Unloved, a love story
Page 31
Mama and I were broken and scared when we escaped to the woods, and that’s how I would have remained if not for Brynn.
She was my magic.
She healed me.
She gave me back my life.
She is, and will forever be, my life’s greatest treasure.
Because of her, I am loved.
THE END
UNLOVED PLAYLIST
While My Guitar Gently Weeps The Beatles
While My Guitar Gently Weeps AM and Tina Dico
While My Guitar Gently Weeps Quinn Sullivan
Falling Oh Gravity
If I Fell The Beatles
In My Life The Beatles
My Heart With You The Recues
Ride twenty one pilots
The Greatest Sia
You Were Always On My Mind Renee Isaacs
I probably listened to AM and Tina Dico singing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” over 1,000 times during the initial writing of Unloved, a love story. There is a poignancy to the song that became Cassidy’s theme for me, and the words—especially “I don’t know why nobody told you how to unfold your love” and “I don’t know how someone controlled you/They bought and sold you”—pretty much ripped my heart out from the start.
Thanks to George Harrison, the master, for his deft hand and word mastery. Still in awe. Forever grateful.
Turn the page for an excerpt from After We Break, another stand-alone novel by Katy Regnery!
(Excerpt from AFTER WE BREAK, a standalone novel by Katy Regnery. All rights reserved.)
Instead of waiting for her to ring the bell or knock, Zach opened the front door, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway. Violet parked her Prius beside his rental and slammed her door shut, car keys jingling in her hand.
“No hotels?” he asked, trying to sound casual.
“Nope. Closest one is an hour away. Or a boat ride. You got a boat, Zach?”
She stood with her arms crossed over her hot pink sweater, looking annoyed. With her green pants and pink polka-dotted flip-flops, she looked like she was headed to a golf club for martinis. It doesn’t matter, he reminded himself. This is Violet. He didn’t give a shit what her clothes looked like. That sort of stuff had never mattered to him. Not with her.
“That mean you’re staying here?”
“I did pay for the privilege,” she observed, her tone salty and her smile fake. “Zach . . .”
“I’ll get your bags.” He didn’t let her finish. He didn’t want her to second-guess her decision. He just wanted her to stay.
He hopped down the two front steps, and she popped open the trunk. It took three pulls to get her massive suitcase out, then he threw the two smaller duffel bags over his shoulder.
“What the hell do you have in here? An anvil? Several small children?” He dragged the suitcase awkwardly over the gravel driveway as she followed behind.
“Two weeks’ worth of clothes and my second laptop and a bunch of books I’ve been meaning to read. Zach, I—”
“Look, the layout is three bedrooms and a sitting room upstairs and one bedroom down here. I took the one down here because I figured the upstairs could be totally yours. Does that work?”
“You knew I’d be back?”
I hoped.
He barely dared to look at her, shrugging as he kept his eyes down. He yanked twice to get the suitcase up the two front steps, wondering how in the hell she’d thought she was going to maneuver the beast by herself, and glad he could be there to help her.
“Okay fine. I’ll take the upstairs. But, Zach—”
“And we can just use the kitchen and deck and living room sort of as shared space. But I promise I won’t bother you if that’s what you want. I’ll be writing. Downstairs. There’s a recording studio. I’ll stay out of your hair, and—”
“Zach!”
He rested her suitcase against the newel post at the foot of the stairs and put her two duffel bags beside it in a neat pile on the floor. She had closed the front door and was standing against it with her hands on her small hips, frowning at him.
“What?”
“I have a room at the White Swan on Tuesday. This is only temporary. Just for a few nights, so don’t worry, I’m not staying.”
His heart sank like an anchor in the harbor. He wouldn’t have much time with her, after all. The disappointment constricted his chest and he clenched his jaw, grinding once, twice. She stood watching him with wide, challenging eyes, not moving from her position against the door. He took a step toward her, brushing his thumb over his lower lip as his eyes connected with hers.
