Ropin' Trouble (Cowboys of Nirvana Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

they tried to have ‘normal’ sex, he couldn’t get hard.  He needed to pull her hair, sometimes too hard, or bind her wrists to complete their lovemaking. If she’d felt loved and cared for, she wouldn’t have minded exploring in the bedroom, but the only completion was on his side. When she started refusing him, that’s when his character took a turn for the worse.
    The first time he became enraged had been a summer evening, right after their first year of marriage. They’d returned home from a social gathering with neighbors and she’d asked him why he’d flirted all evening with his secretary. He had drank too muchand, of course, he denied his flirtation. They’d gone to bed and he wanted to tie her up with a thick, coarse rope he’d found in the garage. She wasn’t in the mood and told him she was going to sleep. In slurred speech, he’d called her a few names and told her it was her fault that he couldn’t manage an erection under normal circumstances. From that evening on, he pointed out that sad fact to her every chance he got.
    When she would try touching him, with no physical reaction in his body, he’d laugh at her. He delighted in verbal abuse, telling her she was too skinny or too fat.  Too ugly or too pale. Too stupid or too smart. She was never good enough, no matter what she did.
    During their marriage, not once did they use contraception and Cara had wondered why she didn’t become pregnant. Was it a strike of luck? Was James shooting blanks? Or was that another failure on her part, as he’d often blamed her. He told Cara she was a waste of vagina and tits.
    She’d wanted a child with all her being, but not with James. She couldn’t have brought a child into a home where a man ruled like a tyrant and flew off the handle with the slightest provocation.
    Cara realized early on James’s reputable status as an attorney had a lot of people in town bamboozled, and gave him superiority. She believed he’d had affairs with several women over the course of their marriage, but at some point Cara had stopped caring.
    James had been a good-looking man. Dark hair that he kept perfectly slicked back and a clean-shaven face, even if that meant he had to shave twice a day. He went to the gym daily, often working out hours at a time. He had a sleek, toned body that spoke of his love of lifting weights and dressing in quality suits that accentuated his physical assets. The better looking he became, the homelier Cara was, exactly the way he wanted things.
    When he started working late hours, probably with his lover, Cara would indulge herself in the peace and quiet. She’d design and sew outfits, none that she’d ever wear. She was always good at helping others dress nice, but never herself. She’d try her hand at new recipes and watch movies that James would never take the time for. He called them chick flicks and he thought it lessened his manhood by watching them.
    She wasn’t sure how she’d ended up with a man like James. Looking back, she knew she’d been attracted to his outgoing character, opposite her passive nature. Growing up with loving and kind parents in a small town in Ohio, she lived in a bubble. Her father was in law enforcement and had died at age forty from a heart attack. Her mom had taken odd jobs to add to Cara’s father’s pension and, although they weren’t rich, they were happy.  James had appeared, swept Cara off her feet and she had no clue what was to come. He was ten years older, suave, and bought her nice gifts.
    After they married, he moved her to Texas and Cara had only seen her mother two more times before she’d died.
    Cara touched the cold glass of the window. She lived with many regrets.
    Deidre’s words came to her, “Think of this as an adventure. You never know where it’ll lead you.”
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    Ben skimmed the room from his seat at the bar. He brought the long neck to his lips and guzzled half the beer. Maverick and Dodge were on the dance floor, each