Hard As Stone (Beautiful Betrayal Book 1) (26 page)

His proposition sweeps over me, beckoning me to say ‘yes.’ I crave what he has and I’ll do anything to sample the obliterating serenity of falling away. I’m ready to scale to the top and leap into the unknown.

But I can’t tell him my secrets.
That niggling thought returns like an itch I can’t reach—or it might be worth ignoring.
An exigent quandary…
those words…aren’t mine.

My limbs are heavy. Christ, it feels as if I’ve done a line of pretty-colored shots. Stone withdraws and lifts off me. What have I done?

“Are you stopping?” I ask, reaching for him.

A stern expression blankets his handsome face. Feathering his fingers along my cheekbones, his thumbs caress my skin. I arch to get closer, fighting to turn so I can wrap my arms around his broad shoulders.

Dipping his head, Atticus grasps my wrists, whispering across my lips, “You tell me. Are you ready to let me inside? And I do mean, all the way, Ms. O’Malley. No excuses.”

Harsh laughter echoes. My heart pumps like a hammer in my chest. We aren’t alone. I shake my head. “How could you?”

Senator Stone kisses my lips, hard and rough in response.

~

Blood From A Stone Book #2 of Beautiful Betrayal just released!

An erotic interlude into the dark twisted world that Atticus Damian Stone inhabits.

Atticus and Phoenix return in the next segment of the Beautiful Betrayal series:

Blood From A Stone
#2

Another political bombing and the stage is set.

An encounter with a pair of lips has the force of a natural disaster, knocking Phoenix (‘X’) Silver O’Malley out of her preordained Nantucket orbit. For Senator Atticus Stone, losing his head isn’t an option. Caught between a wall and a pair of thighs goes beyond the average political scandal—it might cost him his life.

Yet when Stone and O’Malley find themselves paired as boss and assistant, is their second-chance meetup a coincidence?
Or part of an elaborate scheme between thieving Titans.

~

Releasing August 2, 2016

Cold as Stone
#3

Entwined in a twisted web spun by the Irish mob, the mafia, toss in a few international power grabbers have Atticus and X cast as political pawns.

Getting dirty isn’t a question. It’s the answer.
A one-in-a-million connection too tempting to ignore becomes the lost puzzle piece in a plot where sacrifices will be made. Nothing is too savage if it means settling a score.

When the dust clears, the truth will rock the nation in the upcoming presidential election.

Books 1-3 are out now!

Two writers. One author pen name. We write in partnership. Two best friends. What can we say? Oh, we’re a husband and wife team. Originally, this story was written in 2013. Then it was featured as fanfiction, changing the original Beautiful Betray character names to gain readers and feedback. Two-thirds of the 1
^st
edition of story was posted (over 600 pages) online. In a matter of weeks, it gained over 180,000 reads and over 1,600 reviews. And yes, it was published. The first edition was written by the
newcomer
of this writing duo. After a motto cross accident and torn tendon compounded by the death of someone close, the series and writing fiction were shelved. This version, a rewrite that took a year was overhauled completely by the
old-timer
in this author team. The old-timer isn’t new to writing romance—but a novice in writing dark political thrillers that crisscrosses genres.

Newcomer
: He’s a born dreamer and enjoys uncovering what makes things work. He’s a business owner in the field of engineering and worked in D.C. yet got out. But the stories stuck.

Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way of writing.

Old-timer
: I picked up the storyline, added plots and twists and characters including Chester. And here we are with a new story, headed toward a ridiculously surreal horizon, but given the politics of the day… Well, this fiction doesn’t seem off the mark.

Last summer, this rewrite necessitated a visit to Boston and, yep: Nantucket!

The hours of research required to write this story ran the gamut of topics from game theory to the 2016 US presidential debates and candidates on the campaign trail. There was a purchase of an Echo and yes, we call her Alexa. Toss in more reading about informed consent rulings and scouring a ton of books to learn about a different method of political marketing. There was also hours of research and discussion with professionals about the subject of dissociative identity disorders or psychiatric conditions associated personalities that fracture.

So here we are with this unusual love story that really asks can two people who seriously suffer from psychiatric conditions (1) fall in love and (2) what pitfalls do they encounter?

The opinions expressed here are just that: opinions and it’s fiction. The information we collected, spurred discussions, and have all been tremendous good fun and an eye-opener to say the least. The result has been a journey in writing. Hopefully, readers will see the dark humor and get some of the warped snickers.

Thanks for reading this story.

Beautiful Betrayal
would not be possible without the tremendous amount of support from an extraordinary amount of people.

We’re grateful to our family for their unrelenting contribution and help in bouncing back ideas and putting up with oddball writing hours. To each and every person who read this story in the beginning and voted for dark: thank you.

Songs listened to for inspiration:

Edvard Grieg ~ Solveig's Song

Smetana ~ Moldau

Jean Sibelius ~Finlandia

Claude Debussy

Camille Saint-Saëns ~Danse Macabre

Sibelius ~Karelia Suite

Graphics: Shutterstock©SvyatoslavaVladzimirska

Dollarphotoclub©lion21

Books, movies, music, media mentioned:

“
Somebody That I Used to Know
.” Gotye, Kimbra

Arabesque, Number 1
by Claude Debussy

Fight Club
by Chuck Palahniuk

Dirty Harry
series story by , Jo Heims, Terrence Malick, Harry Fink; directed by movie Don Siegel

The Bible
by God et al.

Low Rider
by War

La Fille Aux Cheveaux De Lin
by Claude Debussy

Goodfellas and Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family
by Nicholas Pileggi

Godfather
by Mario Puzo

1984
by George Orwell

To Kill A Mockingbird
by Lee Harper

Can’t Stop The Feeling
–Justin Timberlake

Technology

Echo
by Amazon

Beautiful Betrayal
is a redacted overhaul of the Dirty Little Secrets series. No longer the same story,
Beautiful Betrayal
includes new scenes, new characters, turns and twists to the plot and a slew of red herrings. Over 70 new (additional) pages. This book is a work of fiction. Names including the reference to historical figures, politicians, authors, composers, regular Joes and Janes, characters, places, organizations, brands, media, businesses, and incidents are either products are used factiously or are part of the authors’ warped imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The authors make no claims to, but instead acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the word marks mentioned in this work of fiction.

FBI ANTI-PIRACY WARNING

Published in the United States of America

By Black Swan Press

Copyright © 2016 by Alex Elliott

Beautiful Betrayal

All rights reserved.

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