3 Dime If I Know Read Online Free Page B

get the whole me, not just the fun anatomical parts.”
    “What’s that mean? You saying you won’t sleep with me?”
    “I’m saying you aren’t being open with me.”
    He looked away, then rubbed the back of his neck. “Come home with me, so we can be alone. I feel like everyone’s listening to us out here.”
    “I don’t care if God himself is listening. I care about getting a straight answer from you.”
    “You’re not going to tie an apron on me and change me. This is who I am.”
    “I’m not trying to change you. I’m asking you to be honest with me.”
    “You’re confusing me.”
    Glancing over, I saw Madonna’s nose pressed up against the dining room window, looking out at us. She barked loudly. The puppies joined in the chorus, adding to the din in my head. What a crappy Sunday.
    “Welcome to the club. Where’s this going, Rafe?”
    “Does it have to be going somewhere?”
    That hurt. I studied him for a few beats before I answered. “Yes, it does.”
    Silence engulfed the porch. “You’re changing the rules on me.”
    “I’m being honest about my feelings. I care for you, but I don’t think I’m cut out for a long-term affair. It feels like something is missing.”
    “I need you tonight. Don’t shut me out.”
    “You’re shutting yourself out.” I rose and squared my shoulders. “I expect the truth from you.”
    Rafe glanced down at his shiny Oxfords. “Did you ever wonder who you’d be if you’d made different choices in life?”
    “Not really.” If I’d overlooked my husband’s adultery, I’d still be living with a cheater. If I’d never married the bastard, I wouldn’t have my beautiful daughters. I’d made the only choices I could make.
    He shot me an enigmatic look. “There’s no point in digging up the past. I’ve been faithful to you. You have to believe that.”
    “Let’s take the night to think on this.” Trust without verification wasn’t the Sampson way, but Rafe expected it. My expectations ran along the lines of trust but verify.
    We definitely weren’t on the same page.

C HAPTER 5
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    I opened the office of Sampson Accounting alone on Monday morning. Mama slept in after her big evening of telling everyone about the wedding. I, on the other hand, yearned for the escape of work. With that thought, I locked the door behind me and started the coffee.
    After a restless night, my feelings about dating hadn’t changed. I believed that a person dated with the ultimate goal of marriage, or at least this person did. Everything I knew about Rafe led me to believe he’d be a good husband, despite the fact he preferred having an affair. He’d been honest about his intentions all along. I’d been fooling myself thinking I didn’t need a wedding band.
    Now that I’d accepted my true goal in dating was marriage, should I stop seeing Rafe? Continuing to see him would prevent me from meeting other men.
    Which sucked because I was in love with Rafe.
    How many women had fallen into this trap of thinking it would all work out in the end? That their boyfriends would come to love them as much as they loved them? I was college-educated. Smart. I owned a business. But my track record with love was rotten.
    I should talk to Rafe about my decision, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Would he call me this morning to apologize for being a jerk last night? I clung to that faint hope.
    Business was slow at Sampson Accounting, the two-person firm I owned, and had been slow ever since the quarterly taxes were paid on September fifteenth. Usually I had homeowners’ association finances to audit or new clients to interview. Today I had nothing except stacks of filing I didn’t want to do. Instead, I turned my computer on and flipped through my emails.
    At a knock on the door, I rose from my desk and hurried across the reception area. A thick fireplug of a guy in a shiny suit glared at me. He’d been my Sunday school teacher for years, and he’d always been a big brother figure to