Susan Mallery
In Bed With The Devil
The sixth book in the Millionaire of the Month series, 2007
To the fabulously talented authors in this series. Thank you so much for inviting me along for the ride. It was wonderful fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat!
One
Eleven years ago…
Meredith Palmer spent the afternoon of her seventeenth birthday curled up on her narrow bed, sobbing uncontrollably. Everything about her life was a disaster. It was never going to be better-and what if she was one of the unlucky people who peaked in her teenage years? What if this was the best it was going to be?
Seriously, she should just throw herself out her dorm room window and be done with it. Of course, she was only on the fourth floor, so she was not going to actually kill herself. The most likely event was maiming.
She sat up and wiped her face. “Given the distance to the ground and the speed at impact,” she murmured to herself, then sniffed. “Depending on my position…” She reached for a piece of paper. “If I fell feet first-unlikely, but it could happen-then the majority of the stress would be on my…”
She started doing the calculations. Bone density versus a hard concrete landing or a softer grass landing. Assuming a coefficient of-
Meri threw down the pencil and paper and collapsed back on her bed. “I’m a total freak. I’ll never be anything but a freak. I should be planning my death, not doing math. No wonder I don’t have any friends.”
The sobs returned. She cried and cried, knowing that there was no cure for her freakishness. That she was destined to be one of those scary solitary people.
“I’ll have to get cats,” she cried. “I’m allergic to cats.”