“Violet.” He took another step, then another, until he stood in her space, directly in front of her. She didn’t try to slide away, but her breathing changed and her chest lifted more rapidly. He leaned forward, and she blinked at him once from behind those big old glasses that made her look so familiar, it hurt his heart. Made it ache like something bruised or sprained or sorely out of use. He reached up and tucked one stray hair back behind her ear, and she broke eye contact with him, holding her breath, looking down.
“Stay,” he whispered, his finger lingering on the hot skin behind her ear. “I just want to get to know you again.”
Her mouth formed an O as she let out a soft, unsteady breath. When she raised her eyes, they were glassy, glistening, and exhausted, and he longed to open his arms to her, but he didn’t.
Take it slow. He could hear Cora’s voice in his head, though his whole body rebelled against it after waiting almost a decade to see Violet’s face again.
“Why? What’s the point, Zach?” Her expression tried to be nonchalant, but she couldn’t conceal the hurt and anger that flared up behind her eyes.
And just like that, his strategy turned on a dime. To hell with scaring her away. If her face told him nothing else, it told him that she still felt something for him, too. And if he had only three days with her, taking it slow wasn’t an option, was it?
“This is the point,” he murmured, bending his head to kiss her.
He placed his palms on her cheeks as he had that night so long ago when she returned from the bus station. He pressed his lips against hers and was shocked by the familiarity of her after so many years, as if the part of his brain wired for Violet was suddenly tripped like a circuit breaker, turned on, alive.
To his everlasting gratitude, she stepped toward him, not away, and whether it was deliberate or unintentional, he didn’t care. She flattened her hands on his chest as he parted the seam of her lips with his tongue, tasting the lip gloss he had noticed before. Cherries or strawberries or some other -erries, it was light and sweet, but the inside of her mouth tasted better. Tasted familiar, like College Violet, like the girl he’d loved. His tongue found hers, lightly touching, then swirling around it, as his hands slid from her face, over the contours of her neck to her shoulders, down her shoulder blades to the small of her back, where he locked his fingers, pulling her away from the door, closer to him.
This was exactly how it had felt that weekend, only they were both older now, more experienced, more mature. He’d been a boy kissing a girl that weekend, and tonight he was a man kissing a woman. His whole body responded to having her back in his arms, tightening, hardening, wanting more from her, more from this woman who had haunted his dreams for way too long.
She moaned or sighed or whatever it was, it sounded like fucking heaven in his ears—an unexpected A-flat—and he tilted his head, repositioning his mouth over hers so their lips were flush and he had full access to her, full contact, full—
“No!”
He wasn’t expecting her to push him away, and he was surprised by the amount of force she used.
Her chest heaved up and down, and she covered her mouth with her hand, working her jaw. Her eyes were fierce and furious, churning with emotion.
“Don’t. Ever. Do that again.”
She held his eyes until he nodded once, then she walked by him, up the stairs like a queen, leaving him
hot and bewildered on the cold marble landing below.
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a m o d e r n f a i r y t a l e
beloved fairy tales ~ modern love stories
The Vixen and the Vet
2015 RITA® Finalist
2015 Winner, The Kindle Book Awards
(inspired by Beauty & the Beast)
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Never Let You Go
(inspired by Hansel & Gretel)
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Ginger’s Heart
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Dark Sexy Knight
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Don’t Speak
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Shear Heaven
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(inspired by Rapunzel)
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Fragments of Ash
(inspired by Cinderella)
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Coming 2018
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Never Let You Go
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Ginger’s Heart
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Dark Sexy Knight
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Don’t Speak
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Shear Heaven
(part of the Royally Mine anthology)
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Fragments of Ash
Coming 2018
Swan Song
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At First Sight
Coming 2018
THE BLUEBERRY LANE SERIES
THE ENGLISH BROTHERS
(Blueberry Lane Books #1–7)
Breaking Up with Barrett
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Falling for Fitz
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Anyone but Alex
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Seduced by Stratton
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Wild about Weston
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Kiss Me Kate
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Marrying Mr. English
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Bidding on Brooks
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Proposing to Preston
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Crazy about Cameron
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Campaigning for Christopher
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THE ROUSSEAUS
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Jonquils for Jax
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Marry Me Mad
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J.C. and the Bijoux Jolis
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STAND-ALONE BOOKS:
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First and foremost, I owe thanks to my George. You shared the story of The Devil in the White City with me on a drive to the airport, and I became obsessed with the idea of a serial killer’s child being a hero in one of my stories. Well, now, here we are. Hold tight, my love . . . I’ll be back to thank you again later.
