Straight From The Heart Read Online Free PDF

reality.
    Muttering a few pungent obscenities beneath his breath, he worked his way through the shadowy room back to the kitchen in the hope of finding another beer.
    Kimberly lay on her back with her hands folded beneath her head, staring at the bedroom ceiling. There was no such thing as total darkness. From the window grayish outdoor light threw a square of faint illumination across the foot of her bed and lightened the walls. Shadows danced from the stiff breeze that gusted outside, and rain fell in a steady symphony.
    She couldn’t sleep. Not at all. Her mind was busy, her thoughts fragmented. But her overall feeling was one of, what? She didn’t know. Cautiously, she tiptoed through the mess in her head and suddenly tripped over luscious thoughts of Stephen Wright.
    With a groan of self-loathing, she snatched up the pillow and buried her face in its smothering softness. Then she pounded on it with one fist. You are such an idiot! She couldn’t stand the man. He’d sided with Alan! It wasn’t fair that he was so outrageously attractive.
    Why? Why? Why?
    Removing the pillow, Kim sighed hugely. She’d never been stupid about men. Well, okay, she’d misjudged Alan. She’d fallen for his charms—limited as they now appeared to be—but she could excuse herself because she’d been so young. Now, there was no excuse. She knew the kind of man Stephen Wright was, and he would never be the man for her.
    Still  . . .
    She looked across the room to where she’d folded up his clothes and set them atop his bag. She should have pushed the bag outside the door, but there it stood, mocking her. If Stephen wanted anything from it he was going to have to knock on her bedroom door, but so far that hadn’t happened.
    What time was it? she wondered. She’d gone to bed shortly after seven. When was the last time you did that, my girl? And now she was wide awake and wishing for dawn. As soon as it was light she might be able to leave. More wishful thinking, as it hadn’t stopped raining all night, and it was bound to take a while for the floodwaters to recede.
    She tossed and turned for what had to be at least an hour, then finally out of pure frustration and exhaustion, she stopped avoiding the issue picking at her brain and faced it full on: She was attracted to Stephen Wright. Kim actually winced as she mentally said the words. She felt like a traitor to herself. How could she be? How could she?
    Easy. She’d been attracted to him before, why not now? She’d first met him several years earlier; they were loosely involved in the same circle of friends. Betsy, of course, was the main connection, and when she first introduced Kim to Stephen at a barbecue at her house, he’d still been with his wife, Pauleen. Kim, sensitive to her own still-fresh divorce, had eyed Stephen and Pauleen Wright and wondered what kept them together. Sure, they were the quintessential beautiful couple, but Pauleen seemed so stiff and discriminating. The corners of her mouth never lifted, and there was a restlessness about her, as if she couldn’t wait to leave. Her tension was palpable. Stephen, on the other hand, had clearly been having a great time. Kim had warmed to his conversation. She knew he was a lawyer, and she learned that he was acquainted with Alan—Riverside was small enough, and Harden Electric was big enough, that it was almost a given the two men would have met.
    Pauleen had had too much to drink, and that ended Kim’s first meeting with Stephen; he took his tottering wife home. Still, her attraction to him had remained, like a haunting melody. Oh, she didn’t want him then; he’d been married, for crying out loud! But she’d enjoyed the mellow tones of his voice and the amused quirk of his mouth as a woman appreciates any attractive male. Kim had been starved for that kind of easy camaraderie; she’d never really had it with Alan, and it was darn difficult to find. That evening she’d been sorry to see Stephen leave, but