Until I Break

by M. Leighton

  “No, I’m the lucky one. I didn’t have much of a life before she came along. The least I can do is make one day perfect for her.”

  “According to her, you make every day perfect for her.”

  I hold back the smile that twitches at my lips. It makes me feel like a sappy kid, but hearing that makes me happier than I care to admit.

  “So she talks about me a lot, huh?”

  “Ugh! All the time. I get so sick of hearing about Perfect Alec this and Perfect Alec that. ‘Perfect Alec saved my life’.”

  That gives me pause. “Did she say that?”

  “She says that all the time. Why?”

  This time I do smile. I can’t help it. “Just curious.”

  “But why? Why are you curious?”

  “I just wonder if she knows she saved mine, too.”

  Chris wrinkles her nose and winks at me. “I think she has a clue.”

  I think back to the wild morning we had before I came in to town today, the wild morning followed by twenty minutes of kissing afterward.

  “I was dead before I met you and I’ll be dead again if you ever leave me,” I told Samantha.

  She leaned up on one elbow and tilted her head to one side, considering me. “You don’t have to worry about that. This is safe with me,” she said, kissing the left side of my chest, right over my heart.

  Now, with Chris, I smile again. “Yeah, I think she has a clue.”

  ********

  EPILOGUE PART TWO- Samantha

  Four months later

  All the lights are off when I unlock Alec’s front door. I pause just inside, listening. Not a sound.

  “Hello?” I call out to the empty room as I remove the key and close the door behind me. Alec told me to meet him here at nine. It’s nine. And I’m here. And there’s no Alec.

  Dropping my purse at the foot of the stairs, I make my way through the living room and kitchen. Still, I find no evidence of Alec. I crack open the garage door and see both the Mercedes and the Range Rover parked there. He’s definitely here. Somewhere.

  Closing the garage door, I make my way toward the stairs, ascending first one level then another as I head for the master bedroom. When I reach the landing, I see the pale flicker of light. My stomach twitches in response.

  Alec has been pretty busy with work and…whatever other stuff he’s been so preoccupied with lately, that I haven’t seen him as much as usual. And my body is reminding me how much I miss him.

  My heart already knew that.

  “Hello?” I call again. Still nothing, but I continue on into the bedroom.

  I look around the empty room. There are no candles lit that I can see, only the soft glow of the fireplace. That must’ve been the light I saw.

  “Stop,” comes Alec’s deep, velvety voice. I jump in surprise, whirling to search him out. I see only his silhouette in front of the balcony doors, outlined by the moon at his back. He’s so quiet and still, I didn’t even see him.

  I start toward him, but he stops me.

  “Stay where you are. Close your eyes,” he commands.

  With an excited smile trembling at my lips, I do as he asks. Anticipation curls in my stomach as I listen for his movements. I can barely hear him approach, but I can certainly feel it when he nears me. He disturbs the air around me in a way that no one else does. Like there’s electricity moving between us, a constant arc of attraction that never dissipates.

  The brush of his lips against mine is like heaven. Although I saw him for a moment just this morning, it’s not enough. It’s never enough. I always want more. Always need more.

  I lean in to him, but he pulls gently away. I’m tempted to open my eyes, but I don’t want to ruin whatever he’s going to do next, so I quell the urge.

  I feel his mouth as it brushes my collarbone. Chills spread down my chest, a trail for his lips to follow as they make their way to my breasts.

  Only they don’t.

  I feel Alec’s fingers slide down my left arm and tighten over my palm. He strokes each of my fingers from knuckle to tip, slowly and with a practiced seductiveness that only Alec can manage. Every place he touches, no matter how innocent, can be turned into an exercise in erotic pleasure. This is no different.

  Only, this time, there’s something else. Something…more.

  “I remember with perfect clarity the first moment I saw you, sitting so primly in front of a crowd of your biggest fans,” he begins softly, his voice arising from somewhere below me.

  The cadence of his words coupled with the languorous touch of his hand threaten to lull me into a stupor, but something deep inside me struggles to pay close attention. His words…there’s something different about his words…

  “I think I might’ve fallen in love with you that very day. And a little bit more every day after. I tried to let you go. I thought I could live without you, that I could move on. But I couldn’t. I could hardly last a day.”

  My heart swells at his words. Alec has told me he loves me a thousand times, but never like this. He’s never opened up like this before. His confession is like a rare, night-blooming flower—so precious and so fleeting that I’m afraid to blink and miss one glorious second of its beauty.

  “I don’t ever want to be without you again. Air doesn’t feel the same. Food doesn’t satisfy me. Water doesn’t quench my thirst. In my life, for as long as it burns on this earth, there is only you, Samantha. Only you. Forever.”

  I feel tears breach my closed lids and pour down my cheeks. I bite my lip to hold in sobs of pure joy.

  “Open your eyes,” he says, the words more a plea than an order.

  My lids part to the image of Alec on one knee in front of me. Even through the shimmering wash of my tears, I can see that his hand is holding mine and his heart is in his eyes.

