by Shey Stahl
I can feel his heart pounding, the strong muscles of his chest flexing as he wraps his arms around me. “I don’t know. We’re parents now. Maybe we should be more responsible . . .”
He stops me, pressing his fingers to my lips. “That’s crazy talk.”
“Is it?” I laugh at him shaking my head. “You could have gotten in trouble for what we did at the firehouse yesterday.”
He laughs. “Have you lost your sense of adventure already?”
I take Emerson from him, hand her over to Jacey who’s eager to hold her anyways, and then wrap my arms around Caleb’s neck.
I turn grab his shoulders pulling him to my chest, my mouth pressing to his, eager, desire filled and passionate. These are kisses that last a lifetime. The ones you remember and go back to. You say to yourself, I remember that kiss for the way his tongue felt gliding over mine or the gentle way he cupped my cheek and held me close. I’ll remember the sighs and the tiny groans when he wants to take it further but then sighs again, being content with the moment and what it meant for us.
“Does that mean we can go home and have sex?” He laughs, pulling away from me with a smile, his palm resting on my cheek.
“No, this is where you say, you’re welcome, Mila.”
He laughs, watching my face as he speaks. “For what?”
“For loving you.” I close my eyes, a thousand memories of him flooding my mind and I know the exact moment that happened for me. I fell when I took a seat on his lap. Maybe not in love, but I fell off a fucking cliff that night. And every time he showed up at the hotel, I slipped a little more. It wasn’t all at once. It was gradual and now, there was no way I could go back to a life without him in it.
His lips press against mine once again. “Thank you, Mila.”
Sometimes I wonder why we go through what we do and how we make it through it. Where does the strength come from? Some say it’s religion, and others say it’s sheer will. I don’t know what my theory on it is, but I do know one thing: It can change tomorrow.
There are things in this world I will never understand, and I gave up trying to a while ago. Like hot dogs. How are they safe for people to eat if it’s ground up mystery meat? Maybe that’s why people turn into zombies.
All jokes aside, what we have is in the moment. And I’m okay with that.
I’ve always wondered why most stories are about how a couple falls in love. What about after that? And I’m not talking about the epilogue or anything. I’m talking about the real shit like living together and making that shit work.
You want to know why there’s not a lot about that?
It’s boring. No one wants to read about that.
But the thing is, it’s like eating cake without ice cream. That’s the story. The falling in love is easy. Those closet hookups and bathroom fucks with your panties in your mouth, people want to hear about that.
I could tell you our love story, but you’ll never understand the rush of adrenaline I had when I sat on his lap for the first time or the way my heart fluttered and my tummy tickled when he walked through the lobby doors of my hotel.
You’ll never understand the pain radiating from him the night his brother died and the way his tears felt against my skin as I held him. You can’t because it’s indescribable. Words would never do any of that justice.
Maybe you can understand the love we have because you’ve experienced something similar, but then again, no one love is the same.
Maybe you understood what we went through, saw where we were heading and cried right along with us. Maybe you shouted and kept silent when we did, too. There were times I could have used someone yelling in my face.
Even now, I take satisfaction in knowing Caleb and I gave our hearts to experience what we did, and in turn, our tears, laughter, love, and anger saw us through the fire. It breathed for us when we couldn’t and carried us when our will gave up.
People have stories. Everyone does. I see it with every guest who walks into my hotel and stays with us for a night, or two, or just to meet you in a storage room closet or destroy the penthouse suite.
It’s written all over their faces in every expression and word they give you. Whether it’s your children telling you about the flying dragons in their room or your aunt telling you she once slept with Brad Pitt, or maybe it was someone who looked like him. They’re stories. That’s all they are.
Now, whether or not these stories are true is not up to you. They’re told for a reason. A way to believe in something. Some stories teach you. Hell, some even warn you. Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, they all hold meaning. And sometimes you don’t understand it right away.
When the smoke clears, you’ll see exactly what you were fighting for.
Love. Relationships. Experiences.
Love like it’s your last chance. Kiss like it’s your last kiss, and, most of all, laughing like it’s your last breath . . . because it just might be.
