Storm Season Read Online Free

the endearment. The L-word didn’t slip off her lips easily. Not anymore. Not since Dan.
    So she kissed him. Deeply. Passionately.
    She felt him sigh. Perhaps tonight, of all nights, he had believed he could scale the wall around her heart.
    “I can only be who I am,” she said, hearing the regret in her own voice.
    “I know that, M.C." He rolled onto his back, bringing her with him. “I’ve been thinking.”
    “Mmm hmm?" She whispered her fingers across his chest, liking the trail of goosebumps that followed.
    “We could go away.”
    She smiled to herself. “Where would we go?”
    “It doesn’t matter.”
    “I like that. Just pick a place and go.”
    “Pack up and leave.”
    She smiled up at him. “Someplace warm, please. I’ll bring a bikini.”
    “And I’ll bring sunscreen.”
    She laughed lightly. “Tropical drinks. With those little umbrellas.”
    “As many as you want.”
    “I don’t even remember my last vacation. And I know it wasn’t nearly so wonderful.”
    He turned so they were face to face. “Not a holiday. Forever.”
    She laughed at his serious tone. “What are you talking about?We can’t--”
    “Yes, we can.”
    It began to sink in. “Run away.”
    “That’s one way to put it. Another is, just . . . start over.”
    “What about my job?”
    “Leave it behind. You won’t need to work.”
    Not work?Give up being a cop?She thought of Kitt and Joe. The struggles they’d had reconciling their relationship and Kitt’s badge. “What would I do?”
    “Stay in bed with me.”
    He sounded like a little boy. Hopeful. And naughty.
    She shouldn’t be hurt. But she was. She shouldn’t be angry. But she felt it building inside of her.
    “And what about my family?”
    “They could visit us,” he said, obviously not hearing the edge in her voice. “And we would visit them.”
    He had it all figured out. And she would be along for the ride. His ride. Living off him.
    “I need to work.”
    “No you don’t.”
    “Spoken like a true trust fund baby.”
    “I can support us. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
    “What if I don’t want that?”
    “Ouch.”
    “It’s not about the money, Erik. It’s who I am.”
    “I know. And I love you for who you are.”
    “I don’t think we should talk about this right now.”
    “Why not, M.C.?" Now he sounded angry. “Afraid I’ll get too close?”
    “You know why,” she said softly. “You suffered a loss. Your emotions are raw. It’s logical that you want to escape now, but tomorrow--”
    “What about tomorrow?”
    “It’ll come. And it will take care of itself.”
    “What if I don’t want that?”
    She searched his expression, a chill moving over her. “I don’t understand.”
    “What if I don’t want to do this anymore?Us. This way.”
    “Don’t say that, Erik.”
    “I don’t know if I can.”
    “You’re upset,” she said, hearing the desperation in her voice. “Hurting. You--”
    “I love you, M.C. I want you to be my wife. Marry me.”
    Fear, the deep cold, took her breath. “I can’t,” she said, choked.
    “Can’t, M.C.?Or won’t?”
    She was too broken for a relationship. No good. For him. Or anyone.  “You don’t understand.”
    “You’re right,” he said harshly. “I don’t.”
    “I’ll go.”
    She slipped out of bed, he reached up and pulled her back. “Don’t go.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “Please, don’t go.”
    He could swallow his pride for her. Make himself vulnerable. Need her.
    Why couldn’t she do the same?
    She curled up next to him. But the way he held her was different. Though they were nestled against each other, distant. A yawing chasm she felt to the very core of her being.
    It was over. She and Erik. The feeling of dread that had come over her earlier. The premonition of an end.
    She felt as if she was dying inside. But her eyes were dry. She had no more tears. She had used them all up.

Tuesday
    7:20 a.m.
     
    M.C. AWAKENED ALONE. Cold, she reached for Erik’s pillow and