Read Online Shallow Grave-J Collins 3 by Lori G. Armstrong - Free Book Online

chair?”
    Her cheeks fl ushed.
    “Hate to tell you, hot mama, but there ain’t nothin’
    vanilla about that.”
    Kim crumpled the Kleenex in her fi st. “Th is is so
    screwed up. I can’t believe this has happened to me.”
    “So, what are you, a couple of weeks along?”
    “Six,” she said and ducked her head.
    Another bout of clumsy silence.
    74

    “Kim, do you want this baby?”
    “I don’t know.” She raised wet eyes to mine. “I’m thirty-eight years old. I’ve been with more guys than is probably healthy and I’ve never gotten pregnant. Not once. What does that say? What if it’s a sign? What if this is my last chance? What if it’s my only chance?”
    “Are you going to tell him?”
    “Not if I . . .”
    Not if she had an abortion. I was relieved she hadn’t automatically discounted that option. “And if you decide to go through with the pregnancy?”
    “I’d tell him for sure.”
    “Who else knows?”
    “Just you.”
    “If he walks away, are you prepared to raise a child on your own?”
    “I don’t know.” Kim looked up. “If you were me, what would you do?”
    Figured she’d ask that. “Th
    ink about it before I
    made a decision either way. But not for too long.”
    “Th
    at’s what I’m afraid of. Murray is such a great guy, and if I tell him I’m pregnant, he’ll want to do the right thing.”
    “And that’s bad because . . .?”
    “Because I don’t want him to feel obligated to me.”
    Neither of us said anything for a while.
    75

    I wanted to smoke. I didn’t. I had a feeling I’d better get used to not smoking around her and the baby.
    Th
    at sounded weird to say even in my own head.
    Kim sailed to her feet. “I’ll go. Th
    anks for not
    freaking out. I know swapping secrets isn’t your favorite thing, but I just needed to talk to someone.”
    “Anytime, toots. And no matter what, I’ll respect your decision. You know I’ll be here for you, right?”
    Her eye teared up. “Wow. We have made progress.
    You actually admitted you care about me and didn’t choke on it. Now I’m really scared.”
    “If you tell anyone I’m getting soft I’ll start telling people exactly how you let your dentist use his tool on you.”
    She smiled and blew me a kiss. “Later, shug.”
    I fi red up a Marlboro the second she left.
    It boggled my mind that she was pregnant. Th rilled
    as I was to be the fi rst person she’d confi ded in, it bothered me how she viewed my relationship with Martinez.
    It wasn’t vanilla, but it wasn’t normal by any stretch of the imagination, either.
    After my divorce I’d avoided normal relationships. I wanted hot sex and nothing else. Can’t be disappointed by bad relationships if you’ve got no expectations in the fi rst place.
    Not a disappointing thing about Tony Martinez.
    So, why did I want more with him? I didn’t want 76

    to change him. Yet, would it kill him to take me out to dinner once in a while? Or any place besides Fat Bob’s and my house?
    I inhaled. Exhaled and stared at the ceiling.
    Th
    ree months ago, after I’d wrapped up the case that’d brought Martinez into my life, we’d taken a week-long vacation in Florida. It’d been idyllic. No bodyguards, no friends, no business, no ghosts, just us.
    We spent hours strolling on the beach, talking if the mood struck us, discovering our common interests, lazing in bed. Martinez redefi ned the perfect lover; he was attentive, aggressive, inventive, sweet, demanding, and generous. After the intensity of our hook-up, I think we both expected that week would be a fl ing. We’d burn ourselves out with lots of steamy sex and move on.
    It hadn’t turned out that way and by mutual agreement we felt we were starting something instead of ending it.
    After our return to South Dakota, things went back to the way they’d been. I hadn’t seen him at all during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which had been my choice.
    Th
    e minute the bikes roared out of town, I expected he’d relax his