Dangerous Intentions Read Online Free PDF Page B

relented and shown me where everything was in the kitchen.
    I decided not to wake Dustin yet, since it was not even 7 a.m. The air outside was still cool, so I took a light blanket from the living room and stepped out onto the porch with it wrapped around my shoulders.
    I sat there with my legs pulled up onto the porch swing, hugging my knees, and observed the beauty before me—the lush green hills in the distance, and the sounds of water coming from the brook that sparkled a few steps below.
    I thought of Jude and the damage he had caused me. Tears trickled down my cheeks. I don’t know how long I sat there, feeling lost and in pieces.
    A warm hand placed itself in the space between my shoulder blades. It startled me but I didn’t turn. I knew it was Dustin and I didn’t want him to remove it. I closed my eyes and reached for the comforting heat of his hand, felt it spread deep into me until it reached my heart and wrapped itself around it. Then I inhaled and lifted my eyelids. I turned around and met his gaze.
    His eyes were droopy with sleep, his hair disheveled. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his muscles were like expertly carved slabs of stone. I couldn’t stop my gaze from ungluing itself from his eyes and chest and drifting down to the line of hair that ran down his abdomen before disappearing into the elastic of his shorts. My heart fluttered for a few moments before I felt a stabbing pain in my core, followed by a rush of shame. Even though my husband had long ceased to be my partner, I still felt guilty. I looked up at Dustin. He blinked and ran his tongue along his bottom lip.
    I bit my own lip and tried to ignore the thoughts of how we used to be as a couple, and the sexual tension that still crackled between us.
    “Did you ever miss us?” he asked.
    The words hit me hard as they reminded me of what I had given up—and the high price I paid only to end up with nothing. I nodded, my heart aching. Pulling away from him, from us, was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. I had taken my comfort from knowing he deserved so much better than me, than what I had become out of desperation. But now, I couldn’t help looking back at the time we’d lost and the memories we had never had the chance to create. “A lot,” I said. Even during my happiest times with Jude, I had thought of Dustin. And more so when my marriage was crumbling.
    They say you never forget your first love. Whoever said that was right.
    He smoothed my hair back. I allowed him to touch me for a few more seconds and then I stood up, causing his hand to slide down the back of my neck and my shoulders. “I made breakfast,” I said. My voice was a whisper.
    His help meant the world to me. His arms called for me, and I wanted to walk straight into them. But I was afraid of what letting me in would do to him.
    ***
    After breakfast, which Dustin wouldn’t stop thanking me for, he helped me into his truck. He insisted on getting me out of the house and giving me a tour of the ranch, refusing to let me shrink back from life and spend the day crying my eyes out. I had nothing to wear except for the dress I’d arrived in, so Dustin gave me a pair of jeans that were too big for me and a baggy checked shirt.
    As the truck rumbled and groaned along a dirt road, Dustin filled me in on what he had been up to since he graduated from NYU with a degree in journalism. From the start, he’d had no intention of becoming anyone’s employee. So he’d launched a small online publishing company that grew to print quite fast, finally becoming the giant that was now the TMT empire. While growing his business, he had also continued studying.
    “Why would you keep studying after reaching your dream? Hadn’t you had enough?”
    He removed one hand from the wheel, wiped his brow, and pulled his black cap lower onto his forehead. “Studying doesn’t have to be torture. Not if you choose a field you’re passionate about.”
    “And you did. You always