Turn The Page (Kissed by A Muse Book 2) (22 page)

Ryan gripped her forearms and pulled her closer. ‘Alien? Are you serious?’ He cupped her face and angled it up to his. ‘You’re an angel. Calling you a beauty queen would be an insult.’

Leigh bubbled her lips and tried to wrench her face from his grip. ‘No- an insult is being told that you look like you have a touch of down-syndrome, or being asked if the blind spot when you’re driving is everything in front, or if you have the memory of a fish to go with the eyes or-’

‘Shut up.’ Ryan pulled her face back to his and dragged his mouth against hers angrily. ‘Anyone who teased you was jealous you silly girl- and if you turn your face from me again I am going to have to take some measures-’

‘Ugh!’ Leigh pulled back, looking pissed. ‘You’ve been reading up on Ryan from the book, haven’t you?’ she demanded sassily.

Ryan’s breath caught in his throat. ‘The guy in the book is into that kinky stuff?’

Leigh rolled her eyes. ‘He says, word for word: ‘And if you turn your face from me again, I’m going to have to take measures!’

Ryan was floored, and he had so much new information to process that he couldn’t even think of where to start. On one hand, he had a drop-dead beautiful girl naked and wet in his arms in his room and she’d pretty much just said that she was contemplating giving herself to him, and that was cause for celebration. Not just because he wanted her but because there was something significant between them, a connection that transcended friendship and made the air around them incendiary. He could make her first time everything it ought to be, and she would not regret it.

But on the other side of the coin, he had an angel in his arms and there was no disputing that- and she deserved to lose her virginity to an incredible man she loved and who loved her in return. She deserved the storybook wedding day and the beautiful white gown- she deserved to have a baby nine months later behind a white-picket fence and Ryan couldn’t give her any of that. He’d been right to pause- to let her know that his character was being compromised by her everything- because he saw now that if he took her virginity, he’d be taking more from himself than from her.

And who the hell is this writer? If these similarities are a coincidence I’ll eat my damned hat! What if she’s my brown-eyed girl? What will she think if I show up tomorrow with the fan whose virginity I plucked the night before? And why did Leigh, this supposed virgin, go off like no man’s business when I tied her up? Was that because of me- or because of the fantasies she’s harbouring over this fictional guy?

Ryan groaned and pulled back from her. ‘You deserve better than this,’ Ryan whispered, and Leigh’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m sorry that I had you thinking otherwise- I’m sorry that I deigned to think otherwise...’

‘What?’

Ryan pulled the sheet off the bed, and it felt as heavy as though it had been woven with lead fibres. He wrapped it around her as she stood there, blinking at him. ‘We were about to have sex, Leigh,’ he said softly, covering every delicious inch before scooping her up in his arms before the mental images of binding and spanking her could come back. ‘Surely, you’re aware of that?’

‘I’m not stupid,’ Leigh wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘But I’m not a baby either, Ryan. I knew what I was doing. You weren’t breaking my rules- you were making me see how irrelevant they are!’ She brushed her mouth against his. ‘Sex should be hot, and fun and… everything you just did to me. If I’d had a man make me feel that way back when my hormones first kicked in, my rule book would have been shelved a long time ago, believe me!’

Ryan knelt on the bed and laid her down the centre, before rolling into position next to her and bringing the coverlet up over his own naked form. ‘I am truly flattered to hear that…’ he admitted, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close. ‘But there are men who can do that to you, Leigh, normal ones. Men with real jobs who want to wife this…’ he caressed her arm, the only part of her body that he’d left bare, and then locked his eyes on hers. ‘Men who can give you everything you dream of. But that’s not me.’

Leigh looked down at his chest. ‘Is that why you stopped? Because you don’t think you’re good enough for me?’ she lifted her eyes and they were a jaded green. ‘Or because you’re afraid that I’m starting to hope that maybe, I could be enough for you- when you know otherwise?’

Ryan’s heart skipped a beat. ‘I don’t know anything about myself, remember? That’s the point.’

‘Well, we both know that you could stop- whereas I couldn’t have…’ Leigh rolled away from him, lifting her shoulder like a shield. ‘And I guess that says it all, huh?’

‘Stopping was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life!’ he protested, caressing her shoulder and wanting to flip her back so that she could see the honesty in his eyes. ‘How can you not see that?’

But Leigh chuckled and slid the satin between his hand and her skin. ‘Call me crazy, but something tells me that working up the guts to go off Niagara falls was a hell of a lot harder than turning down sex was for a man who looks like you.’ She exhaled, staring down at the fire past their feet through lowered lashes. ‘And you’re right- I do deserve a guy who would be willing to do that for me, and you’re not him. I lost sight of why everything’s important to me so…’ she shrugged. ‘Let’s just chalk it up to inexperience, hmm? Thank you, for being so considerate.’

Ryan didn’t know what to say. There were things he felt for her that he knew he should admit to, because doing so would make her realise that she meant a great deal more to him then his rejection was demonstrating. But if he said that, he really might escalate her hopes and cause her more pointless duress down the track. He pressed his forehead against her shoulder and squeezed her tightly as he whispered: ‘Silky...’

Leigh sighed. ‘What?’

‘That’s who you remind me of, I think. There’s a print in the nursery of the pixie from The Enchanted Wood, and Imogen told me her name was Silky.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘That’s how beautiful you are.’