  My breathing stops and all of time and space stills around me.

  “Will you marry me?”

  I let go of a sob that refuses to stay put behind my ribs. My knees, unable to support me anymore, buckle and I drop down in front of Alec.

  “I’ll do anything you ask of me, Alec. Anything. For the rest of my life, you have me. Body, heart and soul. And nothing would make me happier than to be your wife.”

  His lips curve into a smile, one of his genuine smiles that I see more and more of lately. His eyes fall to our joined hands as he slips an enormous diamond onto my ring finger.

  “Then clear your schedule for tomorrow. You’ve got a wedding to attend.”

  I feel my mouth drop open as his words and their meaning sink in. A laugh bubbles up in my throat. I cover my mouth with my hands, but my fingers can’t stop the sound from spilling out.

  “What? You mean…does that mean… did you…”

  When I can’t form a coherent question, Alec chuckles and fills in the blanks. “Yes, me, an incompetent man, has managed to plan an entire wedding without you having to lift a finger.”

  “But…but…what about…”

  My mind is spinning in delirious circles, my happiness so blinding and so complete that it nearly steals my breath.

  “But nothing,” he says, raising his hand to cup my cheek gently. “I’ve taken care of everything. All I wanted was to give you one perfect day. And I hope it will be.”

  Through the haze of my elation, I stare at this wonderful man who tore his way into my heart. “I can’t imagine a day, a moment more perfect than this one.”

  Alec brings my diamond-encircled finger to his mouth. As his lips brush my skin, I see one brow rise over the back of my hand.

  “Let me see what I can do to change your mind.”

  My insides burst into flame as Alec pulls me roughly toward him, crushing me against him and covering my mouth with his own. And, true to his word, he proceeds to make this day, this night, this moment even more perfect than I could’ve imagined.

  And now, thanks to Alec, I can imagine anything.

  THE END

  Turn to the back for the first two chapters of the />
  New York Times Bestselling Novel

  By M. Leighton

  DOWN TO YOU

  and

  THE WILD ONES

  A FINAL WORD

  A few times in life, I’ve found myself in a position of such love and gratitude that saying THANK YOU seems trite, like it’s just not enough. That is the position that I find myself in now when it comes to you, my readers. You are the sole reason that my dream of being a writer has come true. I knew that it would be gratifying and wonderful to finally have a job that I loved so much, but I had no idea that it would be outweighed and outshined by the unimaginable pleasure that I get from hearing that you love my work, that it’s touched you in some way or that your life seems a little bit better for having read it. So it is from the depths of my soul, from the very bottom of my heart that I say I simply cannot THANK YOU enough. I’ve added this note to all my stories with the link to a blog post that I really hope you’ll take a minute to read. It is a true and sincere expression of my humble appreciation. I love each and every one of you and you’ll never know what your many encouraging posts, comments and e-mails have meant to me.

  http://mleightonbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/when-thanks-is-not-enough.html

  OTHER BOOKS BY M. LEIGHTON

  Beginnings: An M. Leighton Anthology

  Blood Like Poison: For the Love of a Vampire

  Blood Like Poison: Destined for a Vampire

  Blood Like Poison: To Kill an Angel

  Caterpillar

  Down to You

  Fragile

  Gravity

  Madly

  Madly & the Jackal

  Madly & Wolfhardt

  The Reaping

  The Reckoning

  The Wild Ones

  Up to Me

  Wiccan

  UPCOMING RELEASES

  Everything for Us (Bad Boys book 3)

  SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

  The Wild Child (Wild Ones novella)

  NOVEMBER, 2013

  Some Like It Wild (Wild Ones book 2)

  MARCH, 2014

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  m.leighton.books@gmail.com

  Down to You

  One girl. Twin brothers. An uncommon triangle.

  When college student Olivia Townsend returned home to help her father run his business, she never imagined a complication like Cash and Nash Davenport—twin brothers different in so many ways but with one thing in common: an uncontrollable desire for Olivia.

  Cash is dangerous, sexy, and bad to the bone—a man whose kisses make Olivia forget she is playing with fire. Nash is successful, reliable and intensely passionate—and already taken. But all it takes is one soft stroke to make Olivia forget he belongs to someone else.

  However, Olivia is in for a surprise. These boys have a secret that should make her run away as far and as fast as she can. If only it wasn’t too late. A sensual game between three players has begun, and it’s about to spin deliriously out of control.

  CHAPTER ONE- Olivia

  My head is spinning lightly, but happily. I can’t even remember the name of the drinks Shawna keeps ordering for us. I just know they’re delicious. And potent as hell! Wow!

  “When’s the stripper coming? I’m ready to get my freak on!” Ginger shouts. She’s the crazy, outspoken, cougar-of-a-bartender we work with at Tad’s Sports Bar and Grill in Salt Springs, Georgia. She’s wild enough in her natural environment, but stick her in a strange new place in a city like Atlanta and she morphs into a full blown tiger. Rawr!

  She looks at me and grins. Her bottle-blond hair looks urine-yellow in the low light and her pale blue eyes are twinkling devilishly.

