Slick (Burnout 2.5) Read Free

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    Since they’d met, Chris had been determined not to cause Sarah pain or fear or even discomfort. Her emotional episodes during their early relationship had been met with strength and serenity from Chris. Only once had his armor cracked and he cried in front of her. And she knew that he felt so terrible about it, so ashamed that he had not been her rock, that he had decided never again would he los e it in front of her.
    He felt she needed him to be strong when she was faltering. And in the beginning, she had. She had needed a man who would not get upset that she flinched sometimes when he touched her. She had needed a man who would not be hurt that it had taken so long for her to declare her love for him. She had needed a man who would not get angry when she couldn’t have sex. Which still happened occasionally, but was becoming rarer.
    Chris had been all those things. All she needed. Then . But now she felt alone. Like she was the only one carrying the burden of unrealized dreams. No number of negative tests or crying fits or doctors who only said, “Be patient” could crack Chris’ stoicism. But instead of shoring her up during this ordeal, it was keeping them apart.
    Sarah hoped to fix that tonight. To draw him back in, to reconnect with him, to feel like they were together .
    She only wished that they could be together for the difficult times, too, not just the good ones.
     

Chapter 4
     
    When Sarah and Abby pulled up to the house, Sarah killed the engine and sighed. “Now he’s going to want to know what I was doing at the mall and why I didn’t call. This isn’t the way I wanted to tell him. With him all angry.”
    “Tell him in your undies,” Abby suggested with a grin. “No way could he stay mad once he sees you looking all sexy-like.”
    Walking into the house, the guys were hanging out in the living room. If Tex was mad at Abby, he didn’t show it. But Chris looked irritated as all hell. His jaw twitched and he set his gaze on her. “Shopping? You disappeared all afternoon to go shopping?” he asked.
    “I-”
    “I called your phone. You didn’t answer.”
    Sarah winced. She’d had to turn it off in the doctor’s office. “Well-”
    “And you said you were working today. But then you didn’t.”
    “True, but-”
    Chris eyed the bags she was still holding. “Panties,” he declared. “Panties were such a big emergency that you lied to me?”
    Sarah blew out a harsh breath. “Can I speak?” she snapped.
    He crossed his arms in front of his broad chest. “By all means. Explain.”
    She grimaced. This wasn’t how she wanted it to go. All her plans were ruined. Now there was no big surprise. “Gah!” she cried and turned to stomp up the stairs.
    “You’re not getting out of this!” Chris called after her.
    In the bedroom, she tossed the bags onto the chair in the corner and flopped down onto the bed. Pepper, who had followed her upstairs, jumped onto the bed as well and began purring loudly as Sarah ran her fingers through her fluffy fur.
    “We need to salvage this,” she told the deaf cat, who purred louder.
    Sa rah eyed the bags on the chair.
     
    Ten minutes later, she emerged from the bedroom and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The corset made it only slightly more difficult to do that as it wasn’t particularly tight. She adjusted her black silk and lace panties. A thong might have looked better, but Chris had not had a very positive reaction that time she wore a bathing suit in a nearly similar style at the hotel in Las Vegas.
    Though honestly, this was a bit different seeing as how there was no pool to get into to avoid being looked at. As much as she loved the boys, she didn’t love the boys, and there was no way she was parading around in a thong in front of them.
    She gripped the rail with one hand and the photo strip in the other and descended the stairs.
    Easy, who was sitting in one of the chairs and subsequently facing the stairs was the first to catch