Tymber Dalton Read Online Free PDF

his temperament had changed. He was argumentative, surly, quick-tempered. She’d grown tired of his tirades.
    Tired of begging him to touch her. So tired in fact, she’d quit trying to seduce him over two months ago, hoping he’d notice her lack of interest.
    He hadn’t.
    She didn’t think he was cheating on her, unless you called his relationship with his writing “cheating.” He was just…
    Pulling away.
    She’d also grown tired of chasing.
    Mutt stood still while she mounted and collected Jeff’s lead. Gently nudging Mutt with her heels, they moved out across the pasture to the trail-striped woods behind the house.
    The morning air still felt comfortably cool, refreshing, a hint of dampness from morning dew still not evaporated in the heavy shade of the oak and buckeye canopies shading the trails. When the path leveled out and widened, she urged the horses into a brief gallop, letting them stretch their legs before reining them in to a slower trot.
    “Why do I even put up with this crap?” she asked the horses. They had no answers.
    She married Steve for better or worse, but better seemed a lot better early on, even when they were broke and he still drank. Maybe it was stress related, too much pressure.
    But being raised in a family where simple disagreements frequently ended in someone led from the house in handcuffs and someone else being treated for a black eye, the last person Sami would tolerate crap from was her husband.
    Steve hadn’t always been like that. In the beginning he’d been calm, quiet, gentle.
    Attentive.
    Every novel brought out more of his darker side. While he was never close to approaching violent, she wasn’t happy with his changes. Her request a few weeks earlier to go to marriage counseling elicited a barrage of epithets from him, driving her from the house. When she finally returned hours later, he greeted her at the front door with tears in his eyes, tripping over himself to apologize.
    He was always apologizing. Yet he waved off her repeated requests for counseling with a vague “pretty soon” promise.
    She studied the wedding band on her left hand, rolling it around with her thumb. When she married Steve, there were more important things to spend money on besides jewelry—like groceries and the light bill. When he hit number one on the NYT list, he came home with a gorgeous solitaire. While it dwarfed the plain, gold band, she still cherished the simplicity, the memories her wedding ring represented.
    The early days when they laughed all the time, when she felt important to him.
    When she felt loved.
    Did she still love him?
    She honestly wasn’t sure anymore. She loved the man he used to be. If she could pay the price of living a middle-class income to have that man back, she’d gladly embrace it and forgo the high bank balance from his bestsellers.
    Hell, she’d live in a tent in the woods with him if it meant she could have the old Steve back.
    Without him drinking, of course.
    Her mind drifted to the number she’d written in her organizer. The number of the divorce attorney one of her friends had used. Sami hadn’t quite worked up the nerve to call.
    Yet.
    She still prayed for change even though she knew she was only wasting time by hesitating.
    Lost in thought, Sami turned the horses home. Every week brought new arguments with Steve, escalating feuds.
    Thank God we don’t have kids.
    That stirred up wistful, conflicting feelings. She wanted children. In fact, they’d planned on having some when they could afford it. Now they could afford as many kids as they wanted, but every time she broached the subject, Steve always wanted to talk about it later. Plus, it was hard to have kids when your husband wouldn’t touch you in bed.
    After returning to the barn and grooming the horses, Sami mucked out the stalls. That finished, she couldn’t put off returning to the house, where Steve pounded away at his laptop behind his closed study door. He hadn’t taken a day off in