Divorced, Desperate and Dead (Divorced and Desperate Book 5) by Christie Craig Read Free Book Online Page B

continued to stare at her.
    She swallowed. “You can’t say that. You don’t know me.”
    “I haven’t known you long, but I know you well enough.” He paused and so did she. For some crazy reason, his words mattered.
    He glanced back over to the other side of the room. “Is that why you aren’t writing anymore?”
    “Maybe,” she said. But she knew it was.
    “What are the books about?” he asked.
    “A ten-year-old girl and her imaginary girlfriend.” She sighed and muttered, “Now I have an imaginary boyfriend.”
    He grinned. “Bob’s imaginary?”
    She cut him a cold look. “I wasn’t talking about Bob.”
    “Oh, you’re talking about . . . I’m your boyfriend?”
    “I said imaginary,” she said but smiled.
    He grinned, his eyes twinkling in a sexy kiss-me smile. “How good is your imagination?”
    “Don’t go there,” she said.
    After several beats of silence, he said, “I’d call it a tie.”
    “What?” she asked, having gotten lost in his gaze.
    “The worst story award. We tied. We both got royally screwed.”
    “Yeah, we did, didn’t we?” For some crazy reason, it seemed funny and she laughed.
    “You should do that more often,” he said.
    “Do what?” she asked.
    “Laugh.”
    She suddenly became aware of having a man in her bed. Imaginary or not, it felt awkward. No, not awkward. Just different. Nice different, a little voice inside her said. It felt . . . less lonely.
    He reached over and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. She almost flinched, thinking she’d get another vision of someone dead. It didn’t happen this time. All she got was touched.
    How long had it been since someone had touched her?
    Crazy how you could miss something as simple as a brush of fingers across your skin.
    He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. His tongue slipped slowly across her lips. His hand came to rest on the curve of her waist. It felt warm, and before she realized what she’d done, she had scooted closer, deepening the kiss.
    He pulled back just a bit. “Now this is more like how a dream should go.” His gaze met hers. “Unless you want me to stop?”
    “It’s just a dream, right?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t have a clue in hell what any of this is. But . . .” He kissed her again.
    She pulled back this time. “I can’t believe I’m kissing a stranger.”
    “We’re not strangers,” he said. “We told each other our secrets. I don’t tell strangers my secrets.”
    “Me either.”
    He slid his finger over her lips and they still felt wet from his kiss. “You loved him, didn’t you? You loved Jerry.”
    She nodded. “Obviously not enough.”
    He frowned. “I don’t know why he did what he did, but my gut says it wasn’t about you. He was a lucky man to have you love him.”
    She smiled. “Thanks. You didn’t deserve what your wife did, either. Or Mary Anne.” She gave him a funny smile.
    His eyes brightened with humor. “This is nice.”
    She nodded. “I agree.”
    A bell rang. He glanced up at the ceiling and frowned. “I think that means I have to go back.”
    “Ignore it,” she said, not wanting him to leave. He was the first person she’d really been able to talk to since Jerry died. She didn’t want to lose him. Didn’t want to lose the feeling of being . . . connected to someone. A male someone.
    It didn’t even matter that it was a dream.
    The ring continued, and all of a sudden Chloe’s eyes shot open and she jackknifed upright. The sound of her heart thumping filled her ears. Her gaze zipped to the other side of the bed. The empty spot in the bed.
    Well, there was her answer. It was just a dream.
    A feeling of loneliness swept through her.
    Blinking, trying to focus, she still heard a ring. Then she realized it was her phone. She grabbed it and saw the time. Ten forty-five. She’d barely been asleep.
    Focusing hard, she recognized Sheri’s number.
    “Hey,” Chloe said into the phone and ran her finger over her mouth, remembering