Precious Embrace (Embrace Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“Well…actually I do. My mother pressured us. We both finally agreed to shut her up.”
    “That is a pretty dumb reason to get married.”
    “I know, story of my life.” Ali rolled her eyes. “My mother went on and on about how I cheated on Mark and the only right thing to do was to marry the man who I destroyed my marriage with. You know—to save face. She put such a heavy guilt trip on Carl, told him it was his fault, insisted Carl marry me since he caused my divorce.” Ali pushed the food around on her plate looking like she’d lost her appetite.
    “How did you end up married to two completely different men?” Johnny asked.
    “The truth is…I was pressured into marrying Mark too.”
    Johnny narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
    “I wasn’t ready, but Mark somehow convinced me.” A faint smile crossed her face. “And my mother loved him. They ganged up on me.”
    “You must have loved Mark though, you were married for a long time.”
    “Yes, of course I did, and I’m not comparing him to Carl. Mark and I were best friends before we became a couple. I felt closer to him than my own sister…but I never felt…” Ali had a dreamy expression on her face. She pressed her hand to her chest with splayed fingers, but then her face relaxed and she blew out a long breath, frowning. “Forget it…”
    He tried to picture her with Mark but couldn’t. They didn’t fit. Mark seemed made for Sarah. “You mean you didn’t have with Mark what he has with Sarah now.” Johnny thought he understood.
    “Exactly. I loved him but not that ‘I’d die without you’ type of love.” She frowned again, her lids drooping. “I didn’t realize what was missing until I was with another man.”
    “…fell in love with another man?”
    “No, I mean, slept with another man. Mark was my first. When I slept with Carl everything hit home for me. Not because Carl is this spectacular lover, but…I realized that if I were truly in love with Mark, I wouldn’t have been able to sleep with another man. No matter how hard he tried to seduce me.”
    “And the way Mark and Sarah fit together…seems you were right.”
    “Yes, but Mark was still very hurt.” Ali closed her eyes and chuckled. “Sorry…it’s not funny, but I think about how hurt Mark was when we broke up, and compare it to how relieved Carl was when I threw him out of the house. I have to either laugh at it or cry about it.”
    “Apparently you didn’t have that one-of-a-kind of love with Carl either.”
    “No, clearly I didn’t.” She looked down. “I shouldn’t have let my mother get involved in my personal life. I shouldn’t have married Carl. What was I thinking getting involved—much less married so soon after my divorce?”
    “Is that why you don’t want to see me?” he asked.
    Ali nodded. “I need to get my life in order, Johnny…focus on my kids. Get my career back on track. When I got pregnant, I left the firm in San Francisco not knowing I wouldn’t have Carl here to financially support me. Fortunately the DA offered me a job in his office.”
    “Bullshit, Ali. You can date and work.”
    “I need to focus on my priorities, not my sex life.”
    “And what about finding your great love?” Johnny looked away, hoping she wouldn’t see the hurt in his eyes.
    “Ha—no. I’m two marriages and two kids past finding that now.”
    “Don’t be stupid.”
    She drew back. “Excuse me?”
    “You’re only thirty-three years old. Life is just getting started.” Their eyes met this time and he couldn’t hide his annoyance. “You shouldn’t waste your time feeling sorry for yourself.”
    Johnny cradled Micah who was getting fussy, and thought it might’ve been because he was projecting his feelings onto the baby. Ali reached out, but Johnny shook her off. “I got him. Does he need a bottle?” She nodded and got up to prepare it for him.
    “I’m not being stupid,” Ali said. “I’m being smarter.”
    “And what happens when