Taming_Damian_-_Jessica_Wood_-_BN

by Jessica Wood

  I laughed and looked over at Isabella. “You’re just like daddy, huh? You hate being left out.” I lifted Isabella in the air and planted several kisses on her face, causing her to squeal in delight.

  “Damian, I never told you this before, but besides my parents, you’re the only person that calls me Alex.”

  “Really?”

  She nodded with a wide grin, her eyes still glistened with moisture.

  “And when you first called me by Alex when we first started dating, something inside me told me that you were the one, that you were just as connected to me as my parents were. For the longest time, I was scared of thinking about this, because I was afraid that if I did think we were meant to be, then something bad could happen. But I didn’t think about it, and bad things did happen. Yet, you stuck around and made me stronger each day you’ve loved me.”

  “Baby, we’ve made each other stronger.”

  After a few minutes, we laid together on her hospital bed as smiled at each other in silence. As I held her in my arms, I felt a weight lift from my shoulders, and as it left me, all the feelings of betrayal and abandonment I’d carried with me for the last ten years seemed to evaporate away.

  “Alex, are you happy?” I murmured into her hair.

  She looked up and beamed at me, her sparkling hazel eyes rich with emotion. “Very happy.”

  The warmth of her smile radiated through my chest, making it hard to speak. “That’s good,” I managed to choke out. “Because I can only be happy if I knew you were happy.”

  “Do you remember when we first met, you had helped me with my suitcases even though you didn’t have to? You didn’t care what the girl you were with said or thought. You were thoughtful enough to come and help me. I know now, just as I knew then, what a sweet and generous person you are.”

  Her words were like a warm blanket on a winter’s night.

  “You know what, I’m glad we went through so much to get to where we are now, because even after all that, our love for each other overcame every obstacle. Thank you for that, for showing me that I can have true happiness despite every pain and setback I’ve faced in life. Thank you for teaching me what true love is: to see their other half happy.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Thank you for reading Taming Damian. I hope you enjoyed the conclusion to Damian and Alexis’s story. Please consider leaving a review for this book. As an indie author, reviews help other readers to discovery my works.

  My next novel, Forever Broken, is a standalone and will be release in late April 2014. The synopsis and an excerpt can be found in the following pages.

  OTHER BOOKS

  If you would like to stay informed of new releases, teasers, and news on my upcoming books, please sign up for Jessica Wood’s mailing list and visit me at my website: http://jessicawoodauthor.com.

  Below are the links to my other titles:

  Emma’s Story: Book #1: A Night to Forget

  Emma’s Story: Book #2: The Day to Remember

  Emma’s Story Box Set

  Summer Fling

  The Heartbreaker – Prequel Novella to DAMIAN

  ***

  Here is a list of my upcoming releases:

  · Forever Broken – April/May 2014 – Add on Goodreads

  · The Chase – Spring 2014 – Add to Goodreads

  · Oblivion – Spring 2014 – Add to Goodreads

  ***

  Forever Broken is my next standalone novel and will be out in late April 2014. You can add Forever Broken on Goodreads here. Here is a synopsis and an excerpt from the novel:

  Can you ever escape darkness once it has touched your soul?

  Natalie made a devastating decision three years ago that has haunted her ever since. It has been the secret she has kept from her family and friends. It has been the darkness that has shaped her life. It has been the moment that defines who she sees herself to be. And because of that decision, she believes that she is forever broken and undeserving of true happiness or love.

  Dylan is looking for a broken soul to fall in love with. He is looking for someone he can fix and heal. He believes that only by fixing someone just as broken as he is, he will be able to finally fix himself and forgive himself for a past tragedy he had put into action.

  When Natalie's and Dylan's paths collide, will Dylan be able to break through Natalie's walls and show her the love she undoubtedly deserve? And will Natalie be just the person Dylan was looking for to fix himself?

  Forever Broken – PROLOGUE EXCERPT

  (unedited and subject to change)

  “Perhaps it is our imperfections that make us so perfect for each other.” — Jane Austen

  His body glistened with sweat as he rocked inside me. My nails dug deep into the muscular hardness of his back as his body pounded violently against me. His face twisted in pleasure as uncontrollable gasps and moans escaped my lips. These scenes flashed rapidly through my closed eyelids as if I was watching spliced clips from a movie inside my mind. Almost like I was having an out-of-body experience. Almost like these memories did not just happen.

  My eyes fluttered opened. I must have dozed off for a few minutes there. The room was pitch black and there was a musty smell of sweat and sex in the air.

  I felt hot, steady breathing against my left shoulder. I slowly turned my head towards that direction and saw a guy sleeping next to me in bed. He shifted slightly, his left leg and arm wrapped around my naked body, trapping me in place. I felt suffocated by his hold on me and my mind and body screamed to escape his stronghold.

  I could hear the muffled sounds of distant chatter and a melodic dubstep mix playing somewhere outside of the room. The frat party must still be going on downstairs.

  My chest moved up and down against the weight of this guy’s arm as I sighed deeply. Why did I get myself into this situation again?

  To escape the pain, I heard a small voice respond inside me.

