Cowboy is Mine (Cowboys of Nirvana Book 5) Read Online Free Page B

Eventually, when her frustration surmounted, she’d hired an attorney and sent Dodge divorce papers. Again, they went disregarded. There was no reason why they should prolong the inevitable, so she wasn’t sure why he continued to play games. They’d been a train wreck waiting to happen from the moment they said “I do”.
    Clicking her mouse, the Nirvana Ranch website came up on the screen. She’d read the details over and over, wrapping her brain around the idea that Dodge worked at a spa/retreat. The place seemed like a secluded paradise, priding themselves on privacy, guests connecting with nature and leaving refreshed. The retreat had gained popularity over the last few years, as much for the view of the mountains as for the cowboys who catered to the needs of the guests.
    Krista’s stomach twisted. Dodge definitely could use his charm to impress the ladies.
    Sitting back in her chair, she tapped her foot in frustration. She needed closure. She had a good life, a career in something she was good at and a promising future—she was independent and strong. Yet, a part of her remained in the past. Her mother had recently accused Krista of living vicariously through her stories. Maybe when she first started writing, she had used her characters and their fantasy worlds to assuage her loneliness, but the stand-in for comfort was no longer working. There was a large void in her life and it was time she started figuring out how to fill the hole with things that mattered.
    Picking up her pen, she clicked it in restless energy. She’d been involved with several men since Dodge, but none had made her feel even a smidgeon of what she’d felt with her husband—beautiful, seductive, and amazing. He’d taken away all of her inhibitions and insecurities, replacing them with confidence and capability. In bed, she’d learned what he liked—learned what she liked too. She’d found that not all men liked being told by a woman what she wanted, especially in bed, no matter what he claimed. A few men found it too brazen. Her freedom, when it came to exploration and spontaneity, scared some men, or rather, scared Willard. What had she been thinking? Wasting a good strip tease and corset on him.
    Obviously, she couldn’t be trusted to make the right decision when it came to men because her failure rate was getting higher by the day.
    She had dreams too, not just career-based.
    At twenty-nine, it wasn’t as if her ovaries were shriveling up, but she’d always wanted a child and a husband. Even when she was younger she’d longed for the day when she could shower her own family with love and affection. Truthfully, she’d wanted a baby with Dodge. They’d discussed children when they first married, but they’d both had wanted to wait until he’d been drafted. They’d made each other a promise that once that happened, they’d buy a small house in the suburbs and start a family.
    Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked them away. She couldn’t allow her emotions to get in the way. She could still love him, but that didn’t mean he deserved it.
    Her mother was always asking Krista when would she settle down, have a few kids. Didn’t her mother see that it wasn’t that easy? Of course, her parents had no clue that she was still married to Dodge. If they did, they would have been on her case daily. They forgot at times that she was an adult.
    Being an adult meant acting like one, and that included no longer allowing Dodge to control her future. She wished that she no longer loved him, or dreamed about him, craved his touch, remembered their lovemaking that lingered so many years later. She wasn’t sure why she tormented herself with his memory.
    Why did she scare stable men like Willard away?
    Looking at the bigger picture, she should be happy that they hadn’t consummated their relationship. She’d caught a glance of him naked once and she hadn’t felt the thrill a woman should when thinking of having sex. She’d told