Sympathy Pains Read Online Free

other over and over throughout the night, sometimes tenderly, sometimes ravenous for the body-to-body connection. It never occurred to Justin that Marilee was giving him more than just a bed and a tumble. He didn’t know that she’d given her heart.
    * * *
    It was the absence of sound that first awakened Justin to the new day. Then he heard Marilee’s gentle breathing. He raised up on one elbow to look down at the woman beside him. There was a part of him registering the fact that she was as beautiful now as she had been last night while bathed in candlelight. But there was that other part of him that was thinking what in hell had he done? He’d not only gone to bed with a woman who was a virtual stranger, but he’d said and done things to her that he’d never said or done to another woman.
    Ever.
    And it scared him.
    Without wasting another second, he slipped out of bed and began putting on his clothes. When he was down to his boots, he picked them up andstarted out of the room, then paused in the doorway and looked back.
    Marilee was still asleep, one arm hanging off the edge of the bed, the other pillowing her cheek. The covers had slipped off one of her shoulders and the slim, creamy curve reminded him of the beauty of her body, still hidden beneath. Twice he started to go back to kiss her awake and tell her he would never forget her or the shelter she’d offered from the storm. But he was afraid if he did, he would not be able to leave. So he wrote a quick note, leaving it in the middle of the kitchen table among the scattered Monopoly money. Then he put on his boots, grabbed his coat and his keys and let himself out of the house.
    To his relief, a snowplow had already made a path down the street, although he had to wade through a good foot of snow to get to his truck. The engine started easily. Thankful for four-wheel drive and a three-quarter-ton rig, he backed out of Marilee’s driveway and drove away without looking back.
    He was already at the outskirts of Lubbock when Marilee woke up. Even before she opened her eyes, she knew he was gone. The bed was cold and so was she—all the way to her soul. With a muffled sob, she rolled onto her belly.
    Six months later
    It was five minutes to 6:00 p.m. and the main dining room of the Roadrunner was bustling with locals as well as the first wave of vacationing tourists. The day had been unseasonably warm for May with no signs of cooling off. Marilee reached above an empty booth on the west side of the room to lower the window shades and winced as her belly bumped into the back of the booth.
    â€œSorry, baby,” she muttered as she gave her belly a pat.
    Even though she’d had six months to get used to the idea that she was going to be a mother, she sometimes still forgot to accommodate her new shape to old habits.
    â€œMarilee, I’ll get those shades,” Dellie said, giving Marilee a quick pat on the back.
    â€œI’m not crippled,” Marilee grumbled.
    â€œAnd we’d like to keep you that way,” Dellie said with a wink.
    Marilee smiled and went to fill water glasses instead. It wasn’t the first time the other waitresses had jumped in and taken a job off her hands that they considered too strenuous for her. She appreciated their thoughtfulness, but didn’t want Calvin to think she couldn’t handle the work. Ifshe lost her job, she didn’t know what she would do.
    â€œOrder up,” Calvin yelled, and rang the small bell at the pick-up window.
    Marilee saw the four plates were hers and began loading the tray to carry them to the table.
    â€œThat’s gonna be pretty heavy,” Calvin warned.
    â€œNot you, too,” Marilee said.
    â€œIt’s just ’cause we care, honey.”
    Marilee smiled her thanks, but loaded the tray the same way she always did and took off across the room with it shoulder-high.
    Calvin frowned as he watched. She’d never said one word about her