Escape From Obsession Read Online Free

Corp vets through and through. They also believed in love at first sight and a lot of other bullshit about fate and destiny. Yeah, what a great destiny I have. To be lonely, to have a fucked-up leg and sleepless nights for eternity .
    The bar, Casper’s, was their fathers’ retirement idea and what they had strived to establish as they worked hard in various jobs. Then they met his mother, Eve. Sure, their relationship wasn’t conventional, but he had never seen such a happy marriage ever. Well, there were a few of their friends who lived around town. They were involved with ménage relationships, too.
    Garrett glanced at Gia and he couldn’t help but wonder what his brothers, Gunner and Wes, might think of her.
    Why the hell did that idea come to mind? They’re interested in a ménage relationship, not me.
     
    * * * *
     
    Gia was trying to stick this social event out. Her friends had been trying to get her to come to Casper’s for the last two months. She didn’t like the bar scene. Not really, but she was enjoying the atmosphere of the place, the pictures on the wall of the war veterans, and soldier stories as well as the country music. What she didn’t like were the guys constantly hitting on her or trying to invade her space. Sure, they were good-looking cowboys, with fantastic bodies and a kind of arrogance to them. Not GQ like men from New York City but more like rough-and-tough, get-down-in-the-mud types. She wasn’t as dead inside as she was beginning to think. Not until she laid eyes on that very tall, incredibly handsome bartender. He was a Goliath and with dimples. She had that little twang in her belly and felt her cheeks warm as he stared into her eyes. That was definitely a shock to her. So she did the best thing she could do, and got as far away from him as she could. Pain…remember the pain.
    She was still on edge and figured she would be for years to come. She had to admit that the guys in Houston were quite appealing. She hadn’t met one yet that wasn’t or didn’t have a great body.
    As she absorbed the atmosphere and talked with her friends, she kept glancing back at the bar and the attractive bartender with the dark eyes and crew-cut hair. He was gorgeous, yet very rugged and hard looking. His biceps were big, but he had a look in his eyes when he locked gazes with her and she felt something. Was it mere attraction to a good-looking man or was it something else? She tried not to stare at him, but each time she glanced his way, it seemed as if he were watching her. Not in a creepy way, but more like keeping an eye on her. Did she appear naïve or something? Maybe he was just being kind because she was a friend with Sammy and they had known one another for years.
    When some idiot tried to get a little too close, she put him in his place and decided that a quick trip to the ladies’ room for a reprieve was in order. She told Sammy where she was headed then walked through the crowd. She didn’t like being out at places like this where men and women sought out attractions or whatever. She feared intimacy. She feared getting close to people, and after her experiences in New York, she feared men in general. Sure she could handle the occasional jerk, but letting her guard down to allow interest or deeper conversation made her palms sweat and her need to disappear increase.
    She took care of her needs then headed back toward the front of the bar. On the way she noticed the pictures on the wall and then three men standing together in uniform. They were Marines. But something in their similar eyes caught her attention.
    “That was taken when we returned home after our third tour in Vietnam,” someone said and she turned to find an older, attractive-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair. He had to be about six feet tall. Even with her heels on, she hardly reached his chest. Being five feet four inches was on the smaller side.
    She was hesitant to respond but then noticed that he was one of the men