by lesley,allyn
Standing to my feet, I pocket the ring box. I broach the one subject that’s bothered me since reading it. My fingers trail the cool edge of the limestone.
“I don’t know why you’d think I’d look at you differently.” I don’t even know how I feel about finding out that MeMaw was a recovering drug addict. I start and stop my next sentence a few times. I figure out what I want to say, taking my therapist’s advice in voicing my real feelings. “I was shocked. Really shocked that you were like Jess. But, you chose to get out, MeMaw, and for that I’m glad, because you took care of me when my mother wasn’t able to.” My cell vibrates in my back pocket. “That’s Chels,” I tell MeMaw without even looking at my phone.
I gaze at the vibrant colors in the floral arrangement I brought, reminding me how sometimes MeMaw would scrounge up a few dollars and have the apartment smelling so good. “You took care of me. Fed me, helped me with homework, and took me to church. Hell, you gave me a real fighting chance.” Sometimes, I can’t believe my good fortune. Lots of children don’t end up like me, getting lost in the system. “You died, but I met the Sterlings, inherited two big brothers who look out for me and made me an uncle and brother-in-law.” Had it not been for JC’s horny ass, I would’ve never met my Chelsea.
The leaves rustle again. I’d like to believe that MeMaw’s in Heaven, agreeing with me.
I trace the letters in her name. “Helen Tennyson, you made it all possible. One simple act changed the course of my life.” I wipe away the wetness from my eyes. “I’m sorry you’re not around for me to tell you thank you.” I tap the headstone, wishing she was physically right here so I could melt into her embrace, where she’d always smell like sunshine and home-cooked meals.
“Dyllan, honey, we have to go. We don’t want to be late to your parents’ home,” Chels says softly, coming up behind me.
“Thanks, MeMaw. Thanks for showing me how to fall with grace.”
I turn, grasping Chels’s hand.
The End
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Other Novels by allyn lesley
The Deeper Chronicles series
Book One
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Excerpt
Where the fuck is that little she-devil?
Zach pointed toward the dance floor, addressing his employer’s unvoiced question. “Under the ball.”
Clear as day, she danced way too close with someone who might soon leave the club with a limp. He blew out a breath. She knew better than this, yet she still tested the limits set up for her protection.
A restraining hand on Noah’s arm paused him mid-stride. “Boss?”
Noah’s eyes widened at Zach’s hand. Immediately, the younger man’s hand fell away, and he wisely stepped back. Even in the dim light, Noah saw embarrassment tinge Zach’s face.
“I, um. Excuse me, Mr. Adams, but I can’t let you go over there,” Zach said, swallowing the fear his boss evoked.
“Let me?” Noah pointed at himself and straightened to his impressive six feet and five inches. “And who’ll stop me?”
“I’m just saying...” Zach wished he had alerted security on their way down.
Taking a step toward his employee, Noah responded through gritted teeth, “This is my club, and she’s my responsibility.” He stalked off, weaving through sweaty bodies.
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Book Two
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Excerpt
“We should talk,” Avi suggested, coming in front of him just beyond the punching bag.
She looked refreshed, well rested. The sleep lines added character to her vivid violet eyes. He liked her cotton camisole and her sleeper shorts, both hugging her hourglass frame, putting him in the mood for another kind of release. Noah’s boxing gloves dropped onto the mat. Reaching for her, he muttered, “I don’t want to talk.” He pulled on her drawstrings. “Feel. That’s what I want. I just want to feel, Avi,” he mumbled against her soft lips.
Her body melted into his before he flipped her over. With a floor-to-ceiling mirror in front of them, they watched as his hand ripped the shirt down the middle. She stood still, but his eyes picked up on the small twitches in her thigh muscle like she was anticipating what he’d do next. With his hands teasing her nipples into taut buds, Avi’s back slithered along his sweaty chest as she worked the shorts over her curvy hips before kicking it off.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Noah’s hand cupped Avi’s smooth pussy. “You’re so sexy.”
Her gaze was fixed on his finger that was swirling around her clit. She bent, stirring his cock. Pre-cum dripped onto her ass. Dropping them to their knees onto the padded mat, he marveled at her glistening, brown skin that was sweeter than honey. A peck on one of her shoulders led to several small bites up the side of her graceful neck. As juvenile as it was, his cock hardened even more when he saw the hickies left behind on her alluring skin.
