Read Online Far From Heaven by Cherrie Lynn - Free Book Online Page A

twisted with bitterness as a new thought struck, a thought that should’ve struck long ago—that should’ve knocked the hell out of her, actually. “Pity?”
    “No.” The answer was sharp and without hesitation. “Never that. I’m not philanthropic enough for that.”
    “Well, what, then? I mean…I’m not usually down on myself, but I can’t look that damn interesting. I wouldn’t take a look at myself and automatically think ‘sex strumpet’ or anything.”
    A grin curled his lips. Lips she could stare at all night. Lips she pretty much had been staring at all night. “How lucky for us that I did. Even luckier that I was right.”
    She gasped with mock outrage. “Oh, really .” They laughed together, but soon as they sobered, she couldn’t resist pressing the matter. “I guess that’s kind of lame, huh? Questioning your judgment and all.”
    “Very lame.”
    “Told you I wasn’t very good at this.”
    “Actually, you only told me this wasn’t you, never that you wouldn’t be good at it. I found you quite good.”
    “Gee, thanks.”
    He just looked at her—God, she couldn’t get over how he looked at her. And how something deep in those dark eyes made her feel, crazily enough, as if he knew her. It wasn’t the first time the thought had occurred to her.
    Her phone buzzed insistently on the nightstand, shattering the spell. She’d forgotten she’d meant to turn the damn thing off a while back, because even though it was after 3:00 a.m., David kept calling and texting her. Ash had kept her too occupied to worry much about it, though. She’d glanced at the display only once when she’d gotten up to go to the bathroom, but she had a pretty good idea he was still the one who was trying to get in touch with her.
    Ash was watching her intently. Maybe the blend of her annoyance, guilt and grief was showing on her face. “Your boyfriend?” he asked.
    “Ex,” she reminded him.
    “I don’t think he’s really all that happy about the ex part.”
    “He should have thought of that before he strapped himself with it.”
    “I don’t think you’re all that happy about it, either.”
    “Well, naturally…no one likes getting dumped.” She walked her fingers up his shoulder. “But I suppose it makes it a whole lot easier when you have someone to help you pick up the pieces.”
    “Do you love him?”
    “Oh. I, um…” Did she? She was upset, sure, and it stung like hell…but was she heartbroken ? Or was it merely another case of someone she thought she could depend on leaving her? Did she really mourn David, or only what he represented? A normal life, security, stability, maybe a family. She’d always wanted a family. People who could depend on her to help hold them together. No one in her life had been able to do that for her.
    He was waiting for her answer. She sure as hell didn’t owe him one. But he had that way, that damn way of looking at her that made her certain she was going to answer him all the same. “I cared about him a lot. Maybe I even loved him. Or maybe real, true love was possible, but would only have come later. I don’t know.”
    “Did he ever make you feel like I just did?”
    She frowned at him, stunned he would ask such a thing. Especially with that smug, arrogant little tone. Most guys didn’t want to hear about their predecessors. But then, he was kind of a strange guy.
    Oh, shit. She hoped to God—not for the first time, but for perhaps the most fervent—he wasn’t some psycho stalker. His tattoos alone were pretty scary…she hadn’t noticed them until he got up to get her a drink earlier, and the sight of them had drawn an audible gasp from her. The thick, elaborate black patterns swirled all the way across his back and down to his butt. She didn’t mind a tattoo, but that one had been off-putting. The sheer amount of work and pain that must have gone into it…and what the hell did it mean? She’d asked, once she regained use of her voice, but he just