by Cecy Robson
Praise for Cecy Robson
“Eternal is a heartfelt and beautiful love story of two wounded hearts who find each other when and where they least expect it.” –USA Today, HEA
“This is, hands down, one of my favorite books of 2016 thus far… Inseverable, the first book in the upcoming Carolina Beach series, is FUNNY, like really funny. Heartfelt and sweet and goofy and just plain amazing.” –Top Pick, The Romance Reviews
“Just when I think I can’t love Cecy Robson more, she comes along with a book like Eternal, a sweet and sexy love story that’s verily bursting with good feels.” –Panda and Boodle
“Robson builds a sweet and lightly dramatic romance that deals with love, hope, and forgiveness. Well plotted with an array of personable and defined characters. Smooth flowing conversational dialogue engulfs you and draws you right into the middle of their lives.” –Smexy Books
“Absolutely stunning! This book was a wonderful love story. So expertly written and so beautifully done.” – Kimmie Sue’s Book Review
“Unforgettable! Callahan and Trinity will tug at your heart strings and keep you turning the pages. Inseverable is a great love story that will leave you smiling and in tears." –USA Today bestselling author, Jamie K. Schmidt
“Oh swoon, I quickly fell in love with this adorable couple and have discovered a new favorite author to stalk. This was my first experience reading the delightful work of Cecy Robson and am as giddy as a schoolgirl to report that I have stumbled upon treasure – and have since marked the loot with a big X on my Goodreads map.” –Books and Bindings
“2016 Editor’s Choice Winner…The emotion is so well grounded and layered, the characters rich and believable, the conflict complex with just the right amount of hopelessness. Inseverable is a beautiful romance and a story worth dedicating a weekend to.” –Grave Tells Romance
“Eternal by Cecy Robson is a fast paced sizzling hot story of insta-attraction. Even with all the sexiness there was equal parts of sweetness as well.” –Lampshade Reader
“This is just the start of a new series by Ms. Robson, and already a favorite. I can't wait for more.”
– 5 stars, Give Me Books
“[Eternal was] a straight forward, make you feel good, warm your heart kind of romance. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is my first book by this author and I cannot wait to discover more of her books in the future.” – Once Upon a Book Blog
“Call this Rom-Com on Steroids-This story has teeth and it leaves little love bites” –Addicted to Happily Ever After
“I would recommend Eternal by Cecy Robson, if you enjoy second chance romances or books by authors Melanie Harlow, Jen Frederick, Cora Brent and Scarlett Cole.” – Book Magic, Under a Spell with Every Page
“Equal parts sexy and funny! Cecy Robson's new book had me swooning and laughing out loud! A perfect beach read!” –USA Today Bestselling Author Annie Rains
“I am a HUGE Cecy Robson fan. I have adored everything I have read by her, so I knew this would be fantastic…I wasn’t disappointed. Landon and Luci are flirty and sexy and both have such good hearts. You can’t help but root for their HEA.” –Two Girls With Books
“Absolutely loved this story! ... A great start to a new series - I'm looking forward to getting books on the rest of Trinity's friends. I see great things for all of them!” –Sizzling Pages Romance Reviews
"I wanted to hug this book... All the feels Robson gave me as I devoured Inseverable provided that book high I am constantly craving." –Caffeinated Book Reviewer
"A sexy, sweet, heart-rending story. Cecy Robson pushed every single one of my reader buttons. Loved this book!" –Kate Meader, Author of Playing with Fire
“This was my first Cecy Robson read, and it will absolutely not be my last. From the minute I picked up this book, I knew I wouldn’t be able to put it down. Inseverable is definitely going on my list of memorable books that I can’t wait to reread.” –Reviews From the Heart
"Already [Cecy] Robson was becoming one of my favorite authors but Inseverable sealed the deal. Inseverable shows Robson's different writing style and I couldn't get enough of this new setting and the new characters that were introduced." –Lush Book Reviews
By Cecy Robson
The Shattered Past Series
Once Perfect
Once Loved
Once Pure
The O’Brien Family Novels
Once Kissed
Let Me
Crave Me
Feel Me
Save Me
The Carolina Beach Novels
Inseverable
Eternal
Infinite
The Weird Girls Series
Gone Hunting (Coming soon)
A Curse Awakened: A Novella
The Weird Girls: A Novella
Sealed with a Curse
A Cursed Embrace
Of Flame and Promise
A Cursed Moon: A Novella
Cursed by Destiny
A Cursed Bloodline
A Curse Unbroken
Of Flame and Light
Of Flame and Fate
Of Flame and Fury (coming soon)
APPS
Find Cecy on the Hooked – Chat Stories App writing as Rosalina San Tiago
Coming soon: Crazy Maple’s Chapters: Interactive Stories App: The Shattered Past and Weird Girls series
INFINITE
A Carolina Beach Novel
Cecy Robson
Infinite is purely a work of fiction. Names, places, and occurrences are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Cecy Robson
Cover design © Kristin Clifton, Sweet Bird Designs
Edited by Nicole Resciniti, copyedits by Valerie Secker
Formatting by BippityBoppityBook.com
Excerpts from Inseverable, and Eternal by Cecy Robson copyright © 2016 and 2017 by Cecy Robson.
