Chasing Second Chances by Shelly Logan Read Free Book Online Page A

beside her, slumping forward with his folded arms on his lap.
    “Don’t you dare tell me ‘I told you so’,” Kate said angrily.
    “I won’t,” he promised her. “But I will tell you what I told you earlier. Everything will be all right. This…this mistake doesn’t change anything. It may not have moved us forward but it hasn’t set us back, either.”
    “Is this all a game to you?”
    “Of course not,” he told her. “You know it’s not.”
    “I should have listened to you,” Kate said. “You’re always right, after all.”
    He got out of the swing and placed his arms around her. “You’re punishing yourself again.”
    “Because I made such a stupid mistake.”
    “It’s not your fault that you can’t stop hoping. You’re a mother.”
    “I am such a fool.”
    “So you were foolish this time. That doesn’t make you a fool. Just as acing one test doesn’t make one intelligent.”
    Kate didn’t seem to hear him, sobbing even more. “I am such a fool, such a fool.”
    “Shh. It’s all right.”
    “I am such a despicable…”
    He wanted to stop her from hurting herself even more, from going down that slope of self-pity and self-destruction again, and so he did the only thing he thought he could do at the moment—kiss her. Kate did not respond at first, probably too stunned by his sudden action, but he persisted, fueled not only by his determination to make her forget her pain but by a renewed passion for her that was beginning to stir inside of him. Finally, gradually, he felt her melting into him, her lips parting as she surrendered to him.
    He placed one hand at the back of her neck as he deepened the kiss, his other hand supporting her back so that she didn’t fall off the swing, their tongues mingling over and over as the rain fell all around them, gliding down the chain of the swings, dripping down from the monkey bars and creating puddles on the ground.
    He devoured her mouth hungrily, as if he was trying to get his fill of sustenance that he had been denied for so long, ignoring the fact that he was getting soaked.
    Then, as abruptly as they had begun to kiss, they stopped just as the squall began to subside, Kate tearing her lips away from him and burying her face in his chest, sobbing again, though he could not distinguish her tears from the raindrops on her cheeks.
    He felt a surge of frustration at the abrupt finish, which was not what he was hoping for, but quelled it, holding her until she calmed down, until she finally stopped trembling. When she did, she pulled away from his embrace, standing up.
    “I’m sorry,” she muttered.
    He was about to say he wasn’t but kept silent, not wanting to disappoint or confuse her further. “It’s all right.”
    “Please don’t tell Bryan.”
    He nodded, unable to resist the pleading look she had on. He had never been able to, which made him think that if she had asked him to stay, he would have.
    But she had never asked him to stay. In fact, she had only asked him to leave, which just went to show how much he had failed her in the past, something which he did not intend to do so again.
    “Let’s go home, Kate.”

 
     
    Chapter Nine
     
     
    By the time they got home, Kate felt better, her emotions under control once more and the whole incident at Rapid City forgotten. She felt terrible physically, though, her head feeling as if it was being split in two from behind, and so as soon as they arrived, she took in a pain reliever and went straight to bed, falling asleep with her pillow covering the upper half of her face.
    When she woke up, it was still dark and her head still throbbed but as soon as she saw Bryan sitting at the desk near the window, she smiled.
    “Bryan,” she called to him weakly.
    At once, he got up, walking towards her and sitting on the bed. “You should just keep sleeping. Lloyd told me you weren’t feeling well and when I checked earlier, you were running a fever. You might be coming down with