Leigh stiffened in his arms. ‘You’re the one who has been lifted from between the pages of a book, Ry, not me.’

Ryan frowned. ‘So who were you about to sleep with, hmm? Ryan Weaver, from The Hardest Fall, or me? Because you were clinging pretty hard to your morals before I tied that silk around your wrists...’

Leigh wriggled away from him and hopped off the bed, not turning to look at him as she said: ‘Does it matter? Both are out of my league.’

Ryan sat up, alarmed. ‘What are you doing?’

‘What I came home with you to do.’ Still wearing his sheet, Leigh hobbled across the room and knelt amongst their discarded clothes. ‘Reading by the fire.’

The relief that she wasn’t leaving was intense. ‘Can I read with you?’ he asked feebly.

‘I’d rather you didn’t,’ Leigh admitted, glancing over at him as she slid her glasses back onto her nose. ‘Sorry but… this is one of those fantasies that’ll pan out better if I’m alone. But here-’ she lifted his book and tossed it onto the mattress. ‘You’ve got halfway to go, and twelve hours before we track Kathryn Praser down. Better get ’ hmm?’

Ryan took the book from her and stared at it, wondering how he was going to get through a bunch of light bondage scenes while Leigh was wrapped in satin at the foot of his bed. But then she lay down on her side and opened her own book, and he realised that her distance was going to affect his concentration more than her proximity. He got up, wrapping his quilt around himself and then joined her by the fire. She glanced up at him and frowned, but said nothing and wriggled over, making room behind her once more. He lifted the hand she had pressing her pages open and kissed her fingertips and Leigh sucked in a breath, freezing him in place.

‘What?’ he whispered.

Leigh swallowed. ‘I always thought reading was my favourite thing to do,’ she said softly, staring at his lips. ‘And I’ve always wanted to be as strong as my favourite heroines… to have men falling at my feet. But I just don’t have that kind of poise- and I can’t even remember the alphabet when you’re around!’ She touched his lips gingerly. ‘You’re just so beautiful Ry…’

‘I don’t know if I’d be half as good-looking without you making me glow like a damn firefly all the time,’ he whispered, and Leigh giggled and kissed him gently. ‘What?’

‘You just had a Ryan moment and now I feel like a book is closing in on me and soon, I won’t be able to breathe.’

Ryan groaned, laced his fingers between hers and caught her pretty, trembling pout with his lips. He wanted to tell Leigh that there wasn’t an author alive who could capture her beauty and loveliness with something as steady and dull as print, but her kisses stole his words and so he pressed her to the ground and tried to make her feel everything he was too afraid to say.

He had to get his memories back and soon- before Leigh became the only thing he could remember, and became just another thing to regret.

To be continued...

Want to see how the story ends? As a Christmas gift to my most impatient fans, I’ve split this novel into two instalments in the interest of getting it out there by Christmas Eve, EST. Part 2 which I’ve titled ‘More Than Words’ will be available New Years Eve, EST! Merry Christmas, and please enjoy the following sneak peak to the conclusion of this epic love story and pretty please leave a review-No author could ask for anything more for Christma
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Excerpt from
More Than Words

Leigh’s smile faded when she realised that she hadn’t come to Canada hoping to meet Kathryn- she’d come hoping to meet Ryan and he was the one who needed to be talking to the author- not her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him leaning against the counter and smiling a bemused smile at her, and Leigh’s heart tripped over a beat. She turned back to Kathryn and bit her lip.

‘Um… Miss Praser…?’

Kathryn had been doing something on her phone but she raised her eyebrows and said: ‘Hmm?’

‘Thank you, for taking the time to talk with me. It means… more to me than you’ll ever know. Before I go, I’d love it if I could have your autograph and hopefully… if it’s not too much trouble... a picture?’

Kathryn smiled warmly at Leigh. ‘Of course.’

Leigh sighed. ‘Great. But before that… I need you to meet someone.’

Kathryn put her phone down and frowned, picking up her coffee and cupping it with two hands. ‘You mean like… go visit a friend in the hospital or something?’ She hissed in a breath through her teeth and immediately looked uncomfortable. ‘Gee, I’m-’

But Leigh shook her head. ‘No…’ she glanced over her shoulder and waved Ryan over, and he straightened and paled. She turned back to Kathryn and said. ‘I’m not sure if introductions are in order but…’ she slid out of her chair and grasped Ryan’s arms as he bumbled over with long, wary features. To Leigh’s surprise, she felt him trembling like a leaf in rain. ‘This is Ryan.’ She squeezed Ryan’s arm reassuringly, and then pushed him in front of her. ‘Ryan Weaver.’

The coffee cup fell from Kathryn’s hands and shattered on the floor.

Playlist From Turn The Page

Livin Doll- Cliff Richard

Love Is Strange-Mickey & Sylvia

Turn The Page- Bob Seger/ Metallica

Sons Of Plunder- Disturbed

Honey-Bobby Goldsboro

Stupid Cupid-Connie Francis

Lipstick On Your Collar-Connie Francis

Try A Little Tenderness-Ottis Reading

Under The Boardwalk-The Drifters

For the people who wrote me angry messages or gave me the silent treatment over Unchained Melody! Especially Candy, who demanded a seque
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