All rights reserved.
This book contains excerpts from Inseverable and Eternal, the first two novels in the Carolina Beach novels. The excerpts have been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the final novels.
Published in the United States by Cecy Robson, LLC.
Amazon Stock: B07DHB4V3D
eBook ISBN: 978-1-947330-06-1
Praise for Cecy Robson
By Cecy Robson
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Excerpt of Inseverable
Excerpt of Eternal
Cecy Robson
Dedication
To all the Beccas and Hales of the world who found families to call their own.
Acknowledgements
For years I’ve seen beautiful dedications filled with love, devotion, and admiration from children to their parents. There are aisles filled with cards in stores proclaiming as much and beautiful memes from the heart circulating social media. I’m happy for children who have the t
ype of upbringing and parents to justify their hero worship and their gratitude. This novel is written to include those who don’t. Those who have known pain instead of compassion and whose recollection of childhood is better left forgotten. Sometimes in life it’s best to leave the past where it is and to move forward. Infinite is for those moving forward. You can find a better life. You can make your own family, be it with friends or partners who love you. You can be happy. It’s what I most wish for you.
To Nic, my agent and family, who always supports me with an open heart and gentle honesty.
To Jamie, my husband and friend who taught me patience and what it is to truly love someone. Thank you for our babies, our home, and for your simply being you.
To our children, L, L, and M. My babies, my biggest honor has been being your mother. I thank God that He blessed me with you.
To Amanda, Beth, and Mary Kate. Our texts get me through day, lift my spirits, and yeah, make me guffaw. I think ‘make you an avatar day’ was my personal favorite. I’ll always be there for you.
To my assistant and friend Kim who takes care of everything. Thank you for understanding me, and for always searching for ways to help me succeed.
To Kristin, my artist and friend, your patience is admirable, but your work and creativity is inspiring. Thank you for putting up with all my, “How about we do this,” moments and my sad attempts at artwork.
To Valerie and Gaele for making my work shine. Your attention to detail never ceases to impress this woman who is so easily distracted. Oh, look, a squirrel.
Lastly, to my fans. Not because you deserve to be last. You’ve stood by me and obsessed over my characters and stories almost as much as I have. Almost. The emails you send me praising my work, discussing my characters, and asking for more keep me going. Thank you! I love our interactions on social media. Keep the fun conversations coming! You have my heart.
Chapter One
Becca
I look through the rear window of Hale’s Tahoe as he pulls away from the house. The window is tinted and I can’t see worth a damn. I wish I could. That’s my heart back there. I look up at Hale.
Well, at least half my heart . . .
The headlights from an approaching car illuminate the planes of his strong features. This is a man I first met when he was a boy. It was first grade and our teacher, Mrs. Newsom, sat him behind me. I pretended not to notice him. But how could anyone miss that blond hair and eyes so filled with mischief they sparkled like diamonds cast along the sand?
Hale was new to our prep school, his family finally making the money it took to pay for the absurdly expensive tuition. He should’ve been shy and intimidated to join the ranks of the so-called elite. But even then, Hale was fearless.
He tugged on my ponytail almost the moment he sat. This boy didn’t know me and had no right touching the hair Nana June had painstakingly brushed to a silky shine. I remember turning around just to glare at him, until I caught his grin. At the time, I thought it mirrored a boy clearly up to no good. I failed to see his innocence. My, oh, my. It was so pure, he could’ve sprouted a halo. Except, as he grew into the young man sitting beside me, that grin grew with him, transforming into naughty enough to set a nun’s panties aflame. Did I return that grin, way back then? Yes’m, I most certainly did.
The boy I first smiled at grew up long before either of us were ready, all the while hanging tight to the other half of my heart.
I’m not smiling now and neither is he. Tonight was all about a goodbye that’s been coming for too many years, despite our attempts to wish it away.
We’re no longer children. We’re college grads, taking that massive leap into the workforce and leaving the carefree life that comes with youth far behind.
I give another glance back. Even with the street lights, I don’t catch more than the looming shadows of the palmettos. “Do you think Trin is all right?” I ask.
“Nope,” he replies.
Hale sighs when I reach into the pocket of my jacket and pull out my phone, cupping my hand and lowering it until it skims just above the gray leather seat. His touch is gentle, kind, and one of too many reasons he’s stolen my heart.