  But escaping the pain was short lived. Not even the empty bliss of an orgasm could keep it at bay for too long. I felt my body waking up from the pain-numbing effects of the hot, casual sex I just had with this guy that now had me pinned and trapped in his bed. I need to get out of here.

  I slowly shifted my body away from him, trying to inch myself out of his embrace without waking him.

  I failed.

  “Mmm,” he growled in a husky voice as he curled his arm around my torso and tried to pull me towards him again.

  I averted his touched and sat up on the edge of the bed.

  “Where are you going with that sexy ass of yours?” he groaned as he reached behind him and turned on the lamp on bedside table.

  I blinked. When my eyes readjusted to the light in his bedroom, I turned towards him and saw his chiseled, naked body facing me in all of its glory, showing me that he was ready again. “How about another round?” he asked as he looked up at me with a devious smile twisted on his lips. His eyes unabashedly looked back and forth between my face and my full breasts.

  As I stood up, his hand found mine and pulled me back down onto the bed. Before I could pull away and get out of the bed, he guided my hand down to his already-hard erection.

  I looked away, cringing inside at what I had just done with this stranger. “Sorry. I gotta go, John,” I said as I finally managed to pull my hand out of his grip. I got up quickly, grabbed my clothes from the couch a few feet away from the bed, and started putting them on.

  “Uh, it’s Jim,”

  “What?” I looked at him, realizing he was saying something to me. My mind was somewhere else—already somewhere outside of this room.

  “My name is Jim, not John.”

  “Oh. Right.” I gave a feigned apologetic smile as I quickly buttoned my jeans and grabbed my purse. I walked to the door of the bedroom and then stopped to look at him quickly. “Well. Uh … thanks for the sex.”

  “No, thank you,” he said huskily, “We should do it again.” He licked his lips. “Soon.”

  “Uh huh,” I l
ied. My hand eagerly reached for the door nob that would free me from facing this mistake.

  “So, can I get your number then?” he asked. I knew this question would come. It always did.

  I sighed. I opened the door and then turned around to face him.

  “J—Jim. Look. I’m not looking for any type of relationship. If I was, I probably wouldn’t have slept with you after knowing you for half an hour at a frat party.” Shame filled me as I realized how I had just slept with another man I had no feelings for.

  “Let’s call this for what it was,” I continued. “An one-night-stand. You were a great fuck, and I got my mind off some things I didn’t want to think about. And I’m pretty sure you had a great time too.”

  He smiled at me coyly, indicating his agreement.

  “But, let’s just keep it at that. Let’s not drag this out.”

  “Oh, don’t be like that,” he teased. “We can still get to know one another and have a good time.”

  “Trust me,” I said almost inaudibly as I turned away from him, “you don’t want anything to do with me.”

  Without looking back at him, I walked out into the empty hallway and closed his bedroom door behind me. Regret gripped inside me as I started my walk-of-shame procession across the hallway, down the stairs, through the almost-emptied living room of the frat house, and out the door into the cold, bitter evening darkness that welcome me with open arms.

  I wasn’t like this all the time. Actually, I haven’t been in a relationship for three years now. By choice. And yet, I don’t usually sleep around. But, when I do, something inside me seemed to go into a full-throttle mode of being reckless, throwing all caution to the wind, like an idiot who didn’t know any better.

  I knew better.

  But why was I so reckless? Why did I tell him I didn’t want to use a condom? Why did I say I was on the pill when I wasn’t? I shook my head violently as I walked the few houses over on Greek Row to my sorority house.

  You know why, Natalie, I told myself.

  I did. I knew exactly why I was reckless with a complete stranger, with one of the many frat guys on this block who slept with hundreds of girls during their college career.

  I was fucked up in the head. Empty, mindless sex was one of the few things I could do when I didn’t want to face reality. When I didn’t want to feel the pain. When I could distance myself from … well, from none other than myself—the empty shell of a person that I have become.

  My life changed over three years ago, on January 25, 2010.

  It was the day that I could never forget. It was the day that I could never escape. It was the day that I made a conscious decision that had forever scarred and shattered my soul. It was the day that had left me forever broken.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jessica Wood writes new adult contemporary romance.

  While she has lived in countless cities throughout the U.S., her heart belongs to San Francisco. To her, there’s something seductively romantic about the Golden Gate Bridge, the steep rolling hills of the city streets, the cable cars, and the Victorian-style architecture.

  Jessica loves a strong, masculine man with a witty personality. While she is headstrong and stubbornly independent, she can’t resist a man who takes control of the relationship, both outside and inside of the bedroom.

  She loves to travel internationally, and tries to plan a yearly trip abroad. She also loves to cook and bake, and—to the benefit of her friends—she loves to share. She also enjoys ceramics and being creative with her hands. She has a weakness for good (maybe bad) TV shows; she’s up-to-date on over 25 current shows, and no, that wasn’t a joke.

  And it goes without saying, she loves books—they’re like old and dear friends who have always been there to make her laugh and make her cry.

  The one thing she wished she had more of is time.

  If you would like to follow or contact Jessica Wood, you can do so through the following:

  Mailing List: http://jessicawoodauthor.com/mailing-list/

  Blog: http://jessicawoodauthor.com

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  Table of Contents

  Taming_Damian_-_Jessica_Wood_-_BN