“Noah,” she moaned, wiggling her ass into his stiffened cock.
Her skin popped out of his mouth, leaving behind another love bite. Using one hand, he trailed along Avi’s waist, roaming over her velvety skin, and stopping just under her breast. “It’s like you were made for me.”
He grabbed her chin, pulling her mouth to the side for a bruising kiss. He needed to remind himself that she was here now. He wanted her close; hell, he’d keep himself buried inside her if it were possible. Coming so near to losing her to the bullshit charges had him wild and out of control. “I just want you.” He stuck two fingers deep inside her while his thumb played with her hidden nub. On her hands and knees, Noah pulled out of Avi’s body before slipping under her, guiding her hips over to his hungry mouth. “Sit on my face.” She groaned low, hovering just out of reach of his desperate mouth. “Sit. Now.” He pulled her hot pussy toward his waiting lips, helping her set a grinding motion.
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Book Three ~ releases early Fall 2016
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Excerpt
“You’re fucking gorgeous. When was the last time I told you that?”
“This morning.” She laugh-snorted, which did the strangest things to his cock. Anything Avi did, said, or wore stirred Noah up.
“It bears repeating.” He brushed away loose tendrils from her forehead before lowering his lips to hers. “You’re fucking gorgeous.” He took his time exploring her soft lips just as his fingers found their way to her hips, digging into them and dragging her lower half closer to his. Mouth buried on the side of her neck, he mumbled, “And you’re all mine.”
“All yours,” she repeated, grinding into him to the beat that was playing through the lounge area. “Let’s get out of here.”
At her fevered request, it was Noah’s turn to lean out of her embrace. For days, Avi had bugged him about ball dropping, countdowns, and spending New Year’s Eve with their friends. If he’d been given the choice, their time would’ve been re-familiarizing themselves with every solid surface in his condo, eating leftovers, then when the new year was right at its precipice, he would’ve fucked her against his floor-to-ceiling window with his blinds wide open. That was his plan, and now that Avi had obviously changed her mind, Noah did his best to play it smooth, not appear overly excited that he was getting to celebrate how he’d wanted after all.
“Are you sure? I’d hate to be rude to our friends.” He was already turning from her and heading toward the stairs that would lead them to the lower level and closer to his car.
She tugged on his hand, and he knew he fell into her trap. When he faced her, the effects of the champagne that was flowing freely in their section had
her violet eyes glossy and her cheeks pulled up in excitement. “You’re so easy. Let’s stay here and pretend we’re teenagers.”
Her teasing words pulled his hard cock against her soft center again. “I’m not a teen and I’m not dry humping you. Come 12:01 a.m., your ass will be on my office desk in the back and my dick firmly inside you.”
Even in heels, she still had to get on her tiptoes to reach his ear. “It’s a good thing I’m not wearing any underwear then.” She laughed, ducking away and going over toward a dancing Sofie.
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Standalones
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Excerpt
He takes another sip. Then he lets me see that his eyes are trailing, again, over my entire body. The dress is modest, hitting my calves; however, under his devouring eyes, I feel like I’m in my birthday suit lying on a bed, saying, “Come hither, Jonathan.”
“You think?” he asks.
I blink a few times. Surely I’m imaging this exchange. I take another step back until my backside hits the ledge. Out of room. I swallow my nerves. “Yes, most certainly.” Desperate to rid our exchange of this sexual heaviness, I recite Monica’s virtues. “She’s charming, well educated, and beautiful.”
One long step and he’s too close again. If I take even a small breath my breasts will graze his chest. And I want that tiny graze. My nipples harden at the taboo thought even as my sight gobble up his angular face with its grass-green eyes then his wide shoulders and strong hands down to his toned legs.
He drains his wine glass, then puts it on the ledge by my hand.
“And what about you?” He runs an index finger along my jawline.
A shiver races through me without my control. He chuckles darkly at my body’s reaction.
I meet his near unrecognizable eyes. “What about me?” Excitement replaces the shivering.
“What are you like, baby girl?”
I frown. “I’m irrelevant.”
“There’s not a fucking thing irrelevant about what I’m looking at.”
US
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Excerpt
“Who are you?”
