Seduce (20 page)

I put the guitar down, resting my head on the case as I stretched out on the ground next to her. I was sobbing like a baby. Any plan I had of holding myself together had flown out the window the moment I began to sing. She would have loved it. I knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye.

I cursed myself for not bringing a flower or something to place on the grave. Not that she needed any. There had to be over ten bunches of flowers, all neatly arranged over the fresh soil. I lay there thinking and feeling guilty. I was about to embark on a new life, a new beginning, and I was leaving her here. Sitting up, I brushed the dirt from off my clothes. If I didn’t leave right then, I would miss my flight.

Getting to my feet, I stood there for a moment, not sure how to say goodbye. The song didn’t feel like enough, but I had no words inside me that could come close to summarizing how I was feeling.

“I love you. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you that when it mattered, but I love you and I will always love you.” I wiped my eyes, and picked up the guitar case. Then I did the hardest thing I had ever had to do.

I walked away.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Three months later.
 

All things considered, it had been a pretty good day. Most days were hard. I still thought about Belle all the time, and Alex was always on my back about getting some therapy, but today I’d done something I know would’ve made Belle proud.

It started the week before when I saw an ad in the paper for an open mic at a local bar. I tore out the ad, shoved it in my pocket, and ran through reason after reason as to why it was a bad idea. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to talk myself out of it.

Today, I’d woken up and found that little piece of paper scrunched up in the pocket of my jeans. What made that day different from any other day, I don’t know, but I took my guitar and I went to that bar and put my name down to sing.

Okay, so the crowd wasn’t huge—maybe twenty people, max, but for the first time in my life I performed in front of the public. What’s more, I fucking loved it. I’d written a few more songs over the past couple of months, most of them about Belle, but
Angel’s Song
was always the one I was going to sing. And dammit, I sang it well. I sang it so well, the bar’s owner offered me a regular spot every Sunday. He was even prepared to supplement me with a few shifts behind the bar. It was nothing too stressful, which sounded perfect for the time being. For the first time, I was actually
feeling
this new beginning for what it was: a chance to live my life for
me
and nobody else.

For that, I thanked Belle.

Follow Jack’s story in Beautiful Rose
.
Expected release: November 2013

See below for the Synopsis of Beautiful Rose 

For as long as she can remember, Rose Wilson has felt empty inside, she moves through her perfect life wishing it would all just go away.
Everything. Gone.
She feels nothing but the overwhelming desire to end it all and she has no idea why. She has a normal life, with a supportive family, good friends and she is getting near perfect grades in her first year of college. Yet nothing can fill the gaping hole she feels inside, nothing except knowing she can make it all go away.
At their wits end after another failed suicide attempt and desperate to help their daughter, Rose’s parents admit her into the best facility in California.
Jack Falcon is a new man. He’s left everything that defined him back home in London and he’s determined to make his new life in California work. He knows he can’t undo the wrongs of his past, but he sure as hell can be in control of his future. He has worked hard to move forward and nothing is going to undo that.
Until he meets Rose.
Before Rose, Jack vowed he would never let himself fall in love again.
Before Rose, he had control.
Will Jack risk everything to show Rose just how beautiful and important she really is?

Other books by Missy Johnson

So Many Reasons Why (So Many Reasons, book 1)

Incredible Beauty (So Many Reasons, book 2)

Desire

Inseparable

Beautiful Rose (November)

Social Media

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Missy-Johnson/618217221528253

Goodreads :
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6984258.Missy_Johnson

Blog:
http://missycjohnson.blogspot.com.au/

Be looking for Ilsa Madden-Mills’
Very Bad Things
, a New Adult romance book releasing September 10, 2013!

Synopsis
:

Born into a life of privilege and secrets, Nora Blakely has everything any nineteen-year-old girl could desire. She’s an accomplished pianist, a Texas beauty queen, and on her way to Princeton after high school. She’s perfect…

Leaving behind her million dollar mansion and Jimmy Choos, she becomes a girl hell-bent on pushing the limits with alcohol, drugs, and meaningless sex.

