Page 4 of Fragile Hearts (Hibiscus Hearts #3)

“You wanna watch a movie or something?” I ask as we prop our boards by the side of the house and head inside.

“No, I umm, I actually need to study,” Sloane says, offering me a small smile.

“Cool, sounds good,” I reply with a nod, knowing I could probably do with finishing off an assignment that’s due next week. “I’m just gonna take a quick shower. Meet you back here,” I add, pointing to the dining room table.

Sloane’s box of books is still sitting unpacked on the table, her laptop beside them, and I already know she’s trying to think of an excuse to go study in her room rather than sit here with me.

“We can get you a desk if you really wanna study in there, but the table is much more comfortable,” I say, trying to convince her.

She smirks, glancing toward her bedroom before she turns back to me. “You know I used to always study on my bed when I lived with the girls.”

“Nah,” I say with a grin. “Beds are only good for two things, Sloane, and neither of them are studying.”

Sloane lets out a laugh, shaking her head at me. “Is that right?”

“Yep,” I say, giving her a wink, even as visions of doing either of those things—sleeping or sex, in bed with Sloane flash through my brain. “Gonna take a shower, see you back here,” I repeat, walking off before she has a chance to argue.

I’m back in the dining room before she is, and I quickly unpack her books and stuff and then plug in her laptop to charge before heading into the kitchen to grab some drinks and snacks.

When Sloane wanders out though, I can’t help but wonder if my plan to have her study out here with me isn’t going to completely backfire and bite me in the ass.

Mainly because she’s walked out here dressed in a tiny pair of shorts and a fitted T-shirt that has been washed so many times it’s practically see-through.

Suddenly it’s nothing but sex in a bed with Sloane that I’m thinking of.

Swallowing hard, I take a seat on the opposite side of the table from her, the snacks between us. “All good?” I ask.

She huffs out a laugh, taking a seat across from me. “Are you kidding? That bathroom is amazing, Owen. And it’s all mine!”

Laughing, I push a bottle of water toward her. “Glad you like it,” I say.

“I do,” she says, her tone serious now. “Thank you, Owen. I really appreciate you helping me out with…well, with somewhere to live.”

I nod, offering her a small smile. “It’s all good, Sloane,” I tell her. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”

She nods, giving me another small smile before she blows out a breath, pulling her books closer as she opens her laptop.

We spend the next couple of hours or so in relative silence, both of us engrossed in our work.

Well, Sloane definitely is. I’m a little bit more distracted, sneaking glances at her across the table every so often.

Whatever she’s studying has her riveted, though, her pencil between her teeth every time she stops making notes in her book.

It’s both adorable and very distracting because holy shit, she is just so damn beautiful. Her long blonde hair, her killer body and that smile of hers; when she lets me see it anyway. I mean, I’ve always known she’s beautiful, but somehow now, seeing her here in my home, she’s only gotten better.

Standing, I let out a groan, stretching my arms above my head. Sloane looks over at me, a smile on her face that disappears as her gaze drops lower to where I realize my T-shirt has risen up.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” I say, clasping my hands behind my head.

“Okay,” she says, swallowing hard before smiling up at me. “Goodnight.”

Chuckling, I head into the kitchen, grabbing the spare keys from the kitchen drawer. “These are for you,” I say as I walk back over and stand beside her. “I’ll lock up before I go to bed. If you want to put the alarm on, that’s cool. Code is triple eight, nine.”

She looks up at me, an unreadable expression on her face. I smile before heading back to the kitchen to lock the back doors, then making my way to the front door to do the same.

“Done,” I say as I walk back to the table. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t,” she says, smiling.

I return the smile, leaning down to drop a kiss on the top of her head without thinking. It’s something I do to Daisy and Alana all the time, sometimes even to Sloane too, but never like this. Never when it’s just the two of us, alone.

It feels kind of intimate, but she doesn’t pull away, doesn’t even flinch, and I take that as a good sign.

“Sleep well, Sloane,” I say, straightening. “I’m just next door if you need anything.”

“Night,” she replies, and I swear I feel her eyes on me the whole walk to my bedroom.

The next morning, I wake early, the sun streaming in through the blinds I left open overnight. I’ve always been a morning person, enjoying the quietness and the chance to get in a morning surf if I don’t have to work or go to class.

Today I have some lessons before an afternoon lab at school, though, so there won’t be any surfing until this afternoon.

And I’m kind of hoping Sloane is interested in coming with me again.

Last night had been fun being out on the waves with her.

Not that it was the first time we’ve ever surfed together.

We’ve done it loads of times. But the ocean is a place that relaxes her, and I like seeing Sloane like that.

I roll over, my eyes automatically moving to the wall that separates our bedrooms. I wonder if she’s awake, if she slept okay last night.

I did, even if my sleep was filled with dreams of her that I’m sure are only magnified now that she’s living under the same roof as me.

At the time I’d offered for her to move in, I hadn’t even thought about it, and in the days that followed, all I had thought about was how good it was going to be having her all to myself.

Now though, it’s like a sweet kind of torture—having her this close but not being able to touch.

“Shit,” I groan, my hand slipping beneath the sheet as I re-adjust myself, my boxer briefs tight around the morning wood that seems harder than usual. I’m tempted to jerk off, but it feels a little different with the object of my fantasies just a few feet away from me on the other side of the wall.

