Twisted Up by Lissa Matthews Read Free Book Online Page A

me away and the only way to find out was to put myself in front of you and force you to talk to me, to react to me. So, the first chance I got, I took it.”
    “Trickster.”
    “Whatever I had to or have to do to get you to open up again, baby, I’m ready, willing and able to do.”
    “I wish I were as confident about us as you.” What if she could never have a serious relationship with anyone? What if it was more than the lack of affection and attention and sex? What if there was something wrong with her? She hadn’t come from the most stable of homes.
    Her father had an affair when he’d been married to her mother, and when he left her, he married the woman he’d been seeing, and to this day they were still married, happily. Her father hadn’t been happy, not for many years before he’d left. Her stepmother was the exact opposite of her real mother, and those differences were overwhelmingly obvious. “I don’t know, Justin.”
    “I don’t know know either, baby, not for certain, but by your own admission there were doubts in your head before you got married and throughout you felt something wasn’t right.”
    “I wanted more.” And she had. She wanted more attention, more affection, more sex, more of everything. She’d turned into a homebody when what she’d really wanted was to go out and do things, be with people, but her husband wanted to sit and watch ball games and television shows. At first they’d sat on the couch together, but then he bought a recliner, and that small bit of togetherness, that little bit of intimacy was gone. Her marriage hadn’t given her what she’d hoped for and she’d turned to going out with friends from work. He’d never seemed to mind. He did his thing and she did hers. They simply paid the bills together and shared a roof.
    “I know you did. Some things just aren’t meant to be, Ella.”
    “We might not be,” she said solemnly, giving voice to one of her very real fears.
    “True, but I’m inclined to believe we are.” He slid her a wink and a waggle of his eyebrows in an effort to pull a smile from her. It worked.
    “And why is that?”
    “Many, many reasons.”
    His voice had dropped to that deep, seductive Texas twang she loved so much. It usually wasn’t so pronounced, but there were moments where it took over and it was all she could do not to melt into a puddle. “Such as?”
    “Well, there’s the taste of you on my tongue. One just doesn’t get over that.”
    Ella rolled her eyes in his direction and huffed. “Oh, I’m sure one does and can if one tries. What else have you got?”
    “The taste of me on your tongue. One just doesn’t get over that either.”
    She’d have laughed if he hadn’t sounded so serious. She knew he was teasing her, trying to bring her out again, make her smile and believe in him, even if she didn’t believe in them yet. “Arrogant ass. There’s more, right? Something more substantial maybe?”
    “Of course there is. You talk to me and I talk to you. We’re holding hands. You didn’t have that before or maybe you did, I don’t know. There are a million reasons why it could and should and would work between us. I’m sure there are a few reasons it wouldn’t, couldn’t and shouldn’t. I’d rather look at the glass half full than half empty, and I’d rather try than wonder.”
    Okay, she’d give him that. She admired that about him too. He could look at the bright, possible side of things, and there were times where she could too when she was around him. “Well, and you did drive ten hours in the middle of the night and threaten to hogtie me if I didn’t come along quietly. Coercion goes a long way, it seems.”
    “There is that. But for the record, baby, I didn’t threaten to hogtie you. We can try that later though. I’m very good at ropin’.”
    “Two days isn’t long enough to know, Justin.” Her tone was once again serious.
    “No, it’s not. A year of talking, of learning to care, of weekends