Sparked (city2city: Hollywood) Read Free Page A

private.”  
    She froze as intimate memories assailed her of waking up on Christmas morning just like this, his tall, rangy frame curved possessively over her much smaller one. Hating the effect his nearness had on her, the ache gathering in her chest and threatening to subsume her pounding heart, she turned abruptly and stared up at him.  
    He wasn’t exactly handsome, but his face was compelling, with angular features and strong jaw. His nose was a little too long, and his lips slightly thinner than expected, given his wide mouth, but she remembered loving how the tip of that nose touched her cheek as they kissed, and how those lips shaped hers so perfectly that first time, and all the times thereafter.  
    His messy light-brown hair that so easily picked up streaks of sunlight when regularly exposed to it had been neatly combed for tonight’s premiere, the scruff that usually shaded his jaw shaved away, as well. All six feet and two inches of him had been stuffed into a slick designer suit of stark black with a pristine white dress shirt, and he wore a rather formidable frown as he gazed down at her.
    Looking at him stole the breath from her lungs, so her heart made the decision before her head could think better of it. “Where did you have in mind?”
    Sliding his fingers past the bracelet, he linked their fingers in a move both familiar and not, and whispered, “Come with me.”

TWO

    London, Ten Years Earlier
    Christmas Eve

    Ryan’s twin brother had turned into a jerk when he wasn’t looking.  
    The train from Cambridge to London rocked gently as it sped across the tracks, packed to the gills with travelers desperate to get home in time to celebrate the holidays with loved ones.  
    Loved ones who would probably have beds ready for them. They wouldn’t have to walk the snowy streets of a strange city trying to find a hostel to crash in, because none of them had stupid siblings who decided to throw a hissy fit—and a mean right hook—on Christmas freaking Eve.  
    “Ticket, please.”
    Ryan fumbled in the pocket of his wool peacoat for his ticket, the purchase of which had seriously depleted his available cash. He hadn’t planned on traveling tonight, and now he had less than ten pounds left to get him to…wherever he was going, once he reached London.  
    “This is first class.”
    He blinked up at the conductor, who stared accusingly at Ryan’s ticket. “But I didn’t buy first class.”
    “I know, sir,” the man said with what Ryan would think later was an exceptional amount of patience. “Yet you’re sitting in first class.”
    Didn’t that just figure. “I’m sorry. Here, I’ll move.” He hit his head on the overhead storage rack when he stood, but swallowed the grunt of pain and shouldered his blue nylon duffle. It never paid to be tall on public transportation, he’d found.
    The conductor pointed toward the door at the end of the car, then murmured, “Merry Christmas,” before moving on to the next passenger.
    Every seat was taken. He staggered down the aisles in time to the swaying of cars Two through Seven, growing progressively worried as he failed to find a single empty seat. It was an hour’s ride to London, and, dang it, he’d had a bad day already, on top of being jet-lagged after his long flight from Chicago the day before. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to stand for the entire journey.  
    With a sigh, he slid open the door to the eighth—and final—car, heart sinking when he saw it was just as full as the rest. He lumbered forward, exhaustion and frustration dogging every step as he scanned the occupants.  
    There. One empty seat, in the far back corner that, to be honest, looked much too small for him, given the tendency his limbs had to sort of…flail outward. Long arms, long legs, long torso, and, at age just-turned-twenty-two, he’d only recently managed to figure out how to make all the various parts of his body work in concert.  
    But no