The warmth of his skin and those eyes that see all make me feel everything I’m not supposed to. I don’t know when I fell in love with Hale. Maybe I’ve always loved him.
It only seems right I should finally tell him.
“Don’t, sugar,” he tells me when my thumb slides over the screen of my phone. His voice is set with worry and sadness as palpable as rain beating down during the harshest summer storms. “Trin and Callahan have to work their shit out on their own.”
The harsh sting of tears spreads across my pale green eyes. It’s not the first time I’ve cried tonight. The first was mercifully in Hale’s arms, during an acoustic version of No Retreat, No Surrender. Our tight group of friends sang it as we sat around the fire pit at Callahan’s place. I’d picked the song. It summed up our group and misadventures perfectly. I was right, and because of it, we all seemed to fall apart.
We’re starting our new lives. Me, in Charlotte working PR for Carolina’s football team, and Hale in New York, working on Wall Street. The song we sang was our final farewell to our reckless youth. We all knew it. It’s the reason only one of us made it to the last lyric.
“Don’t cry, sweet thing,” he murmurs, his thick Southern accent as soothing as the taste of warm honey. “You know I can’t take it when you cry.”
He slips his arm around me, just as he did in front of the fire pit when the last string of the guitar was plucked and silence descended upon us like the weight of a thousand deaths.
The window is cracked, allowing the last bits of summer and the scent of salt and sea to drift in and join our memories. The smell of the ocean is among the finest in the world, second only to Hale’s masculine fusion of musk intertwined with the lush foliage pushing through the clay-sand composition that makes up Kiawah. Hale’s scent is the closest thing to heaven on earth. I know it now. Maybe I always have.
My head falls against his shoulder. I clutch him like I did around the fire pit, afraid to let go. “Where are we going?” I ask, my barely there words not quite enough to mask my Southern twang.
“To Sean’s.” He pauses when I adjust my body so it rests against the collection of muscle stretching across his wide chest. “He’s your ride home, remember?”
“I don’t want Sean to take me home,” I say. My gaze fixes on the navigation screen of his SUV, each syllable I manage huskier than I intend. “I want you to take me home.”
Those muscles holding me tense, loosening slowly until his grip on the steering wheel relaxes and the fingers of his opposite hand trail lazily down my arm. “I don’t think your daddy will like that,” he bites out, somehow keeping his voice soft despite the tang of bitterness drifting so close to the surface.
“I don’t care,” I reply. I don’t flinch, though I should. I may be a grown woman of twenty-two, but Daddy still gives me plenty to flinch about. The harsh criticism he has for Hale and his family more than prove his remarks are as heavy handed as his strikes.
I glance up. “Will you take me home? Please?”
“It’d be my honor,” he replies.
My father has never scared Hale, even long before Hale passed Daddy in height. It’s a rare feat seeing how scary my father can be. I’m not brave like Hale is. Not when it comes to Daddy. But Hale’s lack of fear scares me plenty enough for both of us.
I cuddle closer to Hale, the smooth blacktop road that leads to the other side of the island a gentle hum along the thread of the powerful tires. It’s like a lullaby in a way. Not that I’m not ready to sleep. My hand slides across Hale’s rock-hard abs to grip his hip. Tonight, I want a goodbye that means more than a hug between lifelong friends.
Hale stiffens. It’s brief, long enough to make me question whether he wants me, but not so long that my insecurities surface and force me to withdraw.
Throughout my young life, I’ve turned heads and garnered more attention than I’ve wanted or deserved. I’m not as confident as I come across. I’ve been hurt and weakened by those who should love me most, and while those scars have toughened my hide, they’ve never quite healed.
I think Hale senses the fear my memories stir. It’s just like him. He presses a kiss to the top of my head, giving me the green light to stay in place and wonder a little more where our time alone may lead.
I haven’t prayed much since Nana June died. I do now. When it comes to Hale, I want more than a superficial farewell stuffed with an obliged promise to keep in touch. I want him. Every time we’ve been alone this summer, the air between us has thickened to tar. Too many words were left unsaid, as well as too many sexy thoughts better shared beneath cool sheets.
“You sure about this, Becks?” Hale asks, his voice like rust flaking off an old steel pipe.
I’m so mesmerized by the rhythmic thuds of Hale’s heart against my ear, I almost don’t hear him, nor do I initially realize how fast I’m breathing. He shouldn’t know how badly I want him inside me, not when I’ve spent a lifetime telling him we can never be more than friends.
“Very sure.”
I don’t know how he hears me. I barely hear myself.
“All right then,” he answers.
I sit up as he rounds the bend that leads to the colossal house my granddaddy built. Granddaddy had a lot of money, but it doesn’t come close to the fortune my father accumulated.
“Not here,” I say, clasping his shoulder when he draws closer to the house. “Pull into the service road.”