All or Nothing by Catherine Mann Read Free Book Online

thinking about?”
    “Um, hello?” She laughed dryly. “Exactly what you intended for me to think about. The night we went to see La Bohème .”
    How neatly she’d turned the tables on him.
    He liked that about her, the way she took control, too, which reminded him of how she’d seduced him in his favorite chair once they’d gotten home from La Bohème . “That was a, uh, memorable evening.”
    “Not everything about our marriage was bad,” she conceded.
    “Italian opera will always hold a special place in my heart.”
    Except he’d thrown out that damn chair when she left, then found he had to pitch most of the rest of his furniture as well, including the dining-room table, which also held too many sensual memories of her making her way panther-style toward him with a strawberry in her mouth. The only place they’d never made love was in that tomato-red room since she’d said it was meant for guests, which somehow made it off-limits for sex.
    She inched her wrap back up and around her shoulders, the night having dipped to fifty degrees. “I thought Don Giovanni was your favorite opera.”
    “The story of a hero landing in hell for his sins?” Appropriate. “A longtime favorite. Although I’m surprised you remember that I liked it.”
    “You remembered that I prefer cream cheese pastries and chocolate mint tea for breakfast.”
    He’d made a mental note of many things she liked back then, working his ass off to keep her happy as he felt their marriage giving way like a sandy cliff. “We were together for four years. I intended to be with you for the rest of my life.”
    “And you think I didn’t?” Pain coated her words, as dark as the clouds shifting over the stars. “I wanted to build a family with you.”
    Another of her dreams he’d crushed. The ways he’d failed this woman just kept piling on, compacting his frustration until he was ready to explode.
    Not trusting himself to drive, he pulled off the road and into a deserted rest area. He set the emergency brake and wished the anger inside him was as easy to halt. Anger at himself. “I gave you a puppy, damn it.”
    “I wanted a baby.”
    “Okay...” He angled toward her, half hoping she would slap his face, anything but stare at him with tears in her eyes. “Let’s make a baby.”
    She flattened her hands to his chest, hard, stopping just shy of that slap he’d hoped for. Although a telltale flex of her jaw relayed her rising temper. “Don’t you dare mock me or my dreams. That’s not fair.”
    “I’m very serious about being with you.”
    “So you stay away from me all day?” she shouted, her fingers twisting in the lapels of his tuxedo. “You stay away for three whole years?”
    Her question stopped him cold. “That bothered you?”
    “For three years you ignored my attempts to contact you.” She shoved free and leaned against the door, arms crossed under her breasts, which offered too beautiful a view. “Did you or did you not manipulate me on purpose today?”
    He chose his words carefully, determined to get through the tough stuff so they could make love without the past hovering over them. “I figured we both needed space after last night if there was any chance of us enjoying our evening together.”
    “That makes sense,” she conceded.
    “I’m a logical man.” He rested a hand on the back of her seat, his fingers dangling a whisper away from her hair. He was so damn close to having her, he could already taste her.
    “You may think you’re logical, but I don’t understand half of what you do, Conrad. I do know that if you’d really loved me, truly wanted to stay married, you would have been honest. Whatever game you’re playing now, it has nothing to do with love.” Words tumbled from her faster and faster as if overflowing from a bottle. “You just don’t want to lose. I’m another prize, a contest, a challenge. The way you’ve played me today and for three years? It’s a game to you.”
    “I can