“The new hire.” She swiped the dishrag on top of the worn, brown countertop, and didn’t look like she’d be offering up any more information.
If she knew me in my heyday, that’d never been her response. He raked her form up, down, then up again while he tried to decide if she were old enough to be inside a bar. Her hair was the color of a strong glass of cognac. The sides were short and neat, giving the air of a responsible adult. But the longer front had an ‘I don’t give a shit’ tousled effect that made him wonder again if she was legal. The style made her oval face more interesting than it really was, but when his gaze flitted over her high cheekbones and past her feline-shaped eyes that were the color of molten pewter, he concluded she was attractive, in a strange sort of way. And he liked the way her pointy chin stuck up in the air with defiance, or maybe it was confidence.
“Are you done eye-fucking me or do you need another minute, old man?” the bartender asked. Her question was matter-of-fact, and didn’t hold a lick of reprimand in it.
I like her. “The name’s Tony and I’ll be taking another minute.”
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Genre: Contemporary Romance/New Adult
Excerpt
Now...
“That was beautiful,” she whispers, using the remote to press the stop button. How she continues to look so absolutely endearing while staring forlornly at the screen amazes me.
“Not as beautiful as you,” I mutter, not loud enough for her to hear, but just so it’s out in the atmosphere and out of the deep recesses of my heart.
We lapse into a lengthy silence. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s heavy... heavy with all my unspoken thoughts, unexpressed emotions, and repressed desires. After a while, after a long while, her lips part and my gaze lands on the lower one, the one that slightly juts forward, the one that needs no lipstick because it’s—well they both are—naturally red. I’d love to feel the softness of her lips as they sigh or even as they talk or laugh. But, again, I know that’s wishful thinking. As are all the other forbidden thoughts I have about her.
“I should, um, I should...” She looks down at her watch.
“Am I rushing you out the door?” I ask after mentally reminding myself to put some bass into my voice so she can hear me.
She shakes her head and her heart-shaped face lights up. Ah, that grin. We both have other places to be, but I don’t want her to leave, not yet.
“Gabe, I only stopped by to say hi,” she reminds me.
Those were the same words she told me when I opened the apartment door a few hours ago, yet we ended up eating dinner together, and watching one of her favorite movies.
“Relax, you’ll make it to Kellie’s,” I tell her.
The back of her hand grazes mine as she drops the remote on the couch. My heart thumps uncontrollably, and while her head is down, I press my hand over my heart, hoping to muffle the loud sound. I wonder if she can hear it. I feel as if my heart is about to burst from my chest.
Her head snaps back up just as my fingers leave my chest. “Why are you always so nice to me?”
Because you own me. Of course, I don’t say that aloud. Her dark eyes, which remind me of a newly opened Hershey’s Kiss, lift to my face. Her sweet smell, slightly tinged with the outdoorsy smell from the May heatwave sweeping Manhattan, engulfs me and makes me want her more... want what I can’t have... want what could have been mine if I had his confidence.
“Why shouldn’t I be nice to my soon-to-be sister-in-law?”
The irony isn’t lost on me, and her new place in my life is kind of surreal because I saw her first.
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#superfan by Jae Hood
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Summary
Alexa Hannah enjoys three things in life: wearing pajamas, designing book covers, and drooling over her favorite actor, Ayden Vaughn. An introvert by nature, Alex is relieved when her blind date doesn’t show, but her plans to enjoy the buffet solo are disrupted when a gorgeous, irritating man invites himself not only to her table, but into her life. She can’t seem to get away from the mysterious man she’s nicknamed “Eight” for his place on the hotness scale.
Over time, and despite Eight’s resistance to tell her what he does for a living, Alex realizes she’s not only physically attracted to Eight, but she’s also falling in like with him. Alex will stop at nothing to find out more about him, including snooping inside his apartment and pulling fire alarms to flush out his hidden guest. She soon discovers that some secrets aren’t meant for her to unravel.
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About the Author
allyn lesley writes real stories about real people.
As a teen, allyn lost herself in the pages of some of Romance’s heavyweights, trusting that a happy ever after was just around the corner. In allyn’s own writing journey, as in life, she’s learned that people don’t always experience recovery and restoration after a fall. Her stories speak to the gritty side of life, where the right choice isn't always easily identified and happiness not quickly gained.
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