  I’m instantly suspicious.

  “What?” I ask dazedly.

  “I talked to the manager ahead of time. He’s gonna make sure Shawna has to help the stripper get out of those pesky clothes he’ll be wearing.” She giggles maniacally. I can’t help but laugh. She’s a mess.

  “Ryan would kill her if she stripped another man’s clothes off, bachelorette party or not!”

  “He’ll never know. What stays in the VIP room happens in the VIP room,” she slurs.

  “Don’t you mean what happens in the VIP room stays in the VIP room?”

  “That’s what I said.”

  I snicker. “Oh, okay.”

  I giggle as I watch her take another sip of her neurotoxic drink. I opt for my water instead. Somebody has to remain semi-lucid. Might as well be me. Tonight is all about Shawna anyway. I want to send her off into married life with the best party possible. I doubt that includes her having to carry me home or clean vomit off her shoes.

  A knock at the door to the private room has us all turning our heads in that direction. The girls immediately start laughing and hollering and cat-calling.

  Dear God, I hope it’s the stripper and not a cop or something!

  The door opens and in walks the most incredibly handsome guy I think I’ve ever seen. He looks like he’s in his early twenties, really tall, and built like a football player—wide chest and shoulders, thick arms and legs, tiny waist in between. He’s dressed in solid black from head to toe. But it’s his face that’s most impressive.

  Sweet hell, he’s effin’ gorgeous!

  His short hair is dark blond and his face is chiseled perfection. I can’t tell what color his eyes are as he scans the room, but I can see that they’re dark. He’s just opened his mouth to speak when his gaze finally makes its way to me. His eyes click to a stop on mine and he stares.

  I’m completely mesmerized. As I look into them, I still can’t determine a color, but the orbs look nearly black. Even in the light spilling through the door behind him, they look like pools of ink. Just barely, he cocks his head to the side as he watches me.

  It makes me nervous. And excited. I don’t know why. I have no reason to be nervous or excited. But I am. He makes me feel twitchy. Squirmy. Warm.

  We’re still staring at each other when Ginger gets up and drags him further into the room, flinging the door shut behind him.

  “All right, Shawna. Come kick your single life to the curb the right way!”

  The other girls start squealing and cheering her on. Shawna’s smiling, but shaking her head. “No way! Not this girl!” The bridesmaids-to-be get more insistent, two of them coming around to take her by the hands and haul her to her feet.

  She leans back, away from them, shaking her head more vigorously. “No, no, no. I don’t want to. One of y’all do it.”

  She starts wiggling her arms to free herself, but the girls have a death grip on her thin wrists. When she looks at me, her wide brown eyes tell me all I need to know. She’s totally freaked by the idea.

  “Liv, help!” I raise my hands in a gesture that says what do you want me to do? She nods toward the hunk hulking behind Ginger. “You do it!”

  “Are you crazy? I’m not stripping a stripper!”

  “Please! You know I’d do it for you.”

  And she would. Dammit.

  How the hell does the world’s clumsiest shy girl get wrangled into doing things like this?

  As I so often do, I answer myself.

  Because she’s a pushover!

  Taking a deep breath, I stand and turn toward the Hot Stripper Guy, purposely jacking my chin up another notch. He’s still watching me with those smoky coal eyes.

  When I take a step toward him, he very slowly raises one eyebrow.

  Heat washes through me.

  Must be those dangerous drinks, I think. It has to be.

  I feel flushed and a little breathless, but I take another step anyway.

  Hot Stripper Guy backs away from Ginger and turns to face me fully. He crosses his arms over his chest and waits, that one brow still raised in curiosity. He’s not going to make it easy. He’s le
aving it all up to me, just like Ginger asked them to do.

  As if on cue, the music that’s been pumping into the room all night gets louder. It’s a sexy song, heavy on the bass. It’s mood music for sure. It seems to punctuate every intense beat of my heart as I get closer and closer to those velvety eyes.

  When I stop in front of him, I have to look up. My five and a half feet of height is nearly a foot shorter than his towering frame.

  Up close, I see that his eyes are brown. Dark, dark brown. Nearly black.

  Sinful.

  I’m lost in wondering why that particular word would come to mind when the girls start chanting for me to take his shirt off. Uncertainly, I glance at their excited faces then back to him. Slowly, he spreads his arms, holding them out to his sides, away from his body.

  One corner of his mouth twitches. His expression, his body language is rife with challenge.

  I realize he doesn’t think I’ll do it. No one probably does.

  And that’s exactly why I will.

  Letting the beat of the music relax my tense muscles, I plaster a smile on my face as I reach forward to tug Hot Stripper Guy’s shirt from the waistband of his pants.

  CHAPTER TWO- Cash

  Damn, she’s beautiful!

  Between this girl’s black hair, her bright probably-green eyes, her banging little body and the way she seems a tiny bit shy, I’m wishing we were alone in this room together.

  Her smile doesn’t leave her lips as she runs her hands around my waist, untucking my shirt. When it’s free, she starts to pull it up.