Free Secret Mercy by Rebecca Lyndon

Secret Mercy
     

     
    Masters of Mercy #2

     
    By

     
    Rebecca Lyndon
     
     
    Copyright 2012 by Rebecca Lyndon

     
    ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written consent from the author/publisher.

     
    This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
     
     
    “Happy Birthday to me,” Paige Murphy said as she struck a match. For half a second a brilliant white flash lit up her dark kitchen as the fire came to life. She stared down at the teardrop-shaped flame in her hand until the fire had nearly reached her fingers. Only then did she touch it to the pink and white striped candle.
    Paige drew in a deep breath and held it.
    And held it.
    Damn, she was a coward. Of course, she’d always known that, but not being able to muster up the courage to blow out her own damn birthday candle—that was a new low. A few more seconds ticked by. If she waited much longer the chocolate ganache-topped cupcake would be covered in candle wax instead.
    What did it matter anyway? It was just a silly birthday wish. It wasn’t as though anyone was listening. So what the hell?
    Paige closed her eyes and blew.

    I wish I could start my life over.
    The kitchen had barely gone dark when her cell phone began to ring. Paige nearly jumped out of her skin as it skittered across the smooth counter behind her. She didn’t need to look at the illuminated screen to know it was her best friend, Selena, calling…again.
    Paige clutched her hand to her chest, resisting the urge to reach out and grab the phone.
    Everyone else—her parents, her sister, her friends—had been content to call once and leave the same basic, polite message.

    Happy birthday. Hope you’re out having a great time.
    Then they’d all had the good grace to leave her be. But not Selena.
    Selena had never been one to take a hint. She wouldn’t just leave well enough alone and allow her best friend to stew in self-pity on her thirtieth birthday. No, she’d kept calling all day, just as she had ever since Zach left, with offers to go out, to party, to show that son of a bitch just what kind of wild and sexy woman he had been stupid enough to leave.
    The problem was, she wasn’t that woman. She never had been. Not even back when she and Selena had been roommates in college. Even then she’d been the quiet one. The prudent one. The rational one.
    Damn little good it did her.
    Zach had been one of her famously rational choices. He’d been a decent enough guy at the beginning of a promising law career when she’d met him. So what if he didn’t make her knees weak or her heart buzz? That kind of attraction didn’t last. The stability he offered was a thousand times more important than fleeting lust. It was the solid kind of foundation that a couple could build a future on.
    Everything Paige had done in the last five years had been with the happiness of their life together in mind. She’d deferred to his judgment on every major decision—their vacations, her job, their apartment. She’d even kept her demands in the bedroom to a minimum in order to keep him feeling good about himself.
    None of it had worked. Three weeks ago, Zach had walked out. He’d found someone else, he’d said. Someone who made him feel alive.
    Whatever the hell that meant.
    The phone stopped ringing. Paige leaned against the counter, her shoulders sagging in relief. Who was she kidding? How was she going to find the courage to start her life over if she couldn’t even bring herself to answer