Mary Wine by Dream Surrender

they stepped aside to let the two hummers by. loren’s father took the moment to grab his daughter in a bear hug. she wiggled away and glared at him, but her light green eyes were sparkling.
    loren finally gave up and smiled. her dad was…well, her daddy. he gave her a wide smile in return. “now, that’s my girl. where’s my grandson hiding?”
    “holy shit!”
    loren went flying back as her father shoved her away. chris had jumped down from the hummer and never got another word out of his mouth.
    chris hadn’t taken the time to see just who was hugging her, but sean recognized his son-in-law instantly.
    her father attacked the man with pure deadly intent. he tossed chris right over the hood of the hummer and dove after the man. loren was powerless to stop her own stumbling fall right into rourke. he lifted her off her feet and set her aside before he launched himself into the fight.
    it took rourke and three of his rangers to drag her father off chris. her husband was flat on his back in the dirt and gasping for breath as rourke dragged his opponent away.
    “i’ve waited fourteen years to choke the life out of you.” her father’s face was glowing with primal rage. chris struggled to his feet and stepped away from the man.
    loren just couldn’t take it anymore. it was her life! she stepped in front of her father and stuck her finger into his face.
    “take a number and get in line! if anyone gets to kill my husband, i do. so just back off, dad.” her father went deathly still in response. loren tossed her head before she turned around to look at her husband. maybe being stuck on this mountain was a good thing after all. it was time to deal with her past mistakes.
    “you want a divorce, chris? fine. but you’d better be real careful how you word
    it.”
    chris sneered at her as he tried to recover his pride. “just what the hell are you
    going to do about it?”
    “touch my son and i’ll kill you myself.” 59

chapter eight

the words were final. loren couldn’t take them back and the absolute truth was, she didn’t want to. she turned her back on chris and never looked back.
    it was long overdue. finally letting her marriage go was the last piece of emotional baggage she’d been lugging around. the weight on her shoulders felt incredibly lighter. so, she wouldn’t know where chris was anymore.
    that was a flimsy reason anyway. if the man truly wanted to come looking for her, he would find a way.
    the truth was, there had still been some small part of her that actually clung to the idea that chris thought about her at all. the harsh truth was, the man didn’t care about her and hadn’t spared her a single thought since he’d walked out on her.
    well, now she was letting it go completely.
    or was she? loren stopped in her room and walked into the bathroom to look at herself. was it really all behind her? the image of rourke holding her breasts sprang up with crystal clearness and she felt the same panic come with it.
    pulling her shirt over her head, loren unhooked her bra and dropped it onto the counter. the air hit her bare flesh and brought a heightened sensitivity with it. she watched her nipples lift and bead. the really strange thing was loren couldn’t remember really looking at her body in the last fourteen years. in fact, she always had her clothes laid out before she ever got into a shower.
    she’d been hiding from her own insecurities. rejection left its scar on every abandoned wife and she wasn’t any different. she’d just never faced it.
    suddenly, loren was impatient with herself. she didn’t like being afraid.
    one thing being on her own taught her was to look every last bit of trouble straight in the face, because then it could be overcome.
    unzipping her pants, she tossed them aside and pulled her panties off as well. considering her reflection, loren let her eyes wander over every inch of herself.
    she was pretty. every man might have a slightly different view of just