Shattered Heart (The Hart Series) by Ann Stewart, Stephanie Nash

continue to
graze my fingers down her jaw.  “You’re so beautiful.” 
    She clutches my
hand and turns it to place a kiss on my palm.  “I’m sorry, Alex…for the other
day…for everything.”  Releasing my hand, she reaches up, and brushes her
fingers against my cheek.   I lean into her touch, closing my eyes before
breathing her in. 
    “I can feel how
much you want me, Hart.  Why are you fighting this?” I plead.
    “Before you left
I asked you to give me time, right?”  I nod, keeping my eyes closed, foreheads
attached, in fear this is, yet again, coming to an end.  “I still need that
time, Alex.  It was wrong of me to completely ignore you and it was even worse
coming to New York and giving into you.  It’s no secret I want you.  I think my
body pretty much gives it away, but that doesn’t change the fact that I need
time to figure out what to do with everything that I’ve been handed.” 
    I can’t look at
her.  If I look at her, I’ll want to break something.  Everything she’s been
handed?  What the fuck does that mean?   I’ve been handed much worse and you
don’t find me cowering away.  Instead of giving into the anger, I tilt my head
back and look to the ceiling.  “I don’t get it, Elyssa.  I really don’t.  You
said you still love me.”
    “It has nothing
to do with love, Alex.”  The hell it doesn’t!
    “Ughhh…you can’t
say it, can you?”  Frustration laced with annoyance and sadness is not a good
look on me, but this is what it boils down to.  “Are you confused about your
feelings for Oliver?”  Fuck me if she says yes.  Time, I can deal with.  Her
being scared, I can also deal with.  But her exploring her feelings for another
guy…over my dead fucking body I’ll let another man touch her.
    “When you
accused me of having something with Oliver, I was so angry with you.  But not
for reasons you think.  I slapped you because you thought I could replace you
that quick.  That what we had didn’t mean anything to me.”
    “I see the way
he looks at you.”  It frustrates the hell out of me the way he eye fucks her
every time he sees her.  It makes me want to kiss every inch of her, rub myself
against her, bury myself so deep inside her so that any man, including Oliver,
no, especially Oliver, will know that she’s mine.  “For now, I don’t see you
looking at him that way, but I’m telling you right now, Elyssa, I refuse to let
that change.  I’m not giving up on us.  You may be confused or scared or
whatever it is that you feel right now, but I’m not.  I’m certain.  I knew the minute
I saw you that I wanted you.  I knew the moment I kissed you that I had to have
you and I knew the second we were first together that I wanted forever.  So,
listen to me when I say this.  I’m not giving up.”
    She bites her
lower lip before leaning in, placing one final kiss against my lips.  “I’m not
asking you to give up.  I’m just asking for time.” 
    Remember what I
said about time.  Well, time can go fuck itself.

C HAPTER 5
     
    Face flushed and
stumbling, I hurry out of the men’s restroom.  I must have the worst of luck
because just two steps out, I see Oliver walking towards me.  I panic.  Even
though his face is an unreadable mask, I don’t take a chance and rush to meet
him.  I hope to God he didn’t see me leaving the bathroom, better yet, let’s
hope Alex required a few minutes before walking out.  The last thing I need is
another Alex versus Oliver confrontation.
    “Ely, what’s
going on?” he questions, with an odd expression.  I have to give it to him. 
I’d ask me the same question if I was yanked in the opposite direction, locked
arms with a crazy person.  I don’t give up anything until we’re in the privacy
of the small copy room.  Alone.
    “What’s up?”  I
cross my arms over my chest protectively as Oliver tilts his head, looking at
me with confusion. 
    “Nothing.  What’s
up with