Everything I've Never Had Read Online Free Page B

when you're in that overly priced private school pick up line, and…I forgot what letter I was on, anyway, you weren't just a little trophy wife. You’ve made your own way on your own terms.”
    Well, damn, when she puts it that way, I guess I have been a little rebellious. “Trophy wife? Me? You know what that term means, don't you?”
    “Get over it; you're gorgeous! Everyone knows it, and you should too.”
    “I'm not ugly; I know that. We'll just leave it at that, all right?”
    Her tone becomes dreamy as she insists, “Celeste, you're young and beautiful. You had to deal with one of the most excruciating things a person, a wife could ever have to deal with. I can’t even imagine standing by and watching someone you care about being eaten away by cancer and that rapidly. But, as usual, you put yourself aside and did everything you could for him and for your family. If anyone deserves to have a little fun and get what they want in the meantime, it’s you. You need a little adventure—”
    Ready to end this conversation, I throw her my Hail Mary of protests, “He's not even thirty years old, Bonnie!”
    “So...how old is he exactly?”
    “Um...that doesn't matter! He's not even thirty and I'm thirty-seven. Hello? Freakin' cougar, anyone?”
    She rolls her eyes at me. “Cougars are old bitches with leathery skin, lips like an overinflated raft, and a plastic surgeon on speed dial. Your mother? Perfect cougar material.” I laugh, thinking we have changed the subject. I should've known better. She asks between her teeth, “How old is he exactly?”
    “He's twenty-nine,” I mutter petulantly.
    Her laughter causes my eyes to cut over to her swiftly. “When’s he gonna be thirty?”
    “Not for several months.”
    She throws her hands out as if sensing victory. “So, y’all are eight years apart. That is NOT a big deal, especially when you're in your thirties.”
    “Which. He. Is. Not. And it is a big deal when you're a woman, and he is younger than you, and he is surrounded by gorgeous, conscienceless women who he could take home any time of any day.”
    “So is that the real problem? Is he a womanizer?”
    I scrunch my face up in protest. “No, he's not a womanizer. I haven't even seen him with a woman since he's been home.”
    “Really? Sounds like someone else is pining away...”
    “No, no, no, no. When we talked on the porch this morning, it was obvious that it's only a physical attraction for both of us.” At her raised eyebrow, I concede a little, “Strong attraction—we are strongly attracted to one another. His exact words were that he was really attracted to me.” She gives me a knowing glare and an even more knowing grin. “Shoot! What am I supposed to do with that? What do I even say to that?” My voice gets higher with each word.
    “Well, what did you say?”
    “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” I shake my head a little, remembering. “And when he tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear...mmm...” I mentally shiver. “It's obvious that I'm in real trouble.”
    She sits back and drapes her arms across my pillows. “Yep. A lot of things are real obvious right about now.”
     

 

     
     

     
     
    IT WOULD HAVE been much easier to resist my Adrian-fueled impure thoughts if he wasn't such a mass of contradictions because those very contradictions were what made him so unbelievably intriguing to me. On the one hand, he was macho and reserved. On the other, he talked to me like there wasn't anything he wouldn't ever tell me and played with the boys like he needed that as much as he needed his next breath.
    Having been a performer since a young age, he was adept at making music, partying with the guys, fending off the girls, or sometimes not fending off the girls. Just the thought of that makes me cringe. Yet, contrary to all that, he was perfectly content to spend a quiet evening at my house watching movies with the boys and me or to load us all up and go hit baseballs at the batting