I'm so excited-- the fabulous, fun new adult anthology that I'm a part of with J. Lynn, Molly McAdams, Julie Cross and a bunch of other people just went on sale-- so if you have time, go check it out at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Kobo!!!! To celebrate, I'm putting up a short excerpt from Grind, the short story I wrote for it :) Hope you like it!
Blurb:
You always remember your first time...
Whether
it's the couple who decides not to go through with it, the two boys who
finally aren't ashamed, the newlyweds whose wedding night could very
well be their last night together, the deaf pair who have no choice but
to take body language to a new level--or, of course, the two young
lovers fumbling and laughing, getting everything wrong. These are the
memories that will never fade.
Join nineteen
fantastic authors as they pull back the curtain and give you a peek
inside that one intense moment in their characters' lives when
everything changes and nothing will ever be the same again.
Featuring
stories from some of the hottest names in New Adult, Young Adult, and
Romance including New York Times Bestselling authors J.Lynn/Jennifer
Armentrout, Molly McAdams, Sophie Jordan, and Carrie Ryan.
NOTE: These stories are works of fiction. If you want to know about our first times, you'll have to buy us a pet monkey first.
Excerpt from Grind
“I thought I’d find you here.”
I
stiffen at the voice, certain that my need for her has pushed me over the edge
into aural hallucinations. But when I turn
to look over my shoulder, there she is.
She’s in a bright red ski jacket and beanie that do amazing things for
her jet-black hair and dark, Native American complexion.
She’s
beautiful, so beautiful, and for long seconds I can do nothing but stare at
her.
“Dyani.”
“Gage.” She smirks at me, but I can see the temper
simmering in her eyes. But then, it’s
always been like that. No matter what
expression she plasters on her face, I’ve always been able to tell how she
really feels by staring into her jet-black gaze.
“What
are you doing here?” I scramble up from
the boulder where I’ve been sitting.
“I
think that’s my line, isn’t it?” She
crosses the area between us, her well-worn boots crunching on the snow. “I looked for you in town. Thought you’d be celebrating your first big
win.”
“How’d
you know?”
She
looks at me like I’m crazy, and maybe I am.
Right now I can’t say anything for certain except that seeing her again
has turned me inside out. “I was there.”
“You
were?”
“You thought
you would come back to compete in Taos and I wouldn’t be there?” She
shakes her head like she’s disappointed in me.
Or worse, like she doesn’t know me anymore. Which I can understand. Most days, I don’t even know myself. “Where else would I be, Gage?”
“I
didn’t think—“
“That’s
the problem, isn’t it? You never
think!” She’s in my face now, and even
the appearance of tranquility is gone.
Her eyes are blazing, her cheeks flushed pink and her breathing—her
breathing is all over the place. And I
am going to burn in hell because, even though it’s been three years since I
walked away, all I can think about is touching her rapidly rising and falling
breasts.
I
want to pull her into my arms, to kiss her and hold her and lick her and touch
her until the last three years disappear.
Until everything disappears but her and me and how it feels when we’re
together.
“I’m
sorry.”
“You
should be.”
“I
am. So fucking sorry. I didn’t want to leave you—“
“Don’t.” She lays her gloved fingers on my lips, stops
me mid-sentence. Even after all this
time, sparks of electricity shoot through me at the touch.
“But—“
“Is
that why you never called? Why you
didn’t come see me when you got into town two days ago? Because you thought I was mad at you for
leaving?”
I
pull her hand away from my mouth, then squeeze it tightly in my own. “Aren’t you?”
“Why? You left because he would have killed you if
you stayed. Don’t you think I know
that? Don’t you think I’ve been grateful,
every day, that you got out? That you’re
alive? That you’re safe? That your father will never be able to hurt
you again?”
I
can’t take it anymore. Not being with
her has been killing me, and now that she’s here, in front of me, all I want is
to feel her against me one more
time.
Reaching out, I pull Dyani into my
arms. Her wicked, wonderful body curls
against me like it’s been three minutes instead of three years, and she holds
me at least as tightly as I’m holding her.
“I missed you,” I tell her, my face
buried in her long, silky hair. She
still smells like ginger and snow and freshly cut pine trees. The scent, combined with the sweet relief of
holding her again, nearly brings me to my knees. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too.”
She presses kisses—soft as the
snowflakes that are even now coming down around us-- to my jaw, my eyes, my
chapped and burning lips. It feels so
good—she feels so good—that when she
starts to step away, I can’t let her go.
Instead, I lock her to me and slowly, oh so slowly, lower my mouth to
hers.
Part of me expects her to reject me
even now. To fight my kiss and all the
memories burning between us. God knows I
deserve it. But she doesn’t. Not even close.
Instead, her arms lock around my neck
and she presses herself even more tightly against me. And then we’re kissing, kissing, kissing, and
it’s just like it always was—flash and fire and pleasure so extreme it’s like a
kind of pain.
I run my tongue over her lips,
desperate to taste her again. Even more
desperate to be inside her any way that I can.
She opens right away, and then I’m pulling her lower lip between my
teeth, nibbling on it in the way that used to drive her crazy.
She moans, her fingers clenching in
the blonde hair peeking out the bottom of my own beanie. I dart inside her then, my tongue stroking
over and around and under her own. She
tastes like she smells, like fresh, clean powder and sharply sweet ginger. I want more, so much more. I want everything.