Read Online You Belong With Me by Shannon Guymon - Free Book Online

agreement. “It’s like he’s two completely different people all in one gorgeous package. He’s all serious and mature and grown up with everyone, but when he grins at Layla, the sun comes out and then Viggo Mortensen is standing there,” she said, sighing.
                  Layla rolled her eyes and walked over to cover the pan of brownies with plastic wrap. Jane looked up, pausing with a frown. “ Wait, who’s Viggo?”
                  Kit looked at her like she was crazy. Layla looked up answering before she could stop herself. “He’s the man who played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies,” she said and then blushed as Kit grinned at her knowingly.
                  “Um Layla, didn’t you have a poster of Aragorn on your wall when you were in high school?” Kit asked, her eyes sparkling wickedly.
                  Jane walked over to her, her eyes wide as she looked at her oldest sister. “Oh my heck Layla. You like Michael don’t you? He’s pulling you in every time he smiles down at you the way he does, huh?”
                  Layla closed her eyes, completely mortified and turned away from her sister’s gleeful faces. “I haven’t been seventeen for ten years. And he only looks like Aragorn when he smiles, which is hardly ever. I’m taking Bubba for a walk,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to grab her dog and his leash. She needed some air.
                  Bubba howled in delight as she grabbed his leash and clipped it in place. As she walked past the kitchen she could hear her sister’s happy chatter and she ground her teeth in irritation. Why did they have to spin their little fairy tales around her?
                  She opened the front door for Bubba and followed him out, shutting the door firmly behind her. She ran lightly down the porch stairs to the sidewalk and headed toward the water. She knew it was at least eight miles away and there was no way she could walk there today, so she’d have to settle with getting to know the neighborhood better.
                  As the cool air whipped through her hair, she felt all the frustration, irritation and embarrassment ease away and she was able to smile at herself. She knew she had issues with men. She wasn’t an idiot. Since hanging out with her sisters though her issues had become a hot topic. It had gotten worse in the last year for sure, she had to admit. There were three men in her group of friends she enjoyed hanging out with back in Seattle. Men she was comfortable with, laughed with easily and enjoyed being around. So it wasn’t all men. But every man who attempted to ask her out lately, she’d immediately shut down.
                  Layla smiled politely at an older gentleman walking his Schnauzer. She pulled Bubba away and quickened her pace frowning as she realized she’d been closing herself off emotionally for a while now. Being abandoned by their father at a young age hadn’t helped her, but that wasn’t the whole story. She rubbed her hand over her heart as she thought about the hopeless women and the hollowed out children she’d worked with during the last few years. She’d allowed herself to judge all men based on the men she dealt with at work. Logically she knew it wasn’t fair, but emotionally she couldn’t seem to help it. Was it so wrong want to not end up like all of the women she’d seen and talked to during the last four years? Left alone and desperate, abused or victimized? All the women she’d worked with through the years had looked up at her with battered faces and broken noses and had sworn that they’d loved the men in their lives. If love meant pain and damage then she didn’t want any part of it.
                  Layla paused at the street corner, waiting for the light to turn green before crossing over. She heard a wolf