.
    “On one condition,” she breathed.
    He lifted his head so she was level with his coffee eyes, which were now filled with unease. “Name it,” he challenged.
    “I get to be in charge this time,” she said, pushing him onto his back. The smile that took over his face and his eyes melted her heart.
    “Do your best.” He laughed.
    And she did.

Seven
    “What do you mean you aren’t coming home? Your cousin Kate’s engagement party is Saturday night.” Claire Callahan’s annoyed voice carried over the cell phone and Merrit stood up to excuse herself from the conference room she and her team had commandeered at Blaze headquarters. Jay McManus gave her a bemused smile as she walked past. He’d been Blake’s best friend for nearly fifteen years now, and he’d heard more than his fair share of her mother’s rants.
    “I’m sorry, Mom,” she said as she stepped into the small office in the owner’s suite that Jay was using until his godfather retired and the sale was final. “But the audit is running a little longer than we expected. I have lots of work to get done this weekend so we can finish before next week.”
    It was a total lie, of course. She’d been eking out work on the audit for the past week in order to have an excuse to stay in Baltimore so she could be with Heath. Late June had slid into July and she and Heath had spent every spare moment they could together these past two weeks. It was almost as if the past ten years of their lives had slipped away and they were back in the small cocoon they’d created in college.
    They hadn’t talked about their future together, but she knew in her heart they’d have one. All that was left was working out the logistics. Blaze training camp opened on Monday and this would be their last weekend together without the distraction of the season. While her family was celebrating her cousin’s upcoming marriage to another member of Chicago royalty, Merrit would be tucked away in an historic inn on St. Michaels Island with Heath curled around her. She smiled at the thought.
    “This is ridiculous,” her mother said. “I’m going to call Jay right now and