by Lisa Swallow
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I just have to go and kick Liam’s backside. Won’t be long.”
He begins to stand, but I catch his arm. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t stress. He’s just not ready yet and Honey’s starting to get pissy because her big moment is delayed. Her schedule for the day is military precision.”
Oh, crap. “He hasn’t changed his mind, has he?”
“No, he slept in. Too hung-over. You okay to wait here?”
I glance back at the rows of chairs; there’s close to a hundred people behind and the appeal of staggering past them in my heels with Dylan is zero.
“I’ll wait. Don’t be long.”
Dylan kisses the top of my head. “I’d never make you wait.”
****
Dylan
Liam’s room is strewn with clothes and his grey wedding suit hangs on the wardrobe door. More worryingly, he’s dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. And there’s a rucksack at his feet. Bryn stands as I enter the room and pulls a ‘help me out’ look.
“Well, at least one of you is ready,” I say, indicating Bryn’s matching dress suit.
“Tell him he needs to speak to Honey before he leaves,” says Bryn, gruffly.
“Leaves? What the fuck, Liam?”
“I’m not doing this,” he says in a flat tone, flipping his phone over in his hands.
“And you just reached this conclusion when you woke up? Shit, man, I don’t like her much, but you’ll fucking humiliate her!” I say.
“I’m not doing this,” he repeats.
“It’s normal to be nervous, right? You signed a pre-nup so that’s sorted. If she is doing this to screw you over, she’ll miss out.”
Liam rakes a hand through his hair. “I don’t love her.”
“You woke up this morning and came to that conclusion?” asks Bryn, “A bit fucking late!”
“No, I mean yes. Shit. I wasn’t sure. Something happened at Christmas.”
“What?”
“I found out she’d cheated on me. I went back to Wales to lick my wounds, and I was going to end things with Honey. Especially as…” He’s distant, not completely with us. “Something happened, don’t want to talk about it. Anyway, I came back to LA and tried to forget. We made up. I believed she wouldn’t cheat on me again, but I can’t trust her. I’ve tried. I can’t marry someone I don’t love or trust, can I?”
I cross to the window and look out at the pink disaster waiting to happen. Every chair is occupied except Bryn’s and mine, everybody waiting. Seems I’m not the only one who likes to run away from problems. I turn back to the pale faced Liam.
“Talk to her, Liam.”
“Maybe, not today. Maybe, when she’s calmed down.”
Bryn chokes back a laugh. “You ditch her on her wedding day and expect her to calm down? Fuck, I can hear Steve’s voice in my head now.”
“What do you mean?” asks Liam.
“Everything about your relationship, her side of the story, will be everywhere. If there’s someone else, Liam…”
Liam remains frozen on the edge of the bed but doesn’t confirm or deny. Shit.
“Let her be the one to leave you standing?” I suggest.
“What?”
“Talk to her, offer her the opportunity of humiliating you instead.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know; it’s just a thought. I don’t know how her mind works; but if this isn’t going to happen, maybe you should suggest this as a solution? Because I reckon another few minutes and that girl’s coming in here to haul your ass out.”
“Shit, shit, shit.” Liam stands. “I have to go. I can’t do this!”
As he heads to the door, I put a hand on his chest. “Liam, you’re better than this. I’d be fucking scared of telling her too, but this isn’t the right way to go about it.”
His shoulders slump and he looks me directly in the eyes. “What would you do, Dylan?”
There’s no way I can put myself into his position; this situation is far removed from Sky and me. “Talk to her. We’ll post bodyguards outside if you want.”
“Ha fucking ha,” mutters Liam.
