Damian

by Jessica Wood

  I met his gaze, and for the first time in my life, I was speechless.

  “Say something.” He studied me, trying to figure out what I was thinking.

  “I can’t believe you planned all this,” I finally said. I flung my arms around him and kissed him with desperate abandonment.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Damian

  A CRISP EVENING BREEZE BLEW through the reception area, causing the loose strands of Alexis’s hair to dance in the wind as Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” resonated through the speakers. There was a sense of magic in the air as we sat under a sky of string lights that covered every inch of the large canopy tent ceiling. I watched the soft lights illuminating against Alexis’s face, making her look so unbelievably beautiful, it took my breath away.

  I watched her as she watched Brandon and Emma dancing to their first dance as husband and wife. I saw the twinkle in her eyes, and there was that special look in her eyes that I had become so addicted to—the look of amazement, love, and warmth that I had come to live for. It was the same look she gave me, like I was some amazing person she could depend on, like I was someone she would never let go of, like I was the one she has been waiting for all her life.

  I put my arms around her and pulled her closer towards me. She turned to look up at me and grinned widely. There were tears in her eyes.

  “Hi,” she whispered softly as she gently rubbed her hand across my back.

  “Hey, why are you crying?” I whispered back.

  “No, they’re just happy tears,” she reassured. “I always cry at weddings. I just can’t help it.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “I don’t know. I guess because it’s such a special moment between two people at one of the most important moments in their lives. And this is when we get to celebrate their love and celebrate the fact that they were able to find each other.”

  God, she’s so beautiful, inside and out.

  “You’re amazing, Alex. I never thought I could ever feel this way—I never thought such a feeling existed until now.”

  “What feeling is that?”

  “It can’t be described by words—but it’s a warm feeling that fills my entire body and my entire being. It’s like this flood of ecstasy that I’ve never felt before. And I can’t believe I’m going to say this—because I never thought I’d say such a thing—but this feel is better than sex. The way you make me feel by being with me feels better than sex.”

  I was surprised by my own admission because I knew it was true and I knew that I had meant every word of it.

  I pulled her face towards me and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “What did I do to deserve you?” I whispered.

  “You taught me how to eat sushi.” She giggled through her tears.

  I chuckled. “You’re now a chopstick-using, sushi-eating pro.”

  “Watch out, Japan. I’m visiting you next,” she teased.

  “I hope you’ll decide to bring your ridiculously-handsome boyfriend along with you to Japan,” I said.

  She rolled her eyes and laughed. “You know what your middle name is?"

  “Fun?” I asked as I thought back to the conversation we had on our first sushi night.

  “Nope.”

  “Perfect?”

  “Wrong!” She laughed.

  “Hey! Easy there. You’re hurting my ego,” I joked. “So I give up. What is it?”

  “Cocky. Cocky is your middle name,” she said, barely holding back her laughter.

  “God, you’re so fucking feisty! I love that about you.”

  “I know,” she said with a smile.

  “Now who’s cocky now?”

  “Well, I learn from the best,” she shot back.

  I laughed. I looked into her beautiful hazel eyes and realized that I’d never been this deliriously happy about life before I met this girl.

  I pulled her hands into mine and smiled at her. “I love you, Alex. You feel inevitable to me.” It wasn’t a line, it wasn’t a lie. I meant every word of it. And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t scared.

  Her eyes glittered with intense emotion as she looked up at me, her hands were warm and soft between my hands.

  “Really?” she looked at me, surprised by my declaration.

  I was also surprised by my own omission. “Yeah, I know. News to me too.”

  “Since when?”

  “Hmm, you know what? Truth is, I think from the first time I saw you on the staircase that day when you moved in. Somehow you were different, and a part of me just knew I would never be the same again.”

  “I love you too, Damian.” Her words radiated through me like a warm ray of sunshine and I was unable to stop smiling. I loved the way I looked through her eyes, because she saw me in a way that no one else did, like I was someone special, like I was someone worth investing time into.

  Alexis rubbed the back of my neck with her hands and I felt my body respond to her touch. When the song ended, Alexis got up from her seat and leaned down towards me to whisper, “Hey, I’m going to the restroom. Keep my seat warm for me, okay?”

  “You got it, babe,” I whispered back. She kissed me gently and beamed at me when she pulled away. The sparkle in her eyes as she looked at me made my knees weak.

  As I watched her walk out of the tent-covered reception area and disappear into the villa, the father of the groom got up to make a toast. Before he began talking, a cell phone close by started to ring. The ringtone sounded familiar and I realized the sound was coming out of Alexis’s bag. I grabbed her bag and dug through it to find her phone. Right when I grabbed it, the call went to voicemail. But before the caller ID disappeared, I thought the name that popped up on the screen sounded familiar. Who’s Chris?

  As I was about to drop her phone back into her bag, an incoming text message from the same Chris came in. My whole body froze and I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me when I read what the text said.

  Hey hun, did you get the results yet? You know I’ll support you no matter what.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  The exciting conclusion to Damian’s story, Taming Damian, which is part two of the two-part series The Heartbreaker, is scheduled to be released in early 2014. If you would like to stay informed of the release date, as well as other releases, teasers, and news on my upcoming books, please sign up for Jessica Wood’s mailing list.

  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.

  If you enjoyed reading Damian, I would love it if you could help others enjoy this novel as well by recommending and/or reviewing this novel.

  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

  ***

  My upcoming novel, Forever Broken, will be out in January 2014. Below is a synopsis:

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

  Natalie made a devastating decision five 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?

  Will Emma and Bran
don's love be strong enough to withstand the external factors that seem to pull them apart, or will Emma's dream man be nothing but just that--a dream?

  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:

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