There You Stand

by Christina Lee

  He murmured my name and told me that he loved me.

  We pulled apart and Jude laid his head against my shoulder as a light mist of rain coated our skin. We stayed that way—our fingers interlaced—leaning, shifting, breathing, until we collected ourselves.

  We went inside and silently began gathering our belongings, both of us having the exact same idea. To get home and resume living. This time, more freely.

  I reached for him and held his face in my hands.

  “So what now?” he said, his breath heavy, his eyes dreamy.

  “I’m not sure,” I murmured, kissing his ear. “We’ll figure it out.”

  His voice was cautious, momentarily uncertain. “Together?”

  I breathed against his hair. “Together. Always together.”

  My lips trailed down his throat. “Just like this.”

  I felt him shiver against me.

  “And this.” I placed his hand on my pounding heart and held it there, letting him feel what he did to me, what he meant to me.

  “And this.” My thumb skimmed over his bottom lip, right before he pulled my mouth to his, his tongue plunging and tasting, kissing me senseless.

  “Let’s go home,” he whispered against my lips.

  “Where’s home?” I asked, hoping this meant we no longer needed to be apart.

  He stared into my eyes. “Anyplace you are.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  To my agent, Sara Megibow—for being such a champion of this book and genre. Could I have anybody better in my corner? Thank you for everything.

  To my Penguin team—the art department for my amazing covers and the publicity team for your keen ideas and professionalism. To my copy editors, who are like unsung heroes, and Laura Fazio, whose edits always rock my world. Thanks for all that you do to push me to be a better writer.

  To my family and friends for your constant, unwavering support. I love you.

  To Greg and Evan, for not complaining when I have to disappear to work through a scene or meet a deadline. I don’t want to be in any other place in the world except right next to you, every single night.

  To my critique partners and betas: Thank you for dropping everything to read for me and then giving me crucial feedback.

  To Stina and Kate: I know our writer lives have become much more hectic, but you continue to be my sounding board. Thank you.

  To the book bloggers and reviewers out there—there are too many of you to list here. Please just know I appreciate all that you do for the simple love of books. Because when it comes down to it, all of us are readers first and foremost.

  Last, to the readers: Thank you for taking a chance on my books and reaching out to talk to me about them. For an author, there may be no better feeling.

  Read on for a sneak peek at Christina Lee’s first foray into Contemporary Romance

  TWO OF HEARTS

  Coming May 2015

  Shane

  Pulling into the Golden Arrow Casino parking lot was surreal in many ways. The place was so familiar and the long route I’d taken down the dirt road had felt almost automatic. I avoided the row where the employees parked and found a space on the patron level. Everything looked the same.

  Apparently West had young kids under his charge at the garage—either that, or I was getting older. The boy who took my ticket looked to be about sixteen, with shiny black hair and a laid-back attitude. Man, those were the carefree days. Beer and school and bonfires. Nowadays, I threw back a cold one only after a long and crappy day to settle my nerves.

  Taking the elevator to the second floor, I stepped into the ornate lobby. My gaze immediately darted to the awe-inspiring frescoed ceiling and the giant chandelier that centered the entire room. I was greeted with nods and shoulder pats by a couple different employees I’d already seen at the funeral and noticed that Marcus was sill managing concierge and hospitality. He was busy with a line of customers.

  It always felt good being here, almost like it was a second home. I didn’t know if that was because I’d worked here for so many years or because of the person who anchored me to this place. Dakota. There had always been an atmosphere of acceptance here, but now the faces I saw looked tense, troubled even. I needed to get to the bottom of it. If I left here without figuring out what was causing this place to stir, it would never sit well with me.

  I moved down the long hallway, heading straight for the security desk and avoiding the curious looks that I received from the employees at the gift shop.

  When Grayson, one of the chief security personnel, recognized me, a huge grin split his face. “Shane, you’re home.”

  Those words produced a funny feeling in my gut, even though I’d just had a similar thought. “I guess you can say that. Just came to see what was happening around here.”

  “You’ve bulked up,” Grayson said, crossing his strapping arms across his chest. I never used to be able hold a candle to his physique. “That fancy job treating you well?”

  “It keeps me on my toes,” I said, smiling. “How about you—been on your toes around here lately?”

