Lost & Found Read Online Free Page B

bedroom, shutting the door behind her and went to sleep in one of the other rooms.
     
    He’d walked into quite the mess.
    Maybe it had been a bad decision coming to stay with Krissa and Derek. Things seemed to be a tad unsettled.
    Nate stood in the shower in the bathroom attached to his room. Derek and Krissa had moved into a big enough house, considering there was just the two of them. It worked out well for him. He had his own little suite here, with a huge bedroom and attached bath. In a house this size, he could stay out of their way and they’d never have to know he was there. Probably a good thing, especially considering the discussion they were likely to be having this morning.
    That was putting it mildly. Derek was out getting hammered while Krissa cried her eyes out at home. Uh, yeah, just your typical marriage.
    What the hell did he know about typical marriages? He’d thought his own marriage was perfect. What a fucking idiot he’d been. Ah, well. That’d been a long time ago. Another life.
    The only good thing about this upheaval was, it had taken his mind off his own problems.
    He grinned as he scrubbed shampoo into his hair. He didn’t envy Derek right then. The guy was going to be majorly hungover and Krissa was going to be pissed beyond belief. He was surprised he didn’t hear the yelling all the way into the shower.
    When Nate was dressed he followed the smell of rich coffee down the hall. Someone was up. As he passed by a bedroom he noticed through the open door the bed with the covers turned back and rumpled as though someone had slept there.
    Had Krissa spent the night in a bed apart from her husband?
    Kinda looked like it.
    Krissa sat in the kitchen at the counter, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Sunlight streamed in through all the windows and Nate slid on his sunglasses, his eyes burning. Damn it.
    “Hey,” he said. “I smell coffee.”
    She looked up at him, eyes wary and guarded. Even with shadowed green eyes and a soft, sad mouth, her beauty tugged at something inside him. She wore no makeup and he could see the faint sprinkling of freckles across the fair skin of her nose and cheeks.
    She slid off the stool. “I’ll get you some.”
    Nate held up a hand. “No, I’ll get it. You don’t need to wait on me. Just point me in the direction of a cup.”
    “In the cupboard right above the dishwasher.” She sat down again.
    He poured himself a cup of coffee. “Derek already gone?”
    She snorted. “He’s still sleeping.” She shook her head, dark hair sliding over her shoulders in a silky curtain.
    “Ah.” Nate sipped the coffee and sat, too. “I guess when you’re self-employed you can do that.”
    “He could be missing appointments, I don’t know.” The corners of Krissa’s mouth turned down. “But if he is, he’ll just have to deal with it.”
    “Yup.” Silence expanded in the bright kitchen.
    “I’m sorry you walked into this,” Krissa said finally. “You’re probably wondering what’s going on.”
    Hell, yeah. But he wasn’t going to pry. Derek was his best buddy, and he’d always liked and respected Krissa. If they were having problems, that was their business. Best to just stay out of it.
    “Things have been a little stressful lately,” she continued, and her top teeth sank into her lush lower lip. “I’m sorry. You probably don’t need this when you have problems of your own to deal with.”
    He shrugged, sipped his coffee. Its heat stung, and he held the liquid in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing.
    “I’m sorry, too,” he said. “I guess I picked a bad time to barge in on you. You probably don’t need someone else hanging around right now.”
    “It’s fine,” she said quickly. “I know Derek wanted you to come here too, to recover. We’d do anything to help you, you know that.”
    “What about you?”
    Her dark brows drew together. “What do you mean?”
    “Is there anything I can do to help you guys?”
    Their eyes