LITTLE BIT STRONGER | A COUNTRY ROMANCE

Chapter One

Kate Deltona knew Brian was fucking around on her. That knowledge found her sitting in a dark parking lot in the middle of the night...waiting.

Surprisingly, she wasn't as angry about the cheating as she was about the fact her husband of five years had a history of unprotected sex.

Back when all they'd been to one another was friends, Brian had often bragged about his bareback experiences with other women.

So much so, she'd demanded evidence of clean blood work before she'd taken him into her bed.

He'd been an honorary member of her family since she was a little girl, courtesy of his friendship with her older brother. Despite their connection on other levels, his recent behavior couldn't be ignored.

Kate wasn't one to shy away from the truth.

As much as it hurt her to think Brian would gamble their life together for cheap thrills, she wasn't going to avoid the hard facts. She wasn't going to risk her health or sanity by burying her head in the sand.

A few days ago, she was certain there had to be a reasonable explanation for his recent distance and the odd excuses he came up with for being late.

Yesterday she'd logged into his computer, social media, email, and chat logs. It wasn't hard. The man had used the same password for twenty years.

He had a huge appetite for both porn and sex chat rooms but downloading his cell phone details had been an eye-opener. There were almost seven hundred calls and texts to two women before he'd been switched to the night shift.

Since that change, almost all the calls were to and from one woman...someone he worked with.

Some of his emails had been archived in a personal folder three years before - right around the time she found out she was pregnant with their son, Caleb.

Kate had proof of what her husband had been doing with his time but she wanted more. She knew he would tell her that virtual cheating wasn't cheating, that he hadn't really done anything wrong.

There was no doubt in her mind that he was doing more than talking to his co-worker. She wanted evidence not even he could try to excuse.

More than anything, she felt stupid and embarrassed.

Brian had circled her for years before she'd allowed herself to be taken in by his charm.

At first, she just wanted to see if all his trash talk was true. He was a rough-n-tumble lover and liked to get down and dirty quick.

The first year they were together, he'd been unlike anyone she'd ever known or dated before.

He was exciting...and everyone they knew warned her not to get too serious. All their friends worried Kate would end up hurt.

The day of their wedding, his own mother took her aside and asked if Kate was confident about the choice she was making.

At the time, she had been.

She loved him, wanted him, and trusted him.

A few weeks after she started noticing the initial warning signs, Brian was laid off from his company of more than a decade.

After a few months of collecting unemployment, he'd found a new position with a smaller inventory firm paying much less than he was accustomed to.

His entire demeanor changed almost overnight.

As a surgical RN, Kate had been with the same hospital since graduation.