Free Back to the Heart by Sky Corgan

puffy. She thought about waiting until the redness in her face went away, but it would probably be easier for him to take her rejection if she looked like crap.
    When she left the bathroom, she was surprised to find Ryan standing at the register paying their bill.
    “Are you ready?” He smiled down at her.
    She’d never been more ready to leave anywhere.
    The ride back to the ranch was mostly silent. Ryan asked if she was all right, and she simply nodded. He tried to make idle conversation, but she shut him down with short replies. By the time they pulled into the driveway, his face was filled with concern.
    “We need to talk,” she said as they climbed out of the truck.
    “All right.” He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
    “Can we?” She pointed to the barn. The thought of spilling her guts to Ryan made her feel ill. He needed to understand everything she’d been through, to know why she was so afraid of getting burned again.
    “Of course.” He gestured for her to lead the way, and she wrapped her arms around herself, feeling vulnerable as she walked into the barn and found a bale of hay to sit on. The fact that he sat right next to her didn’t make her feel any more comfortable, but perhaps he’d be less apt to want to be close when he realized why she needed him to keep his distance.
    “I’m not sure what you think is going on between us, but it has to stop.” Just saying the words made her feel numb inside. “I don’t think you understand everything I’ve been through these past few months, so I’m going to explain it, and if you have any compassion for me at all, you’ll realize why I can’t fall for you.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “I moved to New York five years ago to follow my dream of being a paralegal in a big city. I know it sounds campy, but that’s the life I wanted at the time. I was more than willing to trade all of this.” She gestured around the barn. “To make a long story short, I didn’t get the job I wanted. Instead of being hired on as paralegal, I got hired as a receptionist for Fasken Law Firm with the promise that if a paralegal position opened up, I’d be promoted. The problem was that I wasn’t. A position came open, and instead of promoting me, they hired someone else. I was furious, but I kept telling myself that maybe next time I’d get the job. I was lying to myself, making just enough money to get by and hoping for something that wasn’t going to happen.
    “But something did happen  My boss, who had never looked in my direction before, suddenly started taking an interest in me. I’d always been attracted to him. When he wanted to date me, I was thrilled. I thought things would be better, that I’d finally get the promotion. There was no way he couldn’t give it to me if we were a couple.
    “Of course, I didn’t just want to date him because of the promotion. He was handsome and amazing, and he swept me off my feet. It was like some storybook romance. Except that it wasn’t.” Ana shook her head. “He wasn’t interested in me at all, just in what was between my legs. And like most poor little farm girls who have no idea how big-city men work, I fell for it: his charm, his money, his status. I believed his slick words, that he cared for me, that he wanted to take care of me.” Disgust filled her voice as the memories stabbed her heart. How stupid she had been. She had been nothing more than a fling to him, the next girl in a line of girls he had wooed and bedded.
    “And then you got pregnant,” Ryan said softly.
    “And then I got pregnant.” The words couldn’t sound any more bitter if she tried, even though she loved the life inside of her.
    “And I’m guessing he wasn’t too pleased about that.”
    “Beyond displeased. He didn’t believe me. And then he called me a whore who was after his money.” It had been like being punched in the gut. She had allowed herself to fall in love with the jerk, and in the span of one