Read T's Trial: A Bone Cold--Alive Novel Online
Authors: Kay Layton Sisk
Tags: #rock star, #redemption, #tornado, #rural life, #convience store, #musicians, #Texas, #addiction, #contemporary romance
T's Trial: A Bone Cold--Alive Novel (39 page)
He took her face in both his hands and silenced her with a kiss. He had no intention of it being sweet, reconciling. It was no-holds-barred desire. She reached around him, drew herself as close to him as she could.
When the kiss ended, they stood joined from ankle to nose. He settled her hips to his, pinned her to himself. “Now, that is enough about problems and arrangements. You think I haven’t been giving this some thought for four months? I thought you might have been, too, but I see I’ve had to do all the thinking for the two of us.”
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “Remember me telling you about my grandmother’s place in Kentucky that we were going to turn into a studio?” She nodded. “It’s going to be the rehab center. We’ll find property here for our own studio.” He pulled away so he could watch her face as he spilled all his autumn-inspired plans. “Jinks will get used to us. Other places get used to rock stars. Hell, we make excellent pets. Something to put on the Chamber of Commerce brochure. We bring in tourist dollars. Lots of tourist dollars. Although he may not look it, C is house-broken, but he’ll never set foot in our door if you don’t want him to. Same for Fletch. He’s in bad graces right now anyway. They can go to the studio. They can go away. You can keep burning burgers at the Quik-Lee for all I care. Working wives don’t bother me. Working mothers are fine, too. We’ll just get an au pair if the kids are too much for you. We’re only on the road about three continuous months a year and then there’s just the occasional appearance and the awards shows, so I’ll be here. You can’t get rid of me. I’ve been looking at getting a company jet. Maybe two. You and the kids can come with us. We can all fly home at night. And Bertie, of course, Bertie has to come along some!”
“Sh-sh-sh.” She reached up to quiet him. “Slow down. Back up. Working wife? Working mother? You think I worked because I liked it? I had to! If you think, I’m going to be Mrs. Sam—” she crinkled her brows “—who will I be?”
“Mrs. Edwin Thomas Samuels. That’s the legal.”
“If you think I’m going to be Lyla Samuels and still work when I could be providing much needed jobs around here, you’re nuts!”
“How about a job composing?”
“Sounds more like you had me flat on my back for a while!”
He grinned. “I’m equal opportunity. I’ll be glad to be flat on mine.”
She wiggled and pushed against him. He held on, laughed.
She straightened up, took a deep breath. “There is one question. And it is really serious, Sam.” He took quick note of the abrupt change in her tone and manner. “What makes you sure you can stay sober, stay clean? The road and studio pressures are just starting—a marriage, a stepchild…” She let her voice trail off.
He nodded his head. He’d spent the fall thinking about this question, too. He’d spent the fall thinking about what he’d do if she hadn’t been in his dressing room last night. And he’d spent the fall knowing that whether she was there or not, he wasn’t ever going back through the doors he’d worked so hard to close.
“Pressure kept me on drugs, it didn’t put me there. I went that way because of boredom, bad influences, willfulness.” He shrugged. “No reasons, only excuses.” He eased her away, spread his hands in front of himself. “I’ve been totally clean for over five months. I only wanted to backslide once—when your song came to me and you didn’t. But I held on. I knew you’d not want me as I used to be. I’ve had to prove myself to me, for you.” His face broke into a smile. “And I’ve done it. And even if I’d left with the chopper pilot, I’d still be clean. And if I hitchhike into Jinks and have to call C for a ride, I’ll still be clean.” His face lit with a smile. “I’ve finally found me and I feel so free!”
She laughed. “Didn’t you just agree to marry me?”
“I don’t see any difference.” She came back to him, snaked her hands around his neck as he continued. “When I marry you, I’m free to love you. I can be like your kite and hold heaven. And when the wind blows, you’ll be there to hold me, too.” He kissed her, drew it out, made her want more when he pulled away, dodged her lips that sought his. “I don’t have a concert for four days. Do we stay here or do we go where you were going?”
“I’ve got a flight at three for Aspen.”
“Ooh. How did you manage that at high season when you’re supposed to be in Hawaii?”
“I’ve got connections, too. Melinda’s father-in-law’s partner has a condo there and he thought the family was going but…”
“Shhh. I don’t care. Just have one question: Got a double bed in that condo?”
“Need one that big?”
“I don’t even need a room.” He tucked her under his arm and led her back to her Jeep. “Stay here, go to Aspen, as long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I am.” He settled in the passenger side. She turned the key.
“Got any ski clothes?”
“Don’t need clothes for what I’ve got in mind.” He stretched back in the seat as she left the cemetery. “Just a marriage license.” He waited a second until she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
“And a piano, of course.”
The End
________________
About The Author
Kay Layton Sisk
Native Texan Kay Layton Sisk began writing books in third grade featuring such wonderful creatures as The Rainbow Monster. That opus may be hidden deep in the closet with the
Star Trek
fanfic she didn't know she was writing throughout high school. Then life took over and didn't release her to write again until staring at a computer screen resulted in more words than numbers.
Today she makes her home with one husband and seven demanding cats. Although she is the author of 12 romance novels, After the Thunder Rolls Away is her first foray into women's fiction. As with all the others, it began with "what if?"
You may follow her at
www.kaysisk.com
,
kaysisk.blogspot.com
(Sisker's Lair),
or
kaylaytonsiskauthor
on FaceBook.
After The Thunder Rolls Away
The lives of two families are forever changed when a car accident kills one spouse of each family. But which one? How do the remaining two rebuild their lives? And what if it had been two others?
Mark and Angel O'Shea, Eric and Paulina Eubanks--best friends and business partners are driving home early one summer morning from a country club party when a deer darts out in front of Mark's new car. Paulina's sure driving saves them from the first deer, then the second, but the third is a surprise and they plunge off the narrow Texas highway down a ravine and into a slow-moving river.
There are four outcomes to this horrifying, community-changing event. Four ways the families may have to reconfigure their lives, hopes, and dreams.
But which outcome is it… after Fate steps in.
Once Upon a McLeod
Atlanta caterer Bethann Fox has the opportunity to inherit $20 million from her late husband's uncle for herself and her college age son, but there's a big hitch. She and Joe Tom McLeod never got along and his final revenge is to make her live on his rundown West Texas ranch for a year in order to inherit.
But there’s a secret hidden at Ranch McLeod and someone wants Bethann Fox off the property before she can find it. Fire, vandalism, and theft only strengthen her resolve to stay out her year--and bring out the protective instincts of Sheriff Bry Phillips, feelings he thought he’d buried long ago. She says she's leaving when the year is over. What's he going to do when his heart goes with her?
Can love overcome stubborn pride and a secret two generations old?
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Kay Layton Sisk
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, transmitted, decompiled, reverse engineered, stored in or introduced to any information storage and retrieval system, in any form, whether electronic or mechanical without the author’s written permission. Scanning, uploading or distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without permission is prohibited.
Please purchase only authorized electronic versions, and do not participate in, or encourage pirated electronic versions
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands,
media, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or
used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of
various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been
used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not
authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Cover by Lyndsey Lewellen
Formatting by
Ink Lion Books
Table Of Contents
