Scattered Read Online Free PDF

own children here.
    My hands slowed in the soapy water as my thoughts wound back to the hospital, the nurses and the doctor telling me that I had miscarried. At five weeks, still in my first trimester and within the real danger zone, I’d woken up in the middle of the night to cramping and blood on the sheets. Since then I’d not gone back to my job as a real estate agent, taking a leave of absence to deal with the grief and to give my body time to heal.
    Sebastian worked from home as a web designer, something I was intensely grateful for as he was able to help me out of the depression I’d fallen into after the miscarriage, not to mention pay the bills that never stopped coming in.
    The bathroom door clicked and I poked my head outside the curtain. “Hand me the new shampoo.”
    Sebastian held it just out of reach before finally letting me take it, a grin spreading across his face, his gorgeous dimples framing his mouth.
    I ducked back in and lathered up, smiling to myself. He might be a little chubby, but my man was good looking and that smile, even now it made me weak in the knees.
    “It’s probably a hoax, you know that don’t you, babe?” Sebastian’s voice was muffled as I stuck my head back under the running water, the cool shower sluicing off the last of the pollen. It didn’t, however, make the hives go away. I was covered in them from head to toe, the bumps starting to develop even where the plant didn’t touch me, its infection of my skin spreading like some horrid disease.
    “You don’t know that and neither do I,” I said, soaping my body up. “You aren’t a doctor last time I checked.”
    “These sorts of things come and go. It’s either a hoax or it will turn out to have some horrible side effect. Like, your boobs will shrivel up leaving me nothing to play with, and then I would die.”
    I laughed, turned the water off and reached for a towel. The shower curtain slid open and Sebastian lifted an eyebrow at me, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, his clothes having mysteriously disappeared. His eyes roved over my naked and still-wet body. Heat curled in my stomach, still now after four years of marriage he could set my skin on fire and my heart racing with a simple look.
    “The towel, please.” I held out my hand, trying to look uninterested. He shook his head and stepped into the tub, his bare toes touching the tips of mine. Without a word he started to dry me off, starting with my hair and working his way slowly down my body, his hands massaging as he dried.
    I bit back a groan, the moisture from my skin disappearing, the heat intensifying. I closed my eyes and let the sensations wash through me, the scratching of the itch from the hives almost heavenly as he scrubbed the towel over them.
    “Stop,” I whispered, not really meaning it. Sebastian chuckled and I peeked out from under my eyelashes. With a single, swift movement he scooped me into his arms and took me to the bedroom and our very small bed.
    With more gentleness than one would think from a man his size, he laid me on the bed and pressed his body into mine, our hearts beating in time with one another.
    “I love you Sebastian,” I whispered as he slid into me, completing me, making us one.
    “I love you too my bumpy, hive-ridden woman,” he whispered into my ear. I slapped him half-heartedly on the shoulder, and the sweet love making quickly turned into a laughing romp that ended as it often did: in each other’s arms, tears prickling at the back of my eyes as my emotions filled me up and spilled over in physical release.
    “You okay, Mara?”
    “Yes,” I said curling deeper into his arms, trying to think of something smart to say and coming up empty handed so I settled for the truth. “Sometimes I just love you so much it makes me cry.”
    “Hmm. I am quite the hunk. Really, you are very lucky to have snagged me. I was planning on playing the field till I was at least sixty before you came along.” He spread his