Luck of the Draw (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 1) by Cheri Allan Read Free Book Online

use, it would have disgusted Randy, but to Kate it felt good, like countless meals prepared and enjoyed.
    It was something Randy had never understood, her love of old things. She’d always been drawn to objects which held the mark of use, purpose, the patina of age. They told stories to her. Held secrets.
    To Randy they were in need of replacement.
    “That’s how you and I differed,” she mumbled. As if a love or disdain of antiques had been the ruin of their marriage.
    She rummaged for a knife and began washing and chopping vegetables. Anyway, it seemed unfair to point out petty differences to a dead man. They’d had things in common, too. Hadn’t they both liked the house just so?
    Then she paused, the bright red pepper glossy under the cold water, remembering Randy’s crushing words as if he’d said them yesterday.
    “...you’ve let the house go, Kate. Hell, you’ve let yourself go. Who would have thought becoming a mother would make you less of a woman?”
    Liam had been two months old then. He’d just begun to smile.
    Kate stared at the red pepper in her hand, her fingers numb in the running water.
    She pulled the seeds out in one hard yank and began to chop.
    She’d been mistaken about Randy. While she embraced the natural order of things, Randy had striven to impose his own order on his surroundings. It took six months of therapy to learn that when he couldn’t control his own weakness, he’d tried to control everything else.
    Including her.
    As if she’d been a thing to boss around.
    Kate hurriedly tossed salad into bowls as she heard the sound of a man’s footsteps on the front porch.
    “I was never a thing,” she murmured as she adjusted one of the placemats she’d found in a drawer, “I was your wife. And I was always,” she put a hand over the fluttery hunger pangs in her stomach and turned toward the deep voice in the front hall, “a woman .”
     
     
    K ATE STOOD JUST OUT OF SIGHT as she heard Jim thank Liam. 
    A moment later, the screen door banged shut and Liam ran through the house yelling, “Dinner!”
    Jim rounded the corner to the kitchen and held up the pizza boxes. “I’m back.”
    Kate made a pretense of wiping her hands on a dishtowel. Not that they were wet or anything. But she felt the need to think, and cleaning always helped her think. “That was fast.”  Long enough to make a tossed salad, change into fresh clothes, put in her favorite pink cubic zirconia studs, and mop her face with a cool washcloth but not long enough to shower. Or brush teeth. Don’t ask her how she knew.
    “It’s not far.” He tilted his chin toward the boxes in his hands. “Hope you don’t mind, but I got one cheese and one everything.”
    “Anything’s fine,” she said. She bit her lip and attempted to relax . “Can I get you something to drink? Water? Iced tea?”
    “Iced tea would be great.”
    She poured two glasses, acutely aware of Jim moving around as he set the pizza boxes on the short peninsula between the kitchen and dining area. She turned and handed him his tea. “So, would you like some pizza to go with this or were you just delivering?”
    His lips tilted with humor. “ Hmm . By pizza, I’m assuming you mean…”
    “Pizza.” She said, the breath light in her chest.
    She swallowed, the words ‘hooking up’ floating across her consciousness, and for the first time ever she understood the power of the phrase. Its impact was more than a moment’s shock value. Once spoken, the words couldn’t be taken back. They were out there . Hovering between them. Coloring the most innocuous comments with sexual awareness.
    Or maybe that was just her.
    Jim sipped from his glass.
    She sipped from hers.
    A moment later Liam slammed into her legs with the full force of a three year-old. “Momma! Let’s eat!”
    “Okay. Okay. Go sit down.” Iced tea splashed onto her arm and the floor, effectively putting an end to further flirtatious banter as Liam darted away again. It was just