The Debra Dilemma (The Lone Stars Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

attention. The need to touch something that she’d touched was stupid, but he couldn’t help himself. He reached over and picked it up. Whatever was inside had gone cold. He sniffed at the slit in the white plastic top and smiled. Hot chocolate.
    She’d always loved hot chocolate. He remembered her telling him about the European drinking chocolate that she’d had in France. It was always her favorite at least it had been before and it was strangely comforting to know that she still ordered it. Debra had described it as a cup full of chocolate ganache. At the time, he’d had no idea what ganache was. Since then, he’d taken countless women to Paris, but none of them had wanted to try the hot chocolate because it was way too many calories. He was willing to admit that the string bean model types who’d worn their hunger like a badge of honor had never held his attention for long. He’d hopped from girlfriend to girlfriend in the hopes that one of them would fill the hole left by Debra, but none of them did.
    In the six glorious months he’d had with Debra, he’d been at peace with himself and the world around him. He’d liked the man she brought out in him. Around her, the nagging need to constantly prove himself was gone. He was just Warren and that was more than fine with her. Or it had been.
    She’d been a star-eyed girl of twenty-two when he’d snuck into her life and screwed it up. All her plans to get her masters in counseling and then counsel underprivileged kids gone in the blink of an eye. He’d done that. That was on him.
    Right now, he would trade every single dollar he had to take Debra to Paris and watch the look of delight on her face at the simple pleasure of hot chocolate.
    He noticed the faint line of lipstick under the drinking slit. Instead of the garish reds or hot pinks she used to wear, here was a soft, pale pink. Her hair was different, too. Gone were the long, platinum blonde locks. Now her hair was cut short like a man’s and it was back to her natural reddish-blonde. Debra had always been ultra-feminine, and somehow the man’s haircut made her even more feminine. She’d been dressed differently, too. Just jeans and a pink sweater—nothing skin tight or low cut. This new Debra was hard and no nonsense. There was no trace of the innocent, whimsical girl.
    He desperately wanted to get to know the new version.
    His cell buzzed. He pulled it out to find a picture of Sweet Louise on his screen. He taped the accept button and put it to his ear.
    “You don’t listen.” Sweet Louise wasn’t exactly yelling, but it was close. “Debra just left me a message saying that she’d run into you. What part of ‘leave her alone’ do you not understand?”
    “I wanted to see her.” He couldn’t explain why to himself much less her. “She looks good.”
    She looked better than good, she looked perfect. The grownup, calm Debra was so much more appealing than the tantrum-throwing girl he’d known.
    “I get the feeling that you screwed her over in some way, and now you want to make amends?” Sweet Louise blew out a long sigh. “She’s finally getting her shit together. She doesn’t need your apology. This can only end badly for both of you. Stop hurting her.”
    He’d never thought of it that way. He’d never wanted to hurt her, but he’d done just that. Wouldn’t explaining his side of the story help her to heal? “I can’t let this go. I have to make it right.”
    Sweet Louise blew out another put-upon sigh. “I don’t get men. Y’all say that we’re the unreasonable ones, but then you go and do something so stupid and self-serving that it doesn’t make a damned bit of sense.”
    “Huh?” All he wanted to do was make sure that Debra was okay. For some reason now, he couldn’t stand the thought of her out in the world and thinking badly of him. Sweet Louise was right, it was unreasonable. He didn’t really care that it was unreasonable, it was how he felt. And wasn’t she