Anything You Want: River Jewel Resort Series Book 1 Read Free Page A

hurt. He could be lying lifeless on the bathroom floor, or at the bottom of the basement stairs. She retraced her steps, flipped the basement light switch on and ran down the steps. Upon seeing he wasn’t lying lifeless on the cold concrete floor, Sydney was relieved but still concerned; she raced back up to the first floor.
    Heart still pounding, she climbed the steps two at a time to reach the second floor. Sydney flew past the guest room, the hallway closet and the nursery without a second glance. The door to the master bedroom was closed and Sydney plowed through it.
    “Rog…”
    The word died on her lips. Her blood ran cold as she stood frozen in place, one hand upon the door knob, the other hung limp at her side. Roger lay face down on the king-sized bed with a sheet draped seductively across his lower body. Moonlight danced across his chiseled jaw-line and his sandy-blonde hair mussed and sexy. The air in the room carried the musky scent of love making and it infiltrated Sydney’s nose, making her nauseous. The sheet shrouded form on the other side of the bed stirred, drawing Sydney’s attention to the arm lying across Roger’s back.
    Slender, unadorned fingers searched and found bare skin to tease. Sydney’s eyes traveled to where the arm attached to a pale ivory shoulder and on up to a head covered in tousled, short red hair.
    Sydney’s own hand flew to her mouth and she backed slowly out of the room without closing the door. She walked into the kitchen and opened the drawer labeled ‘stationary’. Her notecards, pads and pens were inside. Sydney pulled out one of her favorite pens, gifts from Roger, and she signed the divorce papers while tears rolled silently down her cheeks. She placed both pen and the manila envelope full of legal documents on the beautiful marble counter. Sydney took one last look around the gorgeous, custom eat-in kitchen and removed her house keys from her key ring and placed them on top of the envelope.
    She silently said goodbye to her gorgeous home, her old life and the old Sydney before she walked out of her former home for the last time.
    Chapter Four
    Numerous thoughts pummeled Sydney’s mind as she drove back to her apartment, but the one at the forefront was one of relief. She was free to move on. When she’d seen Roger, lying, cheating Roger, for the second time with his pants down something snapped. In that moment, she no longer cared or loved him. Sure she was sad, but it was a strange kind of sad. One Sydney couldn’t describe.
    There were no more tears. And as she followed the winding road up the hillside to get home, she almost felt giddy. After spending the last month and a half feeling sick, depressed, foolish, paranoid and worthless, it was nice to know none of the disaster her marriage had become was her fault. Lexi had been right. She always was. Roger was a ‘class-a-asshole’ and he would never change.
    Sydney knew better than to hold on. She refused to be like either of her parents. Her father had put up with Sydney’s mother’s demanding ways and wandering eyes until he died at thirty-seven, when a concrete wall at a construction site had fallen on him, crushing him into nothing. Somehow, Sydney always believed that wall had to have hurt less than the things her mother had done to him and right then, Sydney had vowed that she would never stay with a cheater. For the past agonizing weeks, she’d done the exact opposite. Now, she knew why her father had stuck it out. He’d had hope; hope that Sydney’s mother would see how great she actually had it with her husband. Hope was a foolish thing to have. Her mother had never changed and the years her father had wasted, waiting on a miracle were destroyed in a flash.
    No, that sounded morbid even to Sydney and she chided herself for the thought. She’d just be more selective in what she chose to be hopeful about. Her options were wide open. Sydney could go where she pleased, do whatever she wanted but what