Someone once told me that they would give anything for one more hug, one more kiss, or to feel the arms of the one they love wrapped around them.
I understand that now. There are no words to describe what being with Caleb feels like for me because he’s right, loving someone is an experience, not a feeling. I don’t feel anything with him, I experience it. I finally have that deep, raw love that’s so profound it’s scorched into my soul, leaving me with the perfect burn.
No matter how many times we burst into flames, we can always rise from the ashes.
~ Author Unknown
I wrote a quarter of this book four years ago. Hard to believe, huh? Then I picked it up again and decided where I wanted to go with Mila and Caleb’s story because they wouldn’t stop talking to me. Originally Burn was supposed to be done in February, but my dad fell ill and writing just wasn’t something I could do. I struggled with it, every aspect of it as I sat beside him in the hospital nearly every day for three weeks. Sadly, the night of March 8th he passed away.
A week went by and I thought, there’s no way I can write at a time like this and then one night I picked the novel back up and words came to me. I like to think it was him giving me courage and strength to continue on and do what he loved about me. The ability to write but never speak the words needed. I’m a lot like him in that way. I’m someone who can never express what they want to say out loud but I can write it. I like to think it’s a gift he gave me.
Thank you so much to my BETA group and the members of my author group for continuing to support me and loving Caleb and Mila as much as I do.
Though Burn is a standalone, some of the characters in the book will eventually get standalones of their own. Like Shade and his brothers. I’m working on Shade’s book now. He and his brothers will all get their own book in a trilogy. I’m also thinking of writing Tom someday, but again, his will be a standalone and not part of a series related to Burn. You will however get to see Mila and Caleb in that book from time to time.
Now for everyone who played a role in Burn.
Becky, I can’t thank you enough for everything you do for me and working with me on every manuscript to ensure I become the best writer I can be. I’ve learned so much from you these past two years!
Tracy, thank you again for another awesome cover design. I’m so glad it finally worked out for us, lol. I think we were both ready to burn it at one point.
The Boy, thank you for that weekend at Alderbrook and the time you took me to Seattle for Lil Woodies and Cupcake Royale. And then again, in Texas. That trip was exactly what I needed at the time. Oh and our mid-night runs to In-N-Out burger. You’re the friend I always need.
Hannah, Mommy loves you so much! You are and always will be my greatest work of art. It doesn’t matter how many books I write, you’re the inspiration behind them all. Thank you for allowing me to balance being a mommy to you and writing in between those moments. I cherish our mornings where you’re in my office with me, drawing me pictures for my desk.
Dad, I wish you were here to read
these acknowledgments. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you and wish you were still with us. Thank you for inspiring me to go on without you, even if the gentle push came from the ability to get past my writers-block. Those three weeks I sat by your side next to your hospital bed are forever ingrained in my heart for what you gave to me. This paragraph right here in Burn: “Love is an experience. You can’t put a word on an experience. It’s impossible. It’s something that finds you like the way forgiveness finds you, or tragedy, it’s something that happens in the aftermath of an experience.”
Shey Stahl is a USA Today best-selling author, a wife, mother, daughter and friend to many. Writing is her passion, giving words meaning, and readers experiences they’ll never forget. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family in the Pacific Northwest and can usually be found near a dirt track.
Visit her website for additional information and keep up to date on new releases: www.sheystahl.com.
You can also find her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SheyStahlAuthor
Racing on the Edge
Happy Hour
Black Flag
Trading Paint
The Champion
The Legend
Hot Laps
The Rookie
Fast Time
Open Wheel
Pace Laps
Dirt Driven (TBA)
Behind the Wheel (TBA)
The Redemption Series
The Trainer
The Fighter
Stand Alones
Waiting for You
Everything Changes
Deal
All I Have Left
Awakened
Everlasting Light
Bad Blood
Heavy Soul
Bad Husband
Burn
Crossing the Line
Delayed Penalty
Delayed Offsides
Delayed Roughing (Release date: TBA)
The Torqued Trilogy
Unsteady
Unbearable
Unbound
