Complete Me (A 1Night Stand Story)
Page 5
You didn’t give me the strength to stand and fight
You are my strength, every single part
You didn’t mend what was broken inside
How could you fix it when you are my heart
You didn’t give me a reason to let it go
You’re my living reason to live and be
You completed my want, my need, and so
For eternity—Complete Me.
The last notes faded and he and Claire stared at each other, inches apart. Ty gingerly placed the guitar to the side, never breaking eye contact. He waited for her reaction, almost expecting her to scream at him, slap him, anything, never imagining what happened next.
Around them, the crowd started to clap. She closed the distance and he mentally prepared for her reaction, whatever it might be. When she pounced on him, he almost lost his balance, but held her steady and answered her claiming kiss with the pent-up longing and desire he’d carried for so many months. The room erupted with cheers.
Being in Ty’s arms again…she’d needed him the entire time. Crowd of onlookers be damned, she’d show him how much she’d missed him.
But too much longer, and her readers would get a show they hadn’t intended to see. Hesitantly, she broke the kiss. “You owe me an explanation.”
He got a kicked-puppy look. “I know. I’m so sorry, Claire. Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“Yeah. After I get this done, you’re all mine.”
She signed like the wind, all the while casting brief glances at her rock star while he chatted with Penny. Because that was a great idea. Once the event drew to a close, she grabbed Ty and half-dragged him out of the bookstore. Down the street sat a great coffee shop where they could talk without interruption.
After they were seated and had their drinks, she couldn’t think of what she wanted to say. Over the months, she’d played and replayed conversations in her mind—one of them had actually made it into her current work-in-progress—but as she sat there, her brain shut down.
Thank goodness he started the conversation. “I fucked up. So hard.”
She laughed. “Yes. You did. But you’re here.” It still didn’t seem real. “What happened?”
Shaking his head, he stared down at his coffee cup. “I thought I’d be back before you woke up.”
For the first time, her high diminished. Do I really want to hear this?
“Joss called. Said she was lonely. She…she’d do that from time to time when Anderson, her boyfriend, the guy she left me for, would go on tour with his band. And I’d always answer because I didn’t know what else to do. I never had anything worth giving her up for. Until you.” He stopped. Their eyes met and she saw the uncertainty in his.
Covering his hand with hers, she smiled her reassurance. “Keep going.”
With a sigh of relief, he did. “I’ve driven to her house so many times I could do it in my sleep. I moved to New York to get away from her, but every summer, I hole up in a little beach house on Kiawah Island where I can work. And where I can still be close to her.
“We—we had this down to an art, to the point that she knew how long it’d take me to get to her place from my beach house. When it didn’t take half as long for me to arrive as she thought it should, she started screaming at me. I told her I’d found someone, I was happy, and that if she didn’t leave me the fuck alone, I’d tell Anderson everything.” He shrugged. “Not one of my finer moments.”
Claire’s heart thundered in her ears. “So it’s finished? No more Joss? No calls?”
“She doesn’t have a chance. I’ve changed every bit of my contact info. The only people who have my phone number are my mom and Sleeping Angels’ manager.” Shifting in his seat, he leaned forward. “I would have gotten to the room by nine a.m. if there hadn’t been a wreck on the interstate, in one of those spots where I couldn’t get a signal to save my life. I think I cussed enough to make a sailor with Tourette’s blush.”
“Ty….” Damn it, tears again. With his free hand, he wiped them from her cheeks. She said, “I was so wrong.”
“Li’l bit.” He laughed with her that time. “I wanted to get that shit done, then get to you, tell you the good news. I should have let you know.” After a brief pause, he said, “Then maybe we could have been spending the last seven months together instead of…well, not.”
“How about I make it up to you then?”
He cocked an eyebrow. That piqued his interest. “I won’t complain.”
Perfect. “As it turns out, I’ve started writing a series that requires some original songs. It’s not the same as—”
“Done. Whatever you want, whatever you need. Done.”
“I’ll pay you for your help.”
“Will work for sex,” he said with a grin.
“Good, because that’s how I intend to pay you.” Warmth cascaded through her at the thought. She’d fantasized about him too often not to blush. “I’ve missed you.”
“I missed you, too, babe. More than you know.”
“Enough to write me a song?” she teased.
“Yeah, well, we have to play to our strengths, right?”
“Right.”
And if things headed in the direction of her naughty thoughts, she’d be adding to Madame Eve’s positive testimonials after all.
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
Catherine Peace has been telling stories for as long as she could remember. She often blames two things for her forays into speculative fiction—Syfy (when it was SciFi) channel Sundays with her dad and The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells. She graduated in 2008 from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in English and is still chasing the dream of being super rich and famous, mostly so she can sit around in her PJs all day and write stories. When not being a slave to the people in her head, she’s a slave to two adorable dogs.
You can visit with Catherine at:
http://lexcade.blogspot.com
This Time Next Year
Vampire Kiernan Shaw has never forgotten the night twenty years ago when he’d been forced to stand by while another vampire killed a six-year-old girl’s parents in front of her. He’s spent the better part of the last two decades watching over her, protecting her and hoping for an opportunity to make amends one day.
Ever since surviving the vampire attack that killed her parents, Moira Curran has dealt with the resulting nightmares and abandonment issues the only way she could—by throwing herself into her biochemistry career, preferring a life of a hermit in her lab to facing the reality of her lonely life.
Madame Eve brings them back together for one fateful night. An immediate bond of sizzling chemistry and respect forms, but can it heal her fears and his guilt?
Sunset Heat by C.R. Moss
Can one night transform a woman's life?
Seana Tramonto feels doomed when it comes to relationships. When she’s set up through the 1Night Stand service, she’s apprehensive at best. Her concern turns to ire when her match turns out to be a man who broke her heart years ago. Old wounds are slow to heal no matter how sexy the man asking for forgiveness.
Zachary Russo, a Las Vegas policeman, is talked into doing a 1NS date. When he learns it’s with his high school tutor and friend, the girl he stood up before the Homecoming dance, he’s determined to make it up to her. But seeing her again opens his eyes to the sexy woman she’s become. Can he prove he’s grown up or will circumstance beyond his control kill their second chance?
Contents
Title page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
~ABOUT THE AUTHOR~
yle = " -webkit-filter: grayscale(100%); -moz-filter: grayscale(100%); -o-filter: grayscale(100%); -ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share