Seducing Phoebe (Crimson Romance) Read Online Free PDF

only wanted to have fun? Who would joke and not take life too seriously.”
    She was shocked at his impression of her. His words had made her seem so shallow. Had she been that way? Yes, with him she had, although it still hadn’t stopped her from giving more of herself to him than he had ever given to her.
    “Life isn’t all fun and games, you know,” she said. Yet she’d thought she wanted more “fun” in her relationship with Marco.
    He laughed at her words, as if she’d said the most hilarious joke. “It can be if you want it to be. Come on, Phoebs, you can’t deny that when we went out, we spent half the time laughing. I bet with the stuffed suit you’ve been seeing life has been rather boring. It’s just as well I came back and saved you from him.”
    Words escaped her. She didn’t think she could possibly respond to that. There was a bit of truth in what he was saying. The events she’d been to with Marco had been all business, and she hadn’t been able to joke around. Nor could she talk about her job. The people attending the parties were from the upper echelons of Perth society. They might think her job admirable, but they certainly wouldn’t want to hear about the nitty-gritty of the ER. Some had even sneered when she’d said she was a nurse. It hadn’t mattered; she had been proud to be his partner. He was well respected and he was extremely creative with his architectural designs. There was one place he was anything but a stuffed shirt — that was in their bed. It was the only place where she had felt truly connected to Marco.
    Fatigue warred with her frazzled emotions. All she wanted to do was go inside and crawl into her bed, close her eyes, and wish things were different. She wished she knew Marco loved her and wasn’t just settling. Wished she could trust herself to love again instead of being scared to take that risk because of the man standing in front of her.
    She wished John had just stayed away; then everything would be fine. Or would it? John’s appearance had caused her to look deep inside and find that the relationship she had with Marco wasn’t the type she truly wanted. She did know one thing though. If the man standing in front of her was the “real” John, she didn’t want anything to do with him.
    “I want you to leave,” she said tiredly. “Just go away. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
    For a few minutes Phoebe thought he wasn’t going to pay any attention to her words and he was going to demand his way into her house to continue their conversation. She wouldn’t put it past him to do that, considering the way he’d acted throughout their entire little chat. Relief swept through her when he gave a small nod.
    “Well that’s what you say now. I understand you don’t want to admit that you’ve broken off your engagement because of me.”
    Why couldn’t he leave it alone? Why couldn’t he just walk away and leave her alone? She didn’t need him standing on her doorstep trying to convince her it was him she wanted. Had always wanted.
    “John, will you just go? Just leave me alone. Please don’t text or call me anymore. There’s no point — things have changed. I’ve changed. You went off chasing your adventure and you left me behind. It’s over.”
    “Fine, I’ll go. And you’re right. Things have changed. If they hadn’t, you wouldn’t be standing here having this talk with me. You’d be getting all cozy with your fiancé.”
    He went to lean in and give her a kiss, but she took a step to the side. He sent a wry grin her way. At one time she’d found it endearing. Now it was plain annoying. “I’ll see you later, Phoebe, trust me on that.”
    For the second time that night she watched a man walk down her front path, away from her. This time, however, her heart wasn’t aching and she wasn’t wishing that the man leaving would turn around and come back for her.
    • • •
    Phoebe gripped her morning coffee in both hands, hoping the