The Life She Left Behind Read Free

separation, that wouldn’t work. It wasn’t enough. She knew it. And she was desperate. Desperate to make it go away. Her desire for him was beneath her skin, in her blood.
    There was only one way she could think of to bleed herself of it, to pour it out of her.
    â€œDon’t go,” she said.
    He stopped, his shoulders going ridged. “What?”
    It wasn’t too late to go back. To stop herself from touching him. From confirming what she was certain he suspected. But she didn’t want to. She had run from him, from her feelings, her heartbreak, all those years ago. But she hadn’t escaped it. It had clung to her, wrapped itself around her heart like a clinging vine.
    Distance hadn’t killed it. But he was here now. Maybe if she could have him, just once, she could draw a line through that part of her life and call it done.
    She took a deep breath, ignoring the trembling in her fingers as she reached out to put her hand on his shoulder. “Stay. Stay with me tonight.”

Chapter Three
    Taj’s original theory, the one in which Angelina was a mirage, was starting to seem likely again. She had felt real beneath his hands, beneath his lips. Her unsteady fingers felt real on his back, but the words she’d just spoken made it all seem like a fantasy.
    He turned to face her, his heart raging, his blood hot. “What did you say?”
    She bit one of her lips, swollen from his earlier attention. “Stay. I want you to stay.”
    â€œAnd count stars?” he asked, his tone sardonic, his stomach tight with the memory.
    She snorted a breath and shook her head, her strawberry colored ponytail swinging with the motion. “No. I’m not a girl who thinks she’s in love anymore. I’m a woman. I got everything I could ask for from my relationship with you. Heartbreak. Betrayal. And yet I never got the one thing that might have made it all worth it.”
    â€œYou want sex,” he said, going for direct. Because if direct didn’t frighten her, then he wouldn’t question her bold proposition.
    Her chin tilted up a fraction, her expression hard. “Yes.”
    â€œSweet, romantic, Angelina who wanted to wait until our wedding night? Who told me just now she ran because she did not want any sort of arranged marriage?” His words were harsher than he intended, much harsher. But he could hardly breathe. His chest was tight, his muscles so tense they were shaking.
    He had been waiting for this moment, for her, for what seemed like an eternity. And she was here now, wanting him. He was afraid that if he moved she would vanish into smoke.
    â€œI might have been those things at one time but I’ve grown up. A lot,” she said, her tone hard. Sad. “And I understand that we can’t have everything we want in life. But I can have something I want. I can have you.”
    â€œYou want me?” He needed to hear her say it, and that need was a weakness he didn’t want to stop and examine.
    â€œIf I didn’t, I wouldn’t have asked you to stay.”
    â€œWhy now?”
    â€œYou aren’t the only one here capable of capitalizing on an opportunity,” she said.
    He stopped then and looked at her more closely. She had been so young when he’d first met her. And while three years hadn’t changed much in terms of physical age, she was different now. Gone was that magical glitter in her green eyes, that sweet and easy smile. She looked tired. She looked hard.
    She looked like a woman who had seen too much, rather than one just starting out into the world.
    Had he caused that? Or had something happened to her after she’d left Texas? He didn’t like to think it had been either of those things.
    Back then he had been doing just what she’d said: capitalizing on an opportunity. But he had liked her. He had treated her well. He’d certainly never meant to hurt her.
    He had paid, though; he had paid dividends