Careless Kisses
Page 8
THE END
Also by Andrea Hurtt
Deception
Careless Kisses
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Coming Soon
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The Sealgaire Saga
A Slice Of Hell - Book One
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Prince Cove Curse
Under The Sea - Book One
About the Author
Andrea Hurtt is an emerging author of various romance categories. She enjoys writing a little bit of everything.
She’s still deciding what she wants to be when she grows up. Andrea has been a dental assistant, a stay at home mom, owned her own clothing store, was a clothing designer with a vintage inspired clothing line, Amaryllis Designs, even won Omaha Fashion Week for Top Designer in her category, and Top Boutique for Cancer Survivor Night.
Andrea currently spends her days either writing books or making #EmotionalSupportPillows and traveling around the USA and parts of Canada with the cast and fans of the CW TV show Supernatural.
She is the mother or two children, two cats, two dogs, and is a proud Army wife; currently residing in the MidWest.
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For more books and updates:
www.pieceofpiepublishing.com
www.facebook.com/andreahurttauthor
www.Twitter.com/atomicbombshel1
www.Instagram.com/AndreaHurttAuthor
Sneak Peek
Read on for an excerpt from
Andrea Hurtt’s novel
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Deception
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See what happened to Grace and Charles
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AVAILABLE NOW
Deception
“Maddie! Where’s our Maddie?” The stage manager called for the star of the show, her.
As she stepped out onto the stage, enjoying the heat from the spotlight, Maddie took over. She fell in love with the boy-next-door her father had told her she could never have. As events unfolded, Maddie learned there was so much more out in the world.
The character went in search of something dangerous, something magical, only to discover she already had everything she desired in her own front yard.
Grace gave the performance of a lifetime—as she did at every single show.
She treated each performance as if it was the most important one of her life, because she never knew when it would be.
The cast took their applause and came back for the curtain call. The noise from the crowd was deafening.
If she did a thousand shows in her life, she’d still never get used to that sound. Her heart beat with the vibrations of the clapping. She felt so alive.
Her theater company was doing a US tour of their current production, The Splendids. Their twelve-week run was almost over. They had two shows in Las Vegas, before finishing in Los Angeles.
She was so done with Vegas. Grace had stumbled during their last show. Disappointed with herself for her screw up, she didn’t want to go out with the cast at the end of the night to meet fans.
She headed back to the hotel, where she could be alone.
Grace plopped down on the middle of the bed she shared with Maxine, one of the contortionists, fighting with tears she didn’t want to shed.
A bag of Reese’s Pieces, her comfort food, was staring at her from on top of her suitcase, like it knew she needed to cheer herself up. She sprung up to get the sugary sweetness.
She curled up on the floor, resting her back against the foot of the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest.
A knock on the door jarred her out of her head. The sense of passing time eluded her, but the bag of candy resting between her ankles was almost empty.
Grace looked at the door. Who could that be? None of the girls she shared with ever knocked. “Yes?” She called from the floor, not wanting to move.
“Grace? Are you all right?” The voice was muffled through the door, but it was Charles, her handsome, yet young, costar.
Over the past five months, they’d gotten to be close friends. She had to kiss him twice a day during productions, but that hadn’t changed their friendship.
“Hold on,” Grace called, doing her best not to spill the last of her candy, as she stood. She failed, and little hard shells tumbled around. She jumped over them. At least she hadn’t crushed them into the carpet. She took a deep breath, letting it out in a huff before she opened the door.
Charles stared, his brown eyes intense, his shoulders pulled back in arrogance. “Really, Gracie? You’re gonna hang out in your room and pout because you tripped? It happens. No one can be graceful all the time.”
She laughed with her friend, tension loosening in her shoulders. He knew, better than anyone, how ungraceful she was.
The only time she pulled off the illusion was when she was on stage.
“Yes, I’m gonna pout. But you might as well come pout with me. You screwed up too.”
He stepped into the room, but didn’t see the spilled Reese’s on the floor. Crunch crunch under the soles of his boots had Grace whirling around.
She shoved him out of the way. “Stop! You’re ruining my candy!” She squatted down to scoop up the salvageable pieces, popping some of them into her mouth.
“Ick! Grace! That’s wrong! It’s been on the floor.”
“It’s Reese’s. The five-second rule applies.”
“I think it's been over five-seconds.”
“I don’t care.” Grace jumped on the bed and grinned.
Charles sat on the edge of the mattress, putting his hand on her knee. “So, back to what you said a second ago, about me screwing up. What the hell? I am always perfect.”
“My ass! You laughed when I tripped. It was so out of character. Louis would’ve run to Maddie’s side. Not laughed at her!”
As hard as she tried to be mad, he was right.
It was silly of her to beat herself up over it. A misplaced cord had caused her to trip, not something she’d done.
“Well, if I screw up next week, which I am sure will, you’re allowed to laugh at me. Fair enough?” His expression said he was serious.
“Why do you think you’ll mess up next week? As you said, you’re perfect.”
Charles wasn’t perfect. He was very much a screwball when not performing. Their rehearsals were always so much fun because he messed around half the time. However, much like Grace; they let everything else go and allowed their characters to take over when they went on stage.
“My brother and some of his buddies are gonna be there.”
“So?” she asked.
“So, I’ve always looked up to him. Like any little brother, all I’ve ever wanted was for him to be proud of me. This is my chance to show him what I’ve become, so I’m sure I’ll screw it up.” He smiled and patted her knee again before he ran that hand through his tousled blond hair. “I don’t know which show he’s coming to. He’s busy, or so he says. But he guaranteed me he’d be at Saturday’s Benefit Masquerade.”
“Will you introduce me? I’d love to meet him.”
“I guess. He’s closer to your age. It still surprises me they got an old lady to play a teenager,” he teased about their eight-year age difference.
“Old lady! Who’re you calling an old lady?”
“You, of course.”
She shoved at him, playfully, but hard, sending him crashing to the floor.
He landed with a great humph, followed by laughter.
Grace peered over the side of the bed.
He was still sitting on the floor. “Yeah, you and my brother will get along just fine. He likes to beat on me, too.” Charles crawled back to the bed. “Everyone loves my brother.” He sounded almost…sad. “Well, have a good one. I’d better go.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. See ya in the morning, Graceless,” he called, and the door shut behind him.