Next, I want to thank my Mia. I reached out to you with my first chapter and novel concept while I was on vacation, and you said, “Heck, yes! People need a serial killer’s son for a hero! Keep writing!” Okay, you might not have said exactly that, but it was close. Thank you for being my sounding board and writing partner, friend, and cheerleader. I adore you. #NoSpace
To Sejla and Selma, who listened to me prattle on about Unloved, a love story on a car ride to a Boston signing, thank you so much for making me feel like my idea could captivate and encouraging me to continue. I still didn’t know how to write it, but after sharing my idea with you, I knew I had to keep writing!
To my Radish Readers, who gave Unloved, a love story a try from the very beginning: Lena D., Bel M., Allison H., Heather G., Patterson G., Maeve W., Carlotta G., Freja E., Sunshine T., Jackie A., Sharon C., and Candi V. You loved Cass and Brynn from the very first chapter, and it means the WORLD to me to share the finished story with you.
To all my other readers, thank you for reaching out to me to share your excitement about Unloved, a love story, and giving this book a chance. I hope you fall in love with Cass and Brynn as much as I did!
To Katy’s Ladies and my long, long list of supportive bloggers, who endlessly pimp and support me, you know who you are, and I would not be me without you. Thank you for loving my words and for taking the time out of your busy days to read them. I am so blessed with your kindness and friendship.
To my production team: Marianne (cover; not this one, but all the rest!), Tessa (developmental edits), Chris (developmental edits), Melissa (line and copy edits), Elizabeth (proofreading), Cassie Mae (formatting) and Tanya (graphics), you kick more ass than should be possible! LOL! Thank you for all you do to make my words shine. Writing books is one thing; sharing them with the world requires your finesse. I am grateful for it.
To Heather, Sage, Lydia, and the awesomeness at TRSOR, THANK YOU!! I can’t get this book out into the world on my own. You PR dynamos lifted it up and gave it wings!
To my Ridgefield friends—especially Shannon, who supports me in one hundred different ways—thank you. Autumn, Kerry, Joy, Trieste, Maria, Jillian, and Kim, HUGE kisses and thanks for a fun-filled summer! A special shout-out to the folks at Parma Market and Ross Bread + Coffee, in thanks for keeping me caffeinated and fed. To Chris, Nik, Pete, and Tanner at PTP of Ridgefield, thanks for listening to me talk about this book while keeping me (and my kids!) healthy—you guys are the best! #TeamPTP And to Allison, who doesn’t live in Ridgefield: whether you are in Hingham or Houston, you’re always in my heart and cheering me on.
To all the authors who supported this book, especially Mia, Kelly, Ilsa, Annika, Tia, Carey, Leylah and Layla, who asked to read a copy of Unloved, a love story, in advance. THANK YOU!! I love our author community, and I am so grateful for/to all of you!
To my mother, father, brother, Henry, and Callie, I love you all more than words can express. You are always foremost in my mind as I navigate the twists and turns of this crazy career. None of my success would mean a thing without you in my life.
Finally, and again, to George. For your unfailing love and support. For bringing home sandwiches when I’m a lunatic on a deadline. For asking “How’s the writing going?” every day. For believing in me more than anyone else in the world. You are my other half, the warm body I reach for in the night, and the reason I will never, ever feel unloved. #AllTheMuch #Forever
New York Ti
mes and USA Today bestselling author Katy Regnery started her writing career by enrolling in a short story class in January 2012. One year later, she signed her first contract, and Katy’s first novel was published in September 2013.
Thirty books later, Katy claims authorship of the multititled New York Times and USA