Then she meets her soulmate. But he doesn’t want her.

When it comes to girls, twenty-five-year old Leo Tate has one rule: never fall in love. His gym and his brother are all he cares about until he meets Nora. He resists the pull of their attraction, hung up on their six year age difference.

As they struggle to stay away from each other, secrets will be revealed, tempers will flare, and hearts will be broken.

Welcome to Briarcrest Academy…where sometimes, the best things in life are

Very Bad Things
.

Excerpt: 

I purposely walked outside to the patio and strolled by his table, shooting him and his companions a flirtatious smile while he glared back. Then I went to the bar and ordered a glass of water. And waited.

It took fifty-three seconds for him to appear beside me.

“Not drinking today?” he said in a low voice, sending delicious tingles all over my body. He settled himself beside me on a stool.

“No fake ID,” I said, putting my hand on his inner thigh and caressing the taut muscles there. “You seem tense. Is there anything I can do to help you relax?” I asked, my lips curving up in invitation.

He stared at my stroking hand and swallowed but didn’t move away. “I just came over to see how you’re doing,” he said with a face like stone, not giving anything away.

I scowled and pulled my hand back. “Why? Because you feel bad for the poor little rich girl with all the problems?”

He looked away from me.

I said, “Let’s go in the bathroom and fuck.”

He exhaled heavily and stood up from the stool.

“No?” I said, feeling ashamed for the words coming out of my mouth, yet completely powerless to stop them. “You know, one of my favorite books has this sizzling chapter where the main characters go to lunch together. And even though it’s a first date, they end up fucking in a bathroom stall because they can’t wait to get at each other. He just bends her over and gives it to her, hard and fast. I’d like to reenact that scene.” I took a hasty sip of water and got my nerve up. “All we’d have to do is pick the biggest stall, and then you flip my dress up and take me from behind. Or I could get on my knees for you?”

He paled and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You don’t want me, Nora. I’ll fuck you and when I’m done, I’ll leave you.”

All the air was taken out of me and a searing pain squeezed my heart so hard I thought I might cry out. “Well, if not you, then someone else will do,” I said, looking around the bar. “Who should I choose? There’s the young guy over there in the corner with the power suit and buzz cut who’s been trying to catch my eye since I sat down…although I think I see a wedding band on his finger. He’s out, I suppose. Even I have standards. And, there’s the fortyish-looking guy sitting across from me. He’s been staring at my breasts.” I smiled and waved at the gentleman in question, and he waved back, a hopeful look on his face. “Oh yeah, definitely interested.”

I opened my purse, pulled out a pen and wrote my name and number on a bar napkin. I pushed it over to Leo. “Do me favor? Take this over to him and tell him what a great girl I am. How good I am. How you know I’m not really
bad
.” I stared at Leo’s crotch. “Maybe tell him how hard you get when I talk about fucking.”

He pulled me off the stool so quick I didn’t know what had happened until I was standing right next to him, both of our chests heaving and tempers flaring. His eyes flashed. “Go back to your table. No fucking today, Nora,” he bit out.

I smiled and batted my lashes. “Tomorrow?”

He growled at me and I thrilled at the sound, imagining him doing it while he made love to me. See, here’s the thing: this was a whole lot more than just wanting to do bad things. I couldn’t blame this on meaningless sex. No, this was all about him. About
Leo
. He sparked this insatiable, urgent need in me, one that I hadn’t quite wrapped my head around yet. I’d never felt more alive than when I was with him, even if we were antagonizing each other.

“Are you high?” he asked me, his eyes boring into mine.

I laughed. “God, no. This is all me,” I said bitterly. “I don’t need drugs to be a whore, Leo. I can do it all by myself.”

--Excerpt is unedited and may change.

 
Social Media for Ilsa Madden-Mills
:

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Ilsa-Madden-Mills/164946810330135?ref=hl

Goodreads :
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7059622.Ilsa_Madden_Mills

Book trailer
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0eLwXXpdc

Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble September 10, 2013
.