Free The Trouble With Scarecrows (The Trouble With Men Book 2) by Dorlana Vann

He wasn’t ready. But I was. Don’t tell him I said that. I didn’t want him to think I was clingy, so I said I wasn’t ready either. I have my pride, you know.
    “Then he started dating other girls, and it about killed me. I wasn’t going to let him see that it upset me. And then he saw how needy that first girl was, and so he broke up with her and came back to me.
    “I didn’t want to lose him, so I pretended that casual was okay with me. That’s what I did. He dated other women, but he always showed back up at my door. And this last time, he stayed at my apartment with me. We went out together as a couple. We made love. I thought . . . I thought he didn’t want to go back home because he didn’t want to leave me. I thought it was our time. I thought he had finally had enough of being single and had gotten all the running around out of his system. I thought he was in love and ready to finally settle down.” She laughed wearily.
    “All that stuff was true,” she continued. “All true, except it wasn’t with me. It was Haley. How could he do that to me?”
    “I’m sorry,” Neal said. “He’s a blind jerk.”
    From the corner of his eye, Neal saw her stare, but he kept his attention on the road.
    Brenda sighed and looked out the window again. “Maybe,” she said. “But maybe I was delusional. And oh shit, stupid and naïve. I can’t believe I’m using that word to describe myself. Butthere it is.”
    “You’re none of those things. You can’t control other people’s actions.”
    “I should be able to control my own. I did some pretty nasty things in order to keep him. At least, to keep what we had. I would’ve settled with how the relationship was, forever. But they drove me to it. I was desperate, weak.”
    “You deserve better. You deserve a lot better than being someone’s on-the-side.”
    They pulled up at the multiplex and parked. When they got out, he wrapped his arm around her without thinking about it, then froze, waiting for her to say she didn’t need him to help her. She didn’t say anything. Instead, she actually leaned in.
    She felt nice in his arms, like she fit perfectly, and he walked her inside and to her apartment. She opened her door.
    “Well, good night,” he said, and he turned to walk away.
    “Hey, Neal,” she whispered.
    His feet stopped; his heart sped up.
    “Would you like to come inside for a drink?”
    He swallowed as he turned around. “Are you sure a drink is what you want right now?”
    She played with her lower lip and let her fingers slid down her neck to her throat. “I’m awfully thirsty.”
    So was he, but still, he had to make sure. “You’ve already had a lot of wine.”
    “I promise, I know how much I can handle.”
    Neal took the step toward her, no longer able to hold back the craving that had built up inside him. And Brenda’s quiver on impact let him know she had the same repressed desires. The softness of her lips and the taste of her tongue and the feel of her body crushed against his was everything he’d imagined, only he had no idea how much more he would want her after he knew she wanted him too.
    Something nagged at him though as he backed Brenda inside the apartment. But letting reason emerge was too much to ask of his brain at the moment because he’d already made his decision the second he’d taken that step toward her. And now he kicked the door shut behind them without letting go of her, backing her up until they ran into the couch.
    Without parting lips for more than seconds at a time, they removed each other’s clothing until the heat of their bodies meshed. But then, as much as he wanted her right that second, he wanted to enjoy every inch of her. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 11
    Brenda yawned and stretched her arms above her head, causing the sheet to slide down to her waist, exposing her bare chest. “Oh!” She usually didn’t sleep in the nude, preferring a silky nighty