So instead, I mentally recite the scientific names of the flora on the island in a bid to get my dick to calm the fuck down out of boredom or whatever. In the end, it works, and I throw off the sheet before heading to the kitchen to make some coffee.

“Morning.”

I turn to find Sloane standing in the doorway, dressed in the same clothes she was wearing last night when we were studying. Her hair is messier, though, and there’s an adorable pillow crease on her right cheek.

“Morning,” I say. “You sleep okay?”

Sloane swallows hard, blinking slowly as her gaze dips before moving back up to mine, her cheeks flushing. It takes me a second to figure out why, and then I realize I’m literally standing here in the kitchen in my underwear.

At least my boner is gone, but still.

I hold up a finger before quickly moving into the laundry to grab a clean T-shirt. “Sorry about that,” I say when I return.

Sloane shakes her head, walking to the fridge to grab the cream. “It’s okay. It’s your place, Owen. You’re allowed to…you know, be comfortable,” she says, waving a hand at me, her cheeks darkening again.

I walk over to the coffee pot, grabbing two mugs. “It’s your place, too, Sloane,” I say, my eyes on the hot liquid as I pour us both coffee. “I want you to feel comfortable here too, so if there’s anything?—”

“It’s okay,” she says, the warmth of her hand on my arm shocking me so much I nearly drop the pot of coffee.

I lift my gaze to hers, and she offers me a small smile that I can’t help but return as I repeat my earlier question. “Did you sleep okay?”

She nods. “I did, really good actually.”

“Good,” I reply, handing her a mug. “Wanna go sit on the deck?”

“Sure,” she says, and we both walk over to the French doors that lead off the kitchen and out onto the huge back deck that overlooks the ocean.

I open them without thinking, but when the alarm doesn’t sound, I glance over at Sloane. “You didn’t put the alarm on last night?”

She shrugs, offering me a small smile. “Nah, I felt pretty safe,” she says quietly.

I grin, my heart practically doing a barrel roll in my chest at how fucking good that makes me feel.

I don’t know Sloane’s entire backstory, but I’ve heard some of it.

I also know that after she agreed to move in with me, Alana sent me a text with all the things I needed to do to make her feel safe here.

It wasn’t a long list, and it wasn’t anything to do with me specifically, but it was enough that a heavy weight settled in my stomach when I read the two things:

Lock the doors at night.

Don’t let any guys she doesn’t know stay over.

A part of me did not want to think too much about why those were the two pieces of advice, but a bigger part of me wanted to make sure that I followed them. That I didn’t ever make Sloane feel uncomfortable here.

I wanted Sloane to feel safe, but more than that, I wanted to protect her from anything that could hurt her.

From everything that could hurt her.

“Should we?” she now asks, gesturing to the open doors with her coffee.

“Let’s do it,” I say, waving my arm outside to signal she should go first.

We sit side by side in two deck chairs facing the ocean, the sun warm, but the large umbrella providing enough shade that it isn’t too painful looking out at the water. It’s early enough that it’s quiet, the only sound that of the waves crashing against the shore.

“So you all set for your test today?” I ask, stretching my legs out.

“I think so,” Sloane replies, taking a sip of coffee as she pulls her legs up onto the chair.

“You in classes all day?” I ask, turning to her.

“Just this afternoon. I’m working this morning. You?”

Chuckling, I reply, “Same. What time do you finish?” I know she works the front desk at my family’s hotel. I’ve seen her around there a few times, but weirdly, I’ve never seen her on campus.

“Five,” she says, combing her fingers through her hair before pulling it into a messy knot on the top of her head.

She pulls a band from her wrist, circling it around the knot so it stays there.

When she’s done, she glances over, noticing me staring at her.

“What?” she asks, a small smile on her face.

“Nothing,” I say with a laugh. “I guess I just…I don’t know. I’ve never lived with a girl before. I mean, apart from my sister.”

Now it’s Sloane laughing. “Does it scare you?” she asks, and I swear she might actually be teasing me.

“Scare me?” I repeat, a hand on my chest. “Hell no. I’m not scared of anything, Sloane Anderson!”

Sloane lets out a loud laugh, her head falling back. “Really?” she asks, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “What about Teahupoo? You scared of that?”

Chuckling, I shake my head, taking another sip of my coffee. “I’ve never surfed or even seen Teahupoo,” I say. “So I can’t comment on if I’m scared of it, but I’m gonna go with no.”

She smiles, turning back to face the ocean. “I’ve never surfed it either,” she says quietly. “I never surfed any waves outside of Maui.”

I swallow at her admission, my heart aching in my chest as I reach over, resting my hand on the armrest of the chair she sits in. “Maybe we could go one day, see who’s really not scared.”

Sloane smiles, turning back to me. “As nice as that sounds, I’m not sure that’s in the cards for me.”

“You never know,” I say, knowing I’d take her there tomorrow if she wanted to go.

“No, I guess not,” she says quietly, turning back to the ocean. She lifts her mug to her lips, taking another sip before she says, “I should go get ready for work. I’ll see you later?”

She stands, and I hold a hand to my eyes so I can see her. “Take the leftovers for lunch. I packed them for you.”

She nods. “Thank you.”

“And good luck with your test today. Go kick its ass.”

She laughs now, turning to head inside. “Thanks, Owen. Have a good day.”

“You too, Sloane,” I reply as she disappears inside.