Son of a Preacher Man - By Arianna Hart Page 0,56

money off of. Living among them, she’d known she’d never be one of them, so why bother trying? And if it tweaked the noses of the proper ladies of the town, all the better.

Nadya heaved a sigh. There was no changing the past. She’d always hated people who blamed all their problems on their parents. It annoyed the ever-living hell out of her to hear people whine that they couldn’t make something of themselves because their parents were divorced or their father was an alcoholic or their mother abused them. She’d smugly thought about how she’d pulled herself up from poor gypsy trash to become a lawyer. If she could do it, so could they.

But how much baggage had she held on to? Hadn’t she had a chip on her shoulder about the town of Dale most of her life? Hell, she’d bought a freaking BMW instead of putting the money towards her college loans just to flaunt her success. Idiot. Look what that had done for her, creating a target for some asshole to hit.

She put her empty cup on the ground and wandered around to the boys’ swing set. Dale was Dale, just a small town in north Georgia. It wasn’t any more evil than any other small town. There were good people and bad people and some people who just looked the other way. If it wasn’t for people like the Farleys, her mother never would have survived.

Sure, there were people like the Campbells and Branson Taylor, but there were also people like Jemma whose father fixed their porch and put a new roof on their cabin for the cost of materials in thanks for finding Tommy. For all the men who tried to sleep with her mama, there were also men who treated her politely.

Damn, it was hard to let go of that image she’d kept in her mind all these years. Every time she’d felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work it took to get through law school, she’d motivate herself by thinking of all the people who’d doubted her. As time had gone on, she’d forgotten the teachers and other folks who’d encouraged her. She’d forgotten that the good times far outweighed the bad.

Which brought her to J.T.

Her stomach flipped at the thought of him. Was it really less than a week ago that she’d first seen him? She’d thought then the emotions she’d felt were leftover from when she was eighteen. When he’d pursued her, she’d been flattered and excited, and maybe a little intrigued about what could have been.

But what did she feel now?

Too much. Way too much.

Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered waking up in his arms like it was the most natural thing in the world. Yesterday at the park when he’d played with Hunter, it didn’t take much imagination to put herself there with him and a toddler of their own.

The fact that she longed for that image instead of running in fear from it shook her more than she wanted to admit. God, where had this come from? Sure, she’d thought she’d get married and have kids someday. But there was too much to do now to even think about dating seriously, forget marriage and a family. Back in New York, she had to work her butt off, not just to pay her bills, but to keep pace with all the other lawyers in the firm. Everyone wanted to move up the ladder, and you had to work twice as hard as the next guy if you wanted to stand out.

This was her first vacation since she’d graduated from law school four years ago. She’d worked sixteen-hour days, worked nights, weekends, whatever was asked of her in order to move up in the company. She had more lucrative clients now and didn’t live hand to mouth, but was she really living? Or just getting by? What was her goal? What was she working for?

Nadya pushed the baby swing and sent it gently swaying. If someone had asked her a week ago what she was working for, she’d have been able to answer without hesitation. She wanted to keep climbing up the company ladder until she was eventually a partner in the firm.

And then what? Have a house in Connecticut? A house that she’d never see because she’d be working sixty hours a week and weekends trying to keep her position? An empty house because she had no time to date?

But she liked her job. She

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