A Woman Lost Read Online Free PDF Page B

mail. I just assumed you were holed up in your office with your nose buried in some book.”
    I saw her glance over in Maddie’s direction. Then she gave me an accusatory look.
    “Shit!” I reached into my left pocket and pulled out my cell phone. It was still turned off. “Honey, I am so sorry. I forgot to turn my phone back on after class.” I didn’t even try to flash my smile this time. Her eyes told me that wouldn’t work. I didn’t think even a night of fucking was going to save me from the impending argument, either. I tried a diversionary tactic.
    “Maddie, I’d like you to meet Sarah and her friend Haley. Sarah, this is my brother’s fiancée.” I stepped away from Sarah, in case any punches were thrown in my direction.
    “I hope you don’t mind me stealing Lizzie for the day,” Maddie said. “Peter had some business to take care of, and he thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get to know my future sister-in-law.” She stood up and hugged Sarah, and then shook Haley’s limp hand. Haley wasn’t the hugging type, and her demeanor let everyone know that.
    Sister-in-law . The words suddenly made me feel ill. For the past several hours, I had been doing my best to imagine her naked. I was such an ass.
    “It’s very nice to meet you,” Sarah said, as pleasantly as possible, considering she wanted to rip my head off.
    “So, you two are having dinner. Do you guys want to join us?” I asked.
    “That’s a great idea. We’ve been sitting here so long, I’m famished. You won’t believe this, but we came here to have lunch.” Maddie paused and then blurted out, “Sarah, Lizzie is quite the storyteller. She must keep you laughing all the time.”
    Sarah smiled and tried to relax. She and Haley walked through the side gate and then sat down at the table. One thing I really admired about her was that she would never fight with me in public.
    “Oh yes, I think that’s why I fell in love with her,” Sarah said. “She can be quite charming. And there is that smile.” She touched my cheek briefly.
    For an instant, I thought she was going to sock me. Her eyes told me that was what she really wanted to do.
    Instead, Maddie hit me again. “You see, I told you about that smile of yours.” She laughed her sexy laugh.
    I smiled, and then I looked over at Sarah again. I was in for a very long night. Did she just say she was in love with me? We had barely said I love you to each other. In love? Was that the same thing, or was there a deeper meaning? I made a mental note to discuss it with Ethan.

Chapter Four
    “I can’t believe you! After yesterday … again? Again, you do it. Do you just not care? Obviously, you don’t.” Sarah paced back and forth waving her arms in the air while I sat on the couch.
    For the past five minutes, she had been ranting and raving, uttering short sentences or fragments, and not making much sense. “And then, last night. I can’t believe I fell for that. So what did you think, you could come home, fuck my brains out, and all would be forgotten?” She picked up her pacing. Her arm-flailing reached a manic level. “And I have never known you to have your cell phone off all day. Jesus, on our first date, you kept checking it whenever it rang. Even if you didn’t answer, you still checked it. You thought you were so smooth about it, but I knew.” She stopped and pinned me with a glare. I noticed she was breathing heavily.
    “Sarah, it was such a last minute thing. Peter called this morning to arrange it. It’s not like I thought to myself, hey, it was so much fun hurting her the first time, I’ll try it again.”
    She stared right at me and for a second she looked like a puma ready to pounce. Then she said in a somewhat calmer, but still shaky, voice, “So you admit that you hurt me.”
    I stood up, walked over to her, and looked her right in the eyes. “Yes, I admit that I hurt you yesterday. And I admit that I hurt you again today. I don’t know what