Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken by Michelle Hardin Page B

horrific name, until you can face the horrific event. Reanna had no interest in her psychiatrist finding out that she still struggled to face Bryon’s name after all of the progress she’d made in her life over the past seven years. Bryon Rayford Desmond was the worst mistake of her life. One day, hopefully soon, Reanna would be able to face the memory of what he’d done to her and Tamara without having a psychotic break. But until then, she’d just focus on the now … Now she was in … like , with a new man, a fine man that was confusing the hell out of her so she needed to move on!
    “It’s been years …” Seven years since Bryon, four years since the surgeon, and also four years since she’d last had sex. “I need to get back out there and stop entertaining unrealistic dreams of being with a man that so obviously doesn’t want to be with me enough to leave his current girlfriend.”
    Luckily for Reanna, her sister chose not to address her momentary break down, and continued on with the conversation as if it hadn’t even happened. “I agree,” Tamara said with a nod. “And I’m sure Ron does, too.”
    Ronaldo nodded in agreement.
    “But …” Tamara bit her lip, seemingly hesitant to say whatever it was that she wanted to say next. As usual, though, she got over the hesitation quickly. “Would it not be hard to just move on to a different man when you’re in love with Kyle?”
    Reanna scowled. “Dammit, Tamara!” Why wouldn’t the woman just give it up?
    “Don’t get mad, Reanna,” Tamara said, reaching out to take her hand once again. “I’m not trying to upset you. I don’t want you to … run away from this, Rea. You have a tendency to run away from promising relationships because of your, completely understandable , trust issues. I just don’t want you to miss out on something good. I’ve seen you pass up so many good guys, and I don’t want you to pass this up because I think it might be, you know,” she shrugged, “the real thing.”
    When she saw the look on her sister’s face, she immediately calmed down, feeling bad for letting her emotions get involved when her little sister was just trying to help. “I’m sorry,” she apologized with a soft sigh, giving Tamara’s hand a light squeeze. Though Reanna had little interest in playing any of Tamara’s games with Kyle, she would play along with her sister for now, only to appease her of course. She didn’t think a relationship with Kyle was promising—it would never be, not with Aniyah still in his life as well as hers; it would only be drama—but she knew her sister meant well in wanting to help her. “I want your help,” she said softly. “I don’t know what to do.”
    Tamara’s eyes lit up brightly as she bounced up and down in her seat. “Really? You want my help?”
    The hopeful look in her big brown eyes made Reanna’s smile return. With a nod of her head, Reanna prepared herself to hear, what she expected to be, a very interesting plan of action.
    “All right!” she squealed clapping her hands together. “Step number one …”

~*~
    Her advice had been to cut him off.
    Cut him off .
    Stop flirting, limit the touching; stop cooking for him, being his friend, his emotional support, his cuddle-buddy when sleep didn’t come easy for him.
    Basically, stop being the man’s wife.
    They were all simple tasks. Things she should have probably considered doing a long time ago, if only to preserve her heart, but … for some stupid reason, Reanna was struggling to even imagine breaking her connection with Kyle in such a way. Her feelings were all mixed up. Which all the more proved that Tamara and Ronaldo were right, right? She needed to ease up, take a step back from the relationship, and perhaps even go on a date with a promising prospect.
    Reanna sighed. She didn’t know if she could do that.
    It was funny really. In her frustration earlier, she’d actually wanted to put some distance between herself and Kyle, be