Gage, Ronna - The Search is Over (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free PDF Page A

figured that would be next. She put away the clothes and avoided eye contact until he finished with his off-the-cuff breakup.
    “And there’s some else.”
    “What’s that?”
    “You need to move out.”
    Candi stared at him in disbelief. “Jesse, you can’t be serious?” She slammed two folded T-shirts into the basket. “I don’t need this shit right now. You know, ever since you came back from your mother’s house in Idaho yesterday, you’ve acted strange. I’ve waited for you to tell me all about what really took you up there.”
    “There’s nothing sinister about me going to see my mother,” he shot back with irritation.
    “Yeah, I know!” Back off girl. You’ll blow it. Although Jesse couldn’t stop talking about his trip and how much fun he’d had in the northern country, he still kept mum about this Stephanie woman, or the fact that he’d been talking to her for weeks.
    He yawned. “And I don’t need you staying around here messing things up for me.”
    She looked at Jesse with bitter contempt. “I suppose the fact that I lived here first doesn’t matter.”
    He shook his head.
    Damn it. Of course I have to be the one to find another place to live. All because his father is screwing my roommate . Candi shook her head. “No, you move out.”
    “Candi, come on, damn! This relationship isn’t what either of us wants. It’s going nowhere,” Jesse pointed out rather quickly.
    The bunched muscles of his arms jumped out at her as he rubbed his hands down his face. He wore nothing but a pair of black physical training shorts. His bare chest was covered with a thick mat of dark brown hair that swirled in opposing circles to cover his nipples. His waist narrowed to strong hips and thighs. He still had the body of a Marine—a discharged Marine, but one all the same.
    Candi couldn’t hold back any more. She waited for the real confession that never came. Well, I guess I will get this ball rolling ...
    “I know this relationship isn’t what you want. If it were, you wouldn’t have gone to see your new girlfriend.” The shock on his face was priceless. “Didn’t think I knew about her, did you?” Candi waited for Jesse to lie, but he stood in the small bedroom looking at her as if she’d just grown a third boob on her chest. “Too bad you couldn’t at least have the balls to tell her the truth.”
    “Why hurt her?”
    His cavalier statement took her by surprise. The remark also killed any remaining feelings she had for him. The moment of silence that settled between them, filled with things left unsaid. Just as well, there were too many things to make an amends for, and she didn’t intend to fight another woman for him.
    “Look, Jesse, I will be moving out in December. Minerva and I agreed that I could stay until I finish school.”
    By the look on Jesse’s face, he hadn’t anticipated that bit of news either. “I’ll be out August.”
    Candi could feel her patience running out, but she didn’t let it show. She refused to give him the satisfaction, knowing that he could get to her. “That means you will be out before me.” He thought about that a moment.
    Odd that he’d wait five months to be with her. “Why so long?”
    “If you must know my business, I need to gather money to move back home.” He took a step toward her. “I think since it’s my dad’s trailer, you leave.”
    “Considering that mine and Minerva’s names are also on the lease and I pay my part of the rent, and it’s on time, you’ll have to endure it until I either find a place I can afford and still go to school, or I finish. Either way, I’m not leaving anytime soon.” Candi squared her shoulders and walked toward the door. She looked over her shoulder. “You were a Marine once, adapt,” she said before she slammed the door in her wake.
    A couple should never go to bed angry. They should never argue out their problems in the room that will be there to create the better times of a relationship. In