  A serious look crept across his features as he glanced around the place, his eyes roaming to make a quick security sweep. A few slot machines and card tables were occupied, but it was still considered early in the day. Grayson’s job would be more challenging when this place became packed.

  He turned toward me and nodded. He didn’t have to say much to make me understand that he was thinking about Mr. Nakos. I knew I couldn’t ask him confidential questions but was hoping he’d somehow still keep me in the loop.

  “A tragedy, what happened to the boss man. Some days I still can’t believe he’s gone.” He looked toward his office door located on the far wall, near the high-roller tables. “Still think he’s going to step out onto the floor and do his usual scan of the place. He was such a strong authority around here. The staff definitely feels the hole.”

  I, too, could still feel his presence in the casino. How he was larger than life, but a softie with his wife. He was hard on his kids, especially Kai, who might’ve deserved it in those years before he’d graduated from college.

  “How do you like the new boss lady?” I said, knowing from experience that’s what she’d be called behind her back.

  “She’s just as tough as him,” he said with a smirk. “Most of the staff accepts her. She’s familiar, and I think she’ll do a good job.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  I suddenly wanted to ask what else he knew about her. Was she dating anyone new or was she just as driven as before, barely allowing room for anybody in her life?

  I thought of our stolen moments that one summer when we had finally given in to our desires. The first time I had gotten a taste of her was after a field party behind my parent’s house. Everyone had gone home, including Rachel and Kai, and she had been too tipsy to drive. I offered her my bed and she had lain down mumbling my name, blurting all kinds of things she wouldn’t normally say had she not been drinking.

  “Shane, please. I know you’re trying to hold back. But I want . . .” she had said, reaching out for me. That’s when I knew she’d been feeling it, too, wanted me just as badly. Leaning over my bed to tuck her into my sheets, her fingers curled around my neck and her mouth lifted up to taste mine. She had made the initial move and fuck, I had practically come out of my skin. I had been waiting for that first kiss since I was fifteen.

  I sat down on the bed and tunneled my hands through her dark and silky hair. I remembered how she smelled like grass and how she had tasted like sweet wine.

  I lay down next to her and we made out for what seemed like hours. Slipping my tongue inside her mouth, I became accustomed to her noises and how her warm, soft body had felt next to mine. Damn, just thinking about that night from all those years ago would make me hard as hell, and all we had done was kiss.

  “Is she using her father’s office?” I asked.

  He nodded as Meadow from housekeeping walked by and gave a little
wave in our direction.

  “I still recognize a lot of faces,” I said to Grayson as his eyes trained briefly on Meadow’s moving form. Loads of the guys had been into her over the years.

  “Plenty of us love working here and want to stay. But with Mr. Nakos’s death, some employees feel unsettled and wonder if their jobs are secure,” he said, lowering his voice. “They’re wondering if they should look elsewhere for work. But it’s not my place to speak for them.”

  The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I nodded. Grayson and I had worked closely together and shared plenty of things, so him confiding in me like old times didn’t surprise me. His father was Native American and had worked for the tribal nation police force, so our dads were similar in a lot of ways.

  I needed to talk to Stuart and Dakota to get the gist about what the hell was happening. This sounded like more than a few employees trying to get used to change.

  After I shook Grayson’s hand, I progressed across the floor past the roulette, craps, and blackjack pits looking for Stuart. I still hadn’t spotted him anywhere. I considered entering the employee locker room, but I no longer had the clearance to do so. Instead, I continued on to Mr. Nakos’s former office door, tipping my chin at one of the blackjack dealers named Sam. I knocked steadily, my heart repeating the action in my chest.

  “Come in,” she said, her voice steady and confident.

  Mr. Nakos’s office looked exactly the same, and seeing Dakota sitting behind his large oak desk produced a stab of grief that things had definitely changed. I closed the door behind me and stood staring at her for a long beat.

  As usual, she was dressed professionally with her straight skirt and a designer blouse unbuttoned to the top of her breasts. Her hair was pulled up and lay atop her head in a bun, her beautiful tan neck on full display. Fuck, how long would this girl own me?

  “Shane,” she said and then swallowed as if to get hold of the slight tremble in her voice. And that’s how I knew she was still affected by me after all of these years as well.