I leave Liam and Bryn and creep down the hallway, on alert for Honey’s voice. What a fucking idiot, letting things get this far and not stopping them. If I hadn’t been completely intent on the crap going on in my life, I could’ve noticed and helped Liam before he got to this stage.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Dylan
I emerge from the cool house into the bright Californian sunshine and wish I had my sunglasses. Liam, you stupid fucker. I hesitate, hoping nobody asks me any questions, and sweep a gaze across the waiting crowd. Sky stands out as the most beautiful and natural part of this marshmallow pink-covered disaster zone. And I mean beautiful. The natural comfort she has in her own skin contrasts the insecurity of those I’ve surrounded myself with for years who think happiness comes from designer clothes and a scalpel.
Asking Sky to marry me was hard. Really, fucking hard. I’m not into rejection, but my secret fantasy I held in my heart wouldn’t stay hidden. Besides, my heart is Sky’s to take care of and she finally entrusted me with hers. She has all of me, and I want all of her. Yeah, simplistic way of thinking, but there’s nothing everyday about what’s between us.
Sky hates me talking about the past, and I agree that’s where everything before today should stay. But each choice I made, each fuckup, the good days, the lost days, and the things I ran from all led to one moment. Meeting Sky. If I’d done one thing differently, our lives might never have collided. This is how I cope now and allow myself to move on: now I’m with Sky and when we’re together, everything from the past feels worth it.
As if aware of my scrutiny, Sky turns her face in my direction and the smile she gives blows away the dark emotions I have from my encounter with Liam. Her blonde waves frame her face, streaked lighter after a few weeks in the California sunshine.
Sky stands and weaves through the chairs toward me. I kiss her soft hair as she reaches me, pulling her close so I can hold the love I have. Sky pulls back, shields her face and looks up at me. Her freckles are more pronounced from time in the sun, and she has this one between her nose and eye that I love to kiss. Usually, as an excuse to kiss the rest of her.
“Everything okay?” she asks.
I rub the freckle with my thumb before kissing her. “I think we should go inside for a moment.”
“What’s happening? Dylan?” she whispers.
I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Today should be about love, not heartbreak. “There are not enough words or time in the world to tell you how I feel about you, Sky.”
Sky’s eyes glisten. “Dylan, don’t make me cry.”
I cup her chin. “That one song? Not enough. I’m going to write a whole fucking album of songs, every single one about you and about us. Then when I say I’ll love you forever, it will be the truth because those songs will live forever.”
Before she can respond, I drag her into my chest, hold her, inhaling everything good about her that fills my world, and hope she knows I never want to let her go. This fucked up mess of Liam’s just kicked my reality into check. Sky is the song I never knew I could write, and her love the music I always wanted to hear. From now on, my past is a story in a closed book.
****
Sky
The chaos is on the bluff above us, in the grounds of the white architecturally designed symbol of luxury. Dylan and I stand hand in hand, feet in the warm water of the private beach. He looks amusing with his trousers rolled up against the water, and although he’s lost his tie and undone his shirt, the formal suit doesn’t fit the beach location. My dress is short enough not to worry about a stray wave ruining my expensive clothes, although the surf is calm.
“What do you think’ll happen?” I ask Dylan.
“Who knows? He’s an idiot.”
“He’s doing what’s right for him,
” I say.
“Sure, but not going about this the right way.”
I move to stand in front of Dylan, and slide my hands behind and untuck his shirt to touch his toned back. “I think the situation is sad, but not our business.”
Dylan pulls me into his chest, wrapping his arms around so tightly I can hardly breathe. “I won’t do that to you.”
“I wouldn’t marry you if I thought you would,” I say, pulling away.
Whenever I acknowledge we’re getting married, Dylan’s face transforms into one of pure happiness that I wish I could bottle and keep forever. I’m overwhelmed by the idea, but not of Dylan and me, but of the public scrutiny I still need to come to terms with.
Dylan tugs my hand and we slosh through the water. “We should go? I think I’ll get angry with Liam if I see him again. The other guys can deal with this.”
“Not until I’ve found some shells,” I say and poke Dylan in the side.
“I bet I find the best one.” He lets go of my hand, striding away.
