Her Only Salvation Read Online Free Page B

her.
    “I’ll see you inside if you don’t mind.”
    He was already moving toward the house, leaving her with little choice in the matter. She was actually kind of relieved. Nothing was more unsettling than coming home to a dark, empty home.
    Walking alongside Luke, Terri peered at the darkened windows and wished she would have had the foresight to at least leave on a lamp.
    “You shouldn’t come home to a dark house,” Luke remarked, echoing her thoughts.
    Terri smirked, bypassing him so she could fit the key in the lock.
    “Dangerous, right?”
    Pushing open the steel-clad door, she stepped inside and flicked on the wall switch. Light flooded the living room, illuminating the adjoining hallway that led to the back two bedrooms.
    Luke came in behind her and performed a cursory glance around the tight space.
    “I know.” Terri immediately began apologizing for the state it was in. “It’s a little cluttered, but it’s not dirty.”
    “No, it’s not dirty,” Luke agreed slowly. “Just a lot of furniture.”
    Terri took in the oversized sofa and loveseat, the recliner and two end tables, the coffee table and finally, the entertainment center, all crammed into the restrictive room.
    “I couldn’t afford a storage unit after the divorce, and I didn’t have the heart to let everything go,” she confessed, then immediately zipped her lips. She hadn’t intended to share her past with anyone. The more you revealed about yourself the more likely the past would come back and haunt you. And Terri’s past was better left secret.
    “You were married?” Luke sounded surprised.
    Terri wasn’t sure if she should be offended—as if a woman like her wasn’t capable of securing a husband—or embarrassed that she was standing here talking to her boss about her personal life.
    “Still am, actually. But the divorce will be final at the end of the month,” she went on.
    Of course, that’s what her lawyer had told her. It had been the same song and dance month after month for nearly a year. At first she thought it would be a quick process, but it turned out to be more complicated than that. Randy had disputed one thing or another all the way, resulting in several postponements until things could be worked out between their lawyers.
    Luke nodded slowly, his gaze sliding around the room. “Must have been something bad for a woman like you to call it quits.”
    Terri frowned. “What do you mean?”
    A shrug. “Just that I figure you to be the type with stick-to-itiveness. Care if I have a look around?”
    Terri was too tired to protest. She waved him on. “Go for it.”
    She followed close ly from one room to the next. Luke peeked around the corner into the kitchen. He went for the bathroom next, drawing back the shower curtains and replacing them.
    “What are you doing exactly?” she asked him, moving to the side so he could get past her.
    “Making sure everything is secure,” he replied, opening first her guest bedroom, then her own. He stopped to study the room. “I think you might have a hoarding problem,” he told her.
    Terri glanced over his shoulder seeing the large queen bed framed by two bedside tables topped with elegant Tiffany lamps. There was an armchair in the corner by the closet, a five-drawer pine dresser she had picked up at a flea market and painted white to match the rest of the furniture, and a cedar chest at the foot of the bed.
    “What?” she said defensively. “This isn’t that bad.”
    He shook his head, a glimmer of a smile creeping up on his face. “No, not nearly as bad as the guest room, I’d say.”
    “Well nobody asked you,” she snapped.
    No longer in the mood to be judged, Terri shoved past Luke, hastily grabbing the handle and slamming the door shut.
    Laughing, Luke followed her back into the living room.
    “I didn’t mean anything by it, honest,” he insisted.
    Terri wasn’t having any of it. She had long grown tired of having to answer to a man.
    She spun on him,