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He glanced over his shoulder at the s tantrulass For a year after the divorce, it seemed like her screams and vitriol had continued to echo off the walls He and Nicole had moved around the place like shell-shocked survivors Then they’d slowly redecorated the entire house Breakables had worked their way back in

How could he bring someone into this carefully crafted peace? Even briefly?

Hell, he hadn’t even known Linda that long

Like Nancy Three dates and she’d turned up pregnant He’d had no clue about her ain, he’d spent long hours in Linda’s ho her company He’d scened with her, bared her body and her soul And sure as hell he’d been a Do

Linda was exactly who she’d shown herself to be: a courageous, warmhearted survivor

His mouth twisted He was the scarred survivor of a fucked-up e, and he’d hurt her badly Maybe she was better off without him

Linda’s store was a heaven-sent distraction She needed to stay busy because her spirits took a dive whenever she thought of Sam…or the previous weekend…or the tiht they had ht they’d…connected

Guess not

Scowling, she set another basket on the shelf, angling it so the subtle design showed

With Sao, to let pain transform into pleasure, to let herself slide into her happy place His strength, his voice, even his brutal honesty was reassuring So was the way he’d hold her afterith surprisingly tender hands, caring for her as if she… as I stayed away from his home

As tears burned her eyes, she set two ht ones--on each side of the first

Still, nohim had been worth it And last weekend had been wonderful She’d learned that other women accepted and openly enjoyed their BDSM lifestyles And what a relief it had been to acknowledge her own need to be hurt and dohtly Her bookaholic friends "needed" to read or they got irritable, and she felt that way about pain Since that was her "thing," she’d better acknowledge it

And she’d better not date ht unconventional meant sick

Darn it It wasn’t fair that the one man who accepted her--no, who really liked her other side--didn’t want ive him all of herself

She couldn’t even hate hientle with her, slept in her house to protect her, cared for her after their scenes He wasn’t a bastard, although she’d called him a few nasty naether as a…relationship

Obviously, she’d readher teeth, she shoved the Overseer’s voice away I’ave her head a firot knocked over, but how long was she going to whine about it? A year or two?

Do your job and be a shopkeeper

A few minutes later, as she set the last basket on the shelf, she heard, "Hey, Moh the store, and her spirits lifted "Charles, how nice What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to give you so" His brown eyes warrocery sack

"Well" She opened the sack It was filled with… "Sweet grass?"

"Yeah I was over at the coast and saw dunes of it It’s the right kind?"

"Oh, it’s lovely It’ll make the prettiest baskets"

He rocked back and forth, hands in his pockets, pleased as punch with his surprise How many bouquets of flowers, sheet ifted her with over the years? Even as a toddler, he’d brought home pretty rocks for Mo her heart whenever she saw theave her a quick squeeze, and kissed her cheek "I’ve got a class in an hour Love you"

"Love you, sweetie"

As Charles trotted out of the store, an elderly custo "What a nice boy"