Layers Crossed Read Online Free Page A

these days. And the one I
had known had slipped through my fingers way before his time. My
heart ached at the memory. It had crumbled that day to pieces, and
no one had been able to put it together. Yes, I blamed myself for
his death; but I wasn’t the only one to do so.
    “ It’s your
fault,” David’s brother had said. “You’re the one who took him from
us.”
    Cold shivers
flew through my body. Everything could have been so perfect if I
had just stayed home. Why did I have to be his doom? And would I
ever be able to let myself love as wholly as I had loved David? I
had yet to meet a man who could hold a candle to him.
    What happened
to the courteous, old-fashioned ones who brought flowers to your
doorstep or stood up in a restaurant when you wanted to leave to
the powder room?
    They all left
to live on Mars, that’s what happened!
    The guys I’d
dated called themselves ‘metrosexual.’ All trim and proper, who
manicured their hands and worked out just enough to have the
muscles necessary to be a good catch. Most of the city boys I’d
dated (because honestly, they couldn’t have been called men) were
more into themselves than anyone else. They cared too much about
their own hairstyle to even notice my new cut, and kept asking
whether their shirts were crisp-ironed but failed to see my new
dress. I swear, sometimes I wondered whether all the guys I’d dated
should have reconsidered their sexual orientation. And even if one
had potential, he would be scared off by my brothers before I got a
chance to know him.
    But the way my
brothers swept me away before I got a chance to find the intriguing
Cowboy the past weekend, forcing me to leave him behind, was a new
low. I should have stood my ground, but their offer of good things
to come at Cross Enterprises swayed me too quickly. They’d promised
changes and good cases, and I fell for their trick like a frickin’
kindergartener. I should have known better. There was no way Julian
and Tristan would ever let me go under cover or work on a dangerous
case because three days later, I was still sitting here, at my
desk, waiting for the first appointment of the day to show up and,
once again, crush my belief in true love.
    I sighed. Were
there any knights in shining armor left in this world? And did I
really want to be swept off my feet like a damsel? After all, I was
a strong, independent woman who didn’t let men control her life
(except for my brothers, of course). Did I want a man to take
charge and lead the way? Hell, yes! For once, I didn’t want
to make decisions or hold back. I wanted a man who could drive me
crazy both in bed and out. I wanted a man who would love me with
everything that he was, who would care for me and who would die for
me without a second thought.
    Propping my
chin on my hands as I leaned over my desk, I sighed again.
    Finally
inserting the condemning prints into the envelope, I looked through
the frosted glass of my office, where the silhouette of a tall man
with a cowboy hat walked by. I shot off my chair and rushed to the
door, pulling it open, secretly hoping it was him. That he’d gotten
my note after all, found out where I worked, and come to see
me.
    But of course
it wasn’t my Cowboy. This one didn’t compare to the man whose name
I hadn’t even gotten.
    Was there some
kind of a country and western convention my brothers had just
attended to recruit business? I’d seen a couple downstairs as well.
It seemed that each time I turned around, I saw a cowboy hat – or
maybe with my heightened thoughts of the man who had caught my
attention three nights ago, I noticed what I never had before.
    I frowned,
slamming my door shut.
    I’d cursed my
brothers over and over again since last Saturday. Treating me like
a five-year-old was getting old. Didn’t they both have their own
children to take care of? If this continued, I’d need to talk to
Allie and Kendra about keeping their husbands on a tighter leash so
that they’d loosen