Read Where Their Hearts Collide: Wardham Book #2 for Free Online

to focus on being a dad for the next while. Get that right, you know? Besides, you’re one to talk. No awesome life in front of you? What’s that bull?”
    She shrugged. “I shouldn’t have said that. My life is good.”
    “What would make it better?”
    “I dunno. Adventure, maybe?” She straightened to a stand and set her beer on the railing. “Maybe I need to be a little selfish. I haven’t used up anywhere near my allotment.”
    Physical pain sliced through his chest at the image of Karen getting her wild on while he embraced responsibility. If only they’d met at another time, in another place. He’d have shot for the moon and the stars with her, and made the trip just as interesting as the destination. But that wasn’t an opt ion here and now, as he started over. He was grounded in this place where she was stifled, a place he’d spent almost two years wiggling his way towards. They were two ships passing in the night. That slap of reality hurt more than he could have imagined.
     

Chapter Four
     
    A week had gone by and she’d seen Paul almost every day. They hadn’t talked, touched or otherwise interacted, but his presence surrounded her. Even if the detachment building wasn’t one block from the store, and their paths likely to cross as they just went about their daily business, he was right next door each evening.
    That made for long nights. Their conversation played over again and again in her head. The physical memory of his body next to hers, just standing chastely on his deck, fueled more than a few fantasies. Where instead of gruffly bidding her a good evening and escaping inside to watch TV with his daughter, Paul had closed the gap between them and proposed an entirely different and deliciously inappropriate adventure for them to embark on together.
    Karen had never been titillated by dirty words until Hot Neighbour, the fantasy version of Paul that only existed in her head, had urged her to spread her legs and show him how wet she was for him. There was nothing imaginary about the answer, and if she hadn’t been alone in her bedroom, she might have been embarrassed at how her body reacted to someone who was so obviously off limits to her.
    But there was a line between harmless fantasy and unrequited desire, and she wasn’t going to end up on the pathetic side of the division. By Thursday, she’d had enough of wanting what she couldn’t have. Ironically, it was Paul’s own words that spurred her to action. She definitely couldn’t have him, but she could have an adventure of another sort. After a few nights of internet research, she knew what she needed to do, and who she needed to talk to.
    Leaving Wardham would have given her pause a month ago, but it was time to find her own brand of selfish. She’d have liked to find it with the guy next door, but he’d done all but announce he was off-limits and not interested. So the new plan meant she needed to stop wanting to get naked with Paul.
    The plan would be easier to implement if he didn’t live next door. If Wardham wasn’t so small. If, if, if.
    The Sunday night book club crew hadn’t helped with the distraction, either. The discussion had wandered off topic more than once in the direction of the new cop, and Ernie Fletcher took one of those opportunities to share with the group that Karen had let her neighbour and his daughter do after hours shopping. The group was divided on whether or not that was appropriate, which normally would have flowed around and past Karen as normal Wardham meddling, but last night she’d snapped and before she realized what she was sharing, she promised Ernie and the other busy bodies that pretty soon, she wouldn’t have keys to the grocery store anyway.
    So it was with extreme reluctance that she headed to Main Street on Monday morning. She had an appointment she wanted to keep, and she wanted coffee and a muffin first.  She’d hedged her bets and waited until 8:15 before stepping into the