  Suddenly I wanted to ask her why she let me go so easily. Why she put up her solid wall to shut me out and made me feel like I hadn’t meant as much to her as I thought I did. I wanted to finish the messy business between us once and for all.

  I stalked closer to her and she inhaled sharply. But then she seemed to pull herself together and the mask came crashing down, the one she wore so easily. The one that frustrated me to no end. “Why are you here?”

  I gritted my teeth. “I’m visiting the casino. Seeing old friends.”

  “It’s not like you haven’t been home before,” she said.

  “I want to know what’s going on around here,” I said, looking at Mr. Nakos’s nameplate, which was still noticeable on the desk. “Why it feels like there’s this tension, from the employees, you, Stuart, and Kai. I want to know the truth, Dee.”

  She shook her head nearly imperceptibly and then licked her lips, but it caused me to focus in on her plump, red mouth. “Don’t you have a plane to catch?”

  “Don’t do that,” I bit out. “Don’t dismiss me so easily.”

  “Me?” she said, snubbing her nose at me. “You’re pretty good at dismissal yourself.”

  Her words fanned the flames sparking inside me and I strode toward her desk, planting my palms firmly across it. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Nothing,” she whispered. “Let’s not do this. Let’s leave whatever it is we thought we had in the past. If it was anything.”

  That made me want to pull her over the desk and show her exactly why we weren’t done. Instead, I stepped around the desk, spun the arms of her chair toward me and stood over her, narrowing the slice of air between us. The scent of her hair wafted up my nose. Fuck, it smelled so good.

  “If it was anything? What the hell, Dakota?” My face inched toward hers and she bent her head back, forced to look me in the eye. “Of course it was something.”

  “Shane,” she began, but I wouldn’t allow her to speak. She’d only cover her feelings with more excuses.

  “You’re still so goddamn gorgeous,” I said. Her eyes widened and held mine. “I always thought about those lips and eyes. How your body felt moving against mine.”

  “Shane—” she said swallowing with some effort. She kept me roped with only the softness of her voice.

  “So don’t tell me that it wasn’t something,” I said, tilting my head and looming over her. “At one time, it was everything.”

  She closed her eyes on a sharp breath, looking soft and vulnerable.

  Because I couldn’t help myself, my fingers left her chair and glided up her arms to her neck. Her breaths released from her lips in short pants and I considered touching my mouth to hers.

  Would she let me? Would she want me to?

  “Yes,” she whispered, the heat of her breaths warming the tiny sliver of air still lingering between us. “But that’s in the past. We had our chance and I . . . I got over you. So let’s leave it there.”

  My stomach completely flipped over. “You got over me?”

  I studied her lips edge to edge, and they trembled in response. She was so not over me.

  I didn’t know what the hell was driving me. I just knew I didn’t like hearing those words. Not one damn bit.

  “You got over me?” I growled as my fingers gripped the nape of her neck.

  My lips brushed the line of her jaw and she shivered.

  “Shane, don’t. Please,” she mumbled, her hands at my chest. “You’ll just leave again and I can’t . . . I can’t . . .”

  She sounded so helpless and sad. For the first time she was allowing me to see exactly what she might have been feeling, might’ve gone through five years ago. She sounded wrecked—as wrecked as I had been.

  My lips trailed to her ear. “Angel.”

  There was a sharp rap on her door. She stiffened, grasped a fistful of my shirt and then pushed me away. The veil came crashing back down and I lost her again.

  She stood up and now we were nose to nose, breathing heavily.

  Another knock at the door. “I need you to go.”

  She stared into my eyes and I felt shattered.

  “Come in,” she said.

  Stuart entered the room. “Shane, you’re here,” he said, ignoring my close proximity to Dakota. His eyes fixed on her before he said, “Did you fill him in?”

  “I’m sure that’s not necessary,” she said, skirting around me. “Shane has a life to get back to.”

  Christina Lee is also the author of the Between Breaths novels including All of You, Before You Break, Whisper to Me, and Promise Me This. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and son—her two favorite guys. She believes in true love and kissing so writing romance has become a dream job. She also owns her own jewelry business, where she hand-stamps meaningful words or letters onto silver for her customers.

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