Free Secrets and Seductions by Francine Pascal Page A

Jessica’s, and her body not quite as lean. He relished the differences.
    Maybe she would help him put Jessica in the past. Who knew? Maybe she was the right kind of woman for him. Maybe he could love her.
    â€œAre you sure you want to…?” Todd’s voice trailed off. He couldn’t help asking. He always asked first.
    â€œMore than anything.”
    Todd bent down and caressed her gently, exploring her body, relishing the unfamiliar details, like the crescent-shaped birthmark on her upper thigh. She dug around in the drawer next to her bed and fished out a condom. Once the wrapper was off, she gently tugged it on him.
    He moaned as she guided him straight inside her. He moved slowly, deliberately, as he met her gaze. This wasn’t just sex, he realized with a start. They were making love.
    She had been such a good friend to him, but now she was much more than that. He found himself thinking, This feels so right.
    She responded to him, coming again and again, and with each new climax, Todd felt his own power growing. Sarah would be his way out of the Jessica Wakefield nightmare. She would be his savior. Sarah was his future.
    At the end, he came with a guttural shout, then crumpled on top of her, exhausted and spent. He cradled her gently in his arms, caressing her hair, murmuring, “Sarah…Oh, God, Sarah. You saved me. That was so good…” as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
    Sarah lay by his side, eyes wide-open and calculating. After a few minutes, she slipped out of his bed, grabbed her shirt, and tiptoed to her cell phone on the kitchen table.
    She listened to Todd’s snores, waiting for any change in the sound before she clicked open her text messages. There was a long line of communication with Caroline Pearce.
    Todd might not have known it, but in the last few weeks Sarah and Caroline Pearce had become close pals. Sarah had been the one feeding Caroline Pearce information, like that Todd had filed for divorce. Sarah told herself it was only a matter of time; eventually she would convince him to file. Just as she’d finally convinced him to come to her bed.
    Men were simple creatures, she thought. They could be easily led. Like the fact that Todd still thought Sarah had plagiarized Jessica by accident. She hadn’t. She’d copied Jessica’s quotes word for word, just the way she’d been plagiarizing for years. She was still picking up freelance money the same way.
    She would’ve gotten away with the Jessica thing if the bitch hadn’t been so nosy. But she would get her back now by taking away Todd. Sarah knew how much Jessica wanted to be with Todd. She’d seen it in her face when she’d come to Todd’s house.
    Jessica might have gotten her fired, but Sarah was going to make sure Todd never went back to Jessica again. Not now, not ever.
    Sarah texted Caroline.
    IT’S OFFICIAL—TODD AND I ARE A COUPLE .
    Sarah thought about this a moment and then added:
    HE SAYS HE’S GETTING A DIVORCE BECAUSE HE WANTS TO BE WITH ME. HE WANTS TO BE A FREE MAN FOR ME …. SO YOU CAN DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS .
    Let Jessica chew on that awhile, Sarah thought. She could almost imagine the bitch’s face when she read it.
    Sarah hoped she suffered. She heard Todd stir in the next room, so she locked her phone and got up.
    Time for round two, she thought as she wiggled out of her shirt.

Also by Francine Pascal
    Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later
    Series
    Sweet Valley High
    Sweet Valley Twins
    Sweet Valley Kids
    Sweet Valley University
    Fearless
    Young Adult Novels
    Hangin’ Out with Cici (My Mother Was Never a Kid)
    My First Love and Other Disasters
    Love and Betrayal
    Hand-Me-Down Kid
    The Ruling Class
    Adult Novels
    Save Johanna
    If Wishes Were Horses…(La Villa)
    Little Crew of Butchers
    Nonfiction
    The Strange Case of Patty Hearst (with John Pascal)
    Theater
    George M! (with Michael Stewart and John Pascal)

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