The white sand and lack of seaweed makes this a much more pleasant shell-hunting environment, definitely more-so than our last frozen hunt across the beach in Cornwall. My childish side melds with Dylan’s and we compete, fighting over the shells when we think we’ve found a good one. Eventually, I find the perfect, smoothest, spiral twice the size of any in my box in Broadbeach.
“Ha! I win!” I hold up the shell.
Dylan is a few metres away and strides toward me hand outstretched with a recognisable smirk on his face. “Show me?”
“I don’t think so!”
He picks up the pace and I turn and run along the beach, knowing the inevitable is about to happen as outrunning Dylan isn’t something I could do. Strong arms seize my waist and Dylan attempts to prise my fingers off the shell. “Let me see!”
I giggle, leaning away from him, the joy of the childish moment as refreshing as the breeze coming in from the sea. In the dream world of rock stars and movie stars, of crazy weddings gone wrong, overdoses and deaths, we have the constant of our bubble world. Wherever I am with Dylan, we’re in a safer, happier place created by us.
The shell falls from my hands and I push at him as he tries to grab the shell before I do. Dylan knocks me over and I land on my back on the damp sand, looking up at him as he kneels over me. His darkened gaze shifts to where the strap of my dress has shifted. Lacing my fingers around his neck, I pull him toward me. Our mouths hover close, the familiar sensation of our lips touching even though they’re not is there. He pushes my hair from my face and brushes his lips against mine.
“What do we do? Stay in the States? Where do you want to be right now?” he asks, dropping tiny kisses across my face as he does. My scalp tingles, body wanting him closer.
“Here,” I whisper, “or wherever I am that’s with you.” I search for his mouth with my lips, but he keeps his at a distance.
“I like here too. We can live here?” Dylan murmurs. “There’s no real winter here, so you can always be my summer Sky. Just like I always wanted.”
The intensity of the moment translates into the shaking mess I become when he kisses me, the skill of his kiss, and the smell of the sea pulling me back in time to Broadbeach. Our first kiss on the beach last year held the promise of something unknown and forged a connection that kept us safe in our strange world by the sea. The hurt girl and the damaged guy came together, and a strange, illogical love kept us safe in our bubble. He taught me that love isn’t something you find in the places you look hardest, but love is something that finds you. A part of Dylan lives in the centre of who I am - in my body, heart and soul. He is all my todays and every tomorrow, forever.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed Falling Sky. Please consider leaving a review at the site where you bought the book. If you’d like to contact me, my author links are on the page with my author bio. I love hearing what readers think about my books.
Coming Fall 2014
Rising (Blue Phoenix, #3)
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More contemporary romance by Lisa Swallow available now:
The Butterfly Days series:
Because of Lucy
Finding Evan
Acknowledgements
My biggest thanks go to Lou of Seraphim Book Reviews for her endless support and enthusiasm over the last few months. I truly don’t know what I’d do without you!
To my street team, my Little Legends, thank you for spreading the word about me and my books.
Thanks go to my wonderful editors Peggy and Becky at Hot Tree Editing, Najla at Najla Qamber Designs, Lindee Robinson Photography for shaping the finished product into a well-edited, beautifully covered book.
Thank you to the bloggers who have supported my indie publishing journey - so many of you to mention so I won’t in case I leave someone out and offend!
And thanks to every single reader who has left a review, signed up to my mailing list, spoken to me on Facebook or emailed me. You make my dreams a reality. I’m overwhelmed by the support for the Blue Phoenix series and can’t wait to share more with you!
About The Author
Lisa is an author of new adult romance and writes both paranormal and contemporary, often with a side of snark.
In between running a business, looking after her family and writing, Lisa sometimes finds spare time to do other things. This often involves swapping her book worlds for gaming worlds. She even leaves the house occasionally.
Lisa is originally from the UK but moved to Australia in 2001 and now lives in Perth in Western Australia with her husband, three children and dog.
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