Game of Love Read Online Free

drinks later, the tension around her eyes eased, and he saw hints of the softer side of her, the side she’d hidden from the world but that he’d known so well. He wondered if anyone else had gotten into those places in her heart over the years.
    “Why New York?” His stomach did a little tumble of hope. Did you come back to see me?
    Ellie shrugged, fiddling with the rim of her glass. “Roots, I guess. I spent more years in New York than anywhere else, with the exception of college, of course.”
    “How was Maryland?” Dex knew he was walking on eggshells. At their closest, Ellie hadn’t talked about the harsh realities of her life. When the foster family she’d lived with treated her badly, she’d gone mute. She’d cuddled beside Dex without a word. It didn’t take long for him to recognize the faraway look in Ellie’s eyes for what it was. She’d been running back then, too, only she’d been running emotionally, not physically. Back then he’d wanted to understand what had driven her into that muted, unhappy state—what he’d come to know as her silent place . He’d gone to her house late one night and peered through the windows. Listening through the thin walls of the rambler, he’d heard yelling, and at the time, Dex had wished his older brothers, Sage, Kurt, Rush, and Jack, had been there to knock the shit out of her foster father, but Jack had joined the military, Rush was off training for the Olympics, and Kurt and Sage had been away at college. Only Dex and Siena were still living at home, and when he’d finally found the courage to ask Ellie about it, she’d shut him out. That had been the first and only time he’d brought it up. Sitting with Ellie now, he wondered if she’d shut him out or let him in.
    Ellie dropped her baby blues to the table and fiddled with the edge of her glass. He recognized the straightening in the curve of her lips, the hooded expression in her eyes, and he knew she wasn’t going to let him in now, either.
    “It was okay. Not bad like it was with my foster family in our old neighborhood, but not exactly good, either.”
    She finished her drink and fisted her hands in the side of her hair, up high on the crown of her head. When she let go, her hair had a tousled look, parted in the center and falling in thick waves down her shoulders. Bedroom hair .
    Coming out of the bedroom with tousled hair and that sweet, sexy look in her eye would require Ellie to let someone into her world. Damn, he wanted to be in that world. Dex looked away, trying to dissuade his mind from thinking of Ellie in that way.
    Christ. Stop it. It’s Ellie .
    Dex needed a runner in his life like he needed to miss his release date. She couldn’t be counted on. He knew that. She’d had no qualms about tearing his heart out. He’d been there, done that with her, and it had hurt like hell. But then again, it was Ellie, and for Ellie, he had no idea what he would or wouldn’t risk. Just being with her stifled his ability to think straight.
    An hour later, Ellie’s eyelids were at half-mast. She’d had three drinks, in contrast to the one that used to send her stumbling as a teenager. She hung her purse across her shoulder and sighed. “I’d better get going.” She swayed on her feet and grabbed the table as she slid from the booth.
    Dex reflexively put an arm out to steady her and rose to his feet. When had their height difference gotten so vast? Ellie was so strong and stubborn that he’d envisioned her taller, not nearly as petite and feminine as she was. He had the urge to wrap her in his arms and hold her until that guarded look fell away.
    “Where are you staying?” he asked.
    She looked up at him and put her hand on his chest. Dex tried to ignore the way his heartbeat sped up and his chest tightened from her touch. Jesus, she’d touched his chest too many times to count when they were younger, but he didn’t remember it inciting a rise in his pants. Or maybe it had but he’d been