A Hot Man Is the Best Revenge

One"Dump him."Lori looked over the fence at Mike and snorted."We're getting married in three months, Mike.""All the more reason to do it now instead of later. Divorce is expensive." He simply stared at her levelly, his wide-set green eyes revealing exactly what he thought of Dirk. Mike Ryan hadn't ever liked Dirk -- it was one of the few things the two friends had ever seriously disagreed on.Lori just arched a brow at him and replied, "I don't plan on getting a divorce.""He doesn't make you happy. You all but said that.""He does too," Lori muttered, turning around and leaning against the fence. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared at the half-finished flower bed. She wasn't pouting. Seriously. Dirkdidmake her happy.She just...Hell.She wanted more from him."If he made you happy, you wouldn't look so damn depressed right now."A thick hank of blonde hair fell into her eyes and she shoved it back with a grimy hand, leaving a streak of garden soil on her forehead. "Couples have fights, Mike. That's perfectly normal.""That wasn't a fight, Lori. Fights involve you yelling. Him yelling. Not him talking and you just sitting there, listening and looking like you want to cry. Hell, I've seen that happen four times in the past two months. You seem to be getting more depressed all the time and you want me to believe you're happy?"A warm hand came up, cupping the back of her neck. His thumb rubbed in slow, comforting circles and Lori had to fight the urge to turn around, bury her face against Mike's chest and wail like a baby. "It's complicated," Lori muttered, blinking away the tears stinging her eyes.No, it wasn't. Not really. But she wasn't about to tell her buddy Mike that the reason she was miserable was because her fiance treated her like a child who couldn't think on her own.Over the past year, Dirk had become more and more controlling. Lori had been having little doubts about things for a while, but lately -- they weren't little doubts. They were more like Lake Superior-size doubts. Lori hadn't even realized how much he was controlling her until a few days ago.It was hotter than hell, ninety-five degrees and the heat index had crept into the triple digits. She was jerking some weeds out of her flower beds, trying to get it done before afternoon came and it got really hot. Curls kept springing loose from her ponytail, and her hair was sticking to her neck and face, falling into her eyes. Usually, come summer, she had her hair trimmed into layers that made it a little more manageable and a lot cooler.She hadn't this year. She had planned to. She'd even had an appointment but had cancelled it because of Dirk. Just like she had let him talk her out of buying a sporty little Mustang and talk her into buying a Corolla.It gets better gas mileage and it will be a lot easier to maintain.Other little things here and there. What sort of clothes she should wear. She'd been offered a job at a special-needs school. It had involved a pay cut, but she'd really wanted that job. It wasn't enough of a pay cut that it would have caused her problems. Her folks had passed away a few years ago and left her enough money that she could have afforded the cut.She could have afforded that new Mustang.He had always been a bit of a control freak, but over the past year Dirk had become more controlling. He tried to tell her what she should wear, how to style her hair, the proper way to clean the house -- she was feeling more and more like his drudge instead of his fiancee.But even that wasn't all of it. It was like he was trying to take over her life completely. Make her decisions for her. Even the most intimate ones.More specifically, Dirk didn't think she knew what she wanted in her sex life and basically tried to control that too.No, we aren't going to the club. No, we aren't going to try this. No, we aren't goingHavlir, Beverly is the author of 'A Hot Man Is the Best Revenge' with ISBN 9781416577300 and ISBN 1416577300.