Everything to Lose (Moonlight Dating Series #2) Read Free

level-headed, always in control of his emotions.
    With the exception of that one time, the day it all came crashing down. For as long as she lived, she’d never forget the coldness in his eyes, the finality in his voice. He’d let her see the darkness inside him. The darkness he’d never trusted her enough to share with her.
    She couldn’t be that kind of woman for him, the one who let him have his secrets or never questioned his motives. The one without a care in the world.
    “Almost done here,” she said a little too loudly when he wouldn’t do more than stand still, his hand an inch from hers.
    He started at her tone, as though she’d snapped her fingers in his face. “Sure thing.”
    He stepped away. Perhaps he was afraid she’d lock him out if he didn’t.
    She looked up at him then, held his eyes and knew…
    No one could be more terrified than her.
    He returned to the table, following her movements as she fussed around the kitchen and tried to calm her nerves .
    “Can’t believe how cold it is.” What else could she speak of when any discussion of substance lurked on unstable territory? Weather was good. It was safe.
    “ Darn tootin’ . ” He sighed contentedly as the heat inside the house enveloped them. “Damn, feels good in here.”
    She couldn’t help smiling at his Texas drawl . It was a pillar of his roots planted during his childhood on a Texas ranch – an aspect of his life he mostly kept to himself, like a possessive lover. Although he often tried to suppress it under layers of manufactured corporate finesse, she could see right through his glib sophistry. It was all for show.
    Do your fancy friends in Seattle like your country twang at all? Or perhaps you don’t ever show them who you really are, she wanted to say but held back like she often did.
    The only time she’d let the devil rule her was at the end of their relationship. It was simpler to go with the flow.
    “Steve and Rob next door may find your accent humorous ,” she quipped.
    “Does that bother you?”
    “I didn’t say that.” Again, she skirted the truth. Perhaps they both wore masks then to hide themselves from each other.
    “You’d probably adapt like you always do.” She said this like it was a bad way to be. Like she disliked him for it.
    Watch that tongue.
    He visibly flinched while she stifled a curse.
    “You never complained,” he said, his eyes alive with something dark and intimidating.
    “Sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
    It wasn’t that he tried to be fake, but it was like he had an alter ego, another person residing inside him who begged to be heard. Perhaps it all stemmed from a deep-rooted will to succeed. That part of him had always amazed her… how he could split himself into two different people at will. Two halves of one whole, but somehow, they didn’t fit together. A key piece remained missing.
    He gave her a small smile tinged with sadness. “Yes, you did. And I reckon you’re right.” Contrite, apologetic.
    She walked over to the table and handed him his cappuccino, taking extra care to avoid his fingers as he accepted the mug with an appreciative nod.
    “Thanks.”
    “Sugar’s right over there, in the usual spot.” She indicated the little apple-shaped jar in the center of the table.
    “Yeah, thanks.”
    Sitting down across from him, she blew into her mug and tweaked her nose when the rising heat tickled her nostrils with the strong scent of the cocoa and cinnamon mixture she’d dusted her coffee with.  
    She chanced a surreptitious look at her ex-husband as they sipped their beverages in silence. His mussed chestnut hair
    fell over limpid blue eyes , and he looked good enough to eat. A big man w ith a body naturally built to work land, not to languish on desks, poring over paperwork and computer screens. To watch him lean over the table to get his sugar, his strong arms straining through his sweater, made her weak at the knees.
    She pined for him. Yearned for him, for the feel