STAY
A Bleeding Stars Stand-Alone Novel
Excerpt
She stared back at me with big chocolate eyes.
Molten.
Her gaze washed over me like lava.
Burning up everything in its path.
“You are so beautiful,” she said, voice hoarse.
“Peaches,” I whispered as a warning. Wasn’t sure I trusted myself with
her right then.
“You are. Did you
know...did you know
the first time
I saw you...when
you were lying covered
in blood and
you opened your
eyes and looked
at me, that
I saw it?
Something so beautiful and raw and powerful. Even when you’d been broken. The way you looked at me shook me straight to
my bones. And then tonight...what you did for me...I don’t...”
I roughed a
hand through my
thrashing hair, a perfect mirror to my
thrashing heart. “Peaches.”
Another warning.
I didn’t deserve
the way she
was looking at
me. Like I was good and right
when I was no
better than the bastard we’d left lying back there on the floor.
So slowly, she
reached out, shaking
fingers gentle as she traced
them along the
scar that marked that night
beneath my eye.
A tremble took me whole.
Energy pulsed and shivered and shook.
Shit.
I gripped her by the wrist and pressed the underside to my nose. “You’re
killing me, darlin’.”
“And you’re saving me.”
A hard frown hit me. “It was you who did all the saving.”
Sitting back a fraction, she shook her head. “If it weren’t for you, I’d
be home tonight, hiding in the dark.” Her tongue darted out to sweep across her
lips. “I never would have been brave enough to go there or to stand up to him.
To say those things.”
“But that’s where I think you’re wrong, darlin’.” This time it was my
turn to reach out and touch her. I cupped
the side of
her face, glancing
between her and
the road. “I think you’re so much
braver than you’ve been giving yourself credit for. I see it there. Feel it
every time I look at you. You’re incredible, Willow. Every time you walk
through my door, I know it. So good that I know I shouldn’t be doing whatever
the fuck it is I think I’m doin’ with you.”
She was still panting those breathy pants, and she leaned in to my
touch.
“I...” she attempted before she looked down, averted her gaze. E
en with her
head downturned, there was
no missing the
blush creeping to
her cheeks. She hesitated before she spoke. “When you kiss
me...it doesn’t feel like pretending. It feels like the best thing I’ve ever felt.”
I swallowed hard, crossing a line. Pushing into the boundaries that should
have been firmly set in place. “That’s because when I kiss you? It’s not pretend. When I tell you you’re gorgeous—the best
thing I’ve ever seen? I mean it. And when I look at you...”
I touched the center of my chest, feeling ripped open wide. Exposed.
Maybe telling her the truth when it wouldn’t do either of us any good was
wrong. But there was no hiding when this girl was looking at me that way. “I
feel it right here. We might be pretending, but you can’t fake this.”
Like she didn’t
trust herself, she
pressed farther against
the door. “You make me want things...things
I know I shouldn’t want.”
“And what is it you want, Peaches?” I prodded low, knowing full well I
was pointing us in the direction of no return. “Told you when I came into your
store that I’d give you anything.”
“I want...” She tucked her bottom lip between her teeth, nervous or unsure
whether to give me the truth.
Blood pounded mercilessly through my veins. Thickened with lust. All of it clouded my judgment, knocking lose
my center of gravity.
Because I knew the look on her face. Desire was written across her like
a musical score.
The way her body rocked and trembled and silently pled.
Desperate to be played.
I knew I should close my mouth. Shut this down. Drop her at home.
Instead, I let the words slide free. “Tell me, Peaches.”
The needy rasp fell from between her lips. “I want you to touch me.”
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Synopsis
From NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author A.L. Jackson comes the next sexy, gripping Bleeding Stars Stand-Alone Novel…
I’m Ash Evans.
The life of the party.
Hot. Rich. Charismatic.
A tattooed rock star with the world at my feet.
I burn through women faster than the strike of a match.
I’ve embraced my lifestyle and live it to the fullest.
Until the day my lifestyle caught up to me.
Willow Langston found me at my lowest.
Literally.
Facedown in a puddle of my own blood.
I owe her my life and I have three months to repay that debt.
What I never should have done was touch her. Kiss her. Take her to my bed.
Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the equation.
I gave up that nasty complication a long damned time ago.
Now I want her more than my next breath.
But she doesn’t know what I know.
Do I leave to protect her? Or can I face my demons and ask her to Stay?
I’m Ash Evans.
The life of the party.
Hot. Rich. Charismatic.
A tattooed rock star with the world at my feet.
I burn through women faster than the strike of a match.
I’ve embraced my lifestyle and live it to the fullest.
Until the day my lifestyle caught up to me.
Willow Langston found me at my lowest.
Literally.
Facedown in a puddle of my own blood.
I owe her my life and I have three months to repay that debt.
What I never should have done was touch her. Kiss her. Take her to my bed.
Love wasn’t supposed to be a part of the equation.
I gave up that nasty complication a long damned time ago.
Now I want her more than my next breath.
But she doesn’t know what I know.
Do I leave to protect her? Or can I face my demons and ask her to Stay?
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