Page 69 of Rival Hearts

That just made me want to cry more, and I turned my head away so he couldn’t see me crying. I sniveled and wiped away my tears.

“This got really serious really quickly.” I forced a laugh, feeling silly.

“It’s not a bad thing to feel something, you know.” Alex’s voice was gentle.

I didn’t clap back and tell him he was one to talk because of his iron mask and stony façade. Because the more I got to know him, the more I realized why he was like that, and I couldn’t blame him for it. He had so much pressure on him, so many people expected him to do the right thing that he couldn’t do a thing wrong.

“Thank you,” I finally said in a soft voice.

“For what?”

“Being kind.”

Alex squeezed my shoulders. “Just being honest.”

I looked toward the window where the storm raged outside. “I know this whole situation isn’t ideal, but I love this storm.”

“Do you want to see it?”

I frowned. “You mean, go out there?”

“No,” he said. “Come.”

He stood and helped me up, taking my hand. When I stood, he didn’t let go. I held my blanket tightly around my body with my other hand, and Alex led me to the narrow spiral staircase that led to the next floor above us.

The lantern room was just a room with a huge lantern in the middle and nothing but glass all around. The lantern was off—Alex had said the lighthouse had been out of commission for years—and the glass was fogged up and misty with years of dust.

Still, with so much glass around us, it felt like we stood at the center of the storm. The rain pounded onto the windows, the thunder and lightning danced overhead, and I felt so small.

I stepped forward and pressed my hand against the glass, feeling the cold rain beat against it through the glass.

“Oh, my God,” I breathed. “Alex.”

He stepped up behind me, his body pressed against mine, and I shivered at his closeness. He held me, his hands wrapped over my blanket, and he dipped his head to my neck. He pressed his lips against my shoulder.

Lightning struck again, and the electricity danced all around us. Shivers ran down my spine, not just from the lightning and the sheer power of the storm all around us, but because of Alex, his lips on my skin, the scrape of his stubble as he kissed his way up my shoulder toward my neck.

I tilted my neck to the side, giving him more space, and he nibbled and kissed his way toward my ear.

“You have no idea how incredible you are,” he murmured. “You’re fighting all these demons, looking for a way to prove your worth when, Charlotte, you’re already everything.”

I turned in his arms, and his eyes fell on mine, deep and dark in the dim light of the storm. Lightning lit up his features for a moment before we plunged back into near darkness again.

“Alex,” I breathed, and he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine.

My breath caught in my throat, and thunder rumbled, trembling all around us, but with his arms encircling me, I was safe.

20

ALEX

Every time I spent time with Charlotte, I got to know a different side of her. She was witty, sharp, a challenge. But she was also kind and gentle and caring. And if she’d offended me by assuming things about me, it was only because of her past.

Gabe talked about his life before he moved to Rhode Island so little, and maybe I should have asked about it more. But Gabe was always so happy-go-lucky. It didn’t look like anything bothered him, ever.

Maybe it didn’t. Maybe between the two of them, Charlotte was the one who carried all the pain, and Gabe was the one who’d escaped it all.

That happened in families. Even when they weren’t blood related.