Love and Other Things (Crystal Lake 4)

She slid onto the bed and grabbed her phone back, opening her purse so she could put it out of sight.

That’s when she spied a small pink case, there at the bottom of the bag. She stared at it for a long, long time. Then she thought, and thought some more, and confused, stared at it again until her eyes blurred. Slowly she picked up the case and opened it; an emergency supply of tampons.

The blood drained from her face and she fell back onto the bed, thinking back three months. To the last night she’d spent with Shane. A night when their arguments had turned heated and not unexpectedly, passionate. There was always so much fire between them. They’d had angry sex. Lots, of hot, angry sex.

And the next night they were over.

Shane Gallagher was the only man she’d ever love and for the last three months they’d been living apart. Officially separated because Bobbi was, if anything, the kind of woman who paid attention to details.

And if they were no longer together, then they were no longer together on paper.

Of course her sisters had their say. Billie thought she was overreacting and needed to take a step back. Betty thought she was just plain crazy. And Gramps? Well, he’d just shook his head in that way he had, and patted her on the shoulder.

She’d pushed for the separation, but then she’d had her reasons. Shane Gallagher owned her heart, but he’d been careless with it. And maybe she’d been careless with his; he wasn’t the only one to blame for the demise of their marriage. But the fact was, the last words they’d shared face to face had been awful and those spoken barbs were nearly three months old. Was the result of those words and all that hot, angry sex, growing inside her?

A sob caught at the back of her throat and she shook her head. Was it possible? After all this time, was God finally giving her the one thing she wanted, when it was the worst possible time, ever, in the history of worst possible times?

Bobbi Jo rolled onto her side, exhausted. She couldn’t process it right now. She closed her eyes, and as the turmoil inside continued to grow, she somehow managed to fall asleep. But her dreams were haunted by a man with dark eyes, a wicked grin, and the kind of touch that melted her from the inside out.

She’d come all the way to Belle Adair, Louisiana, to forget about Shane Gallagher but the joke was on her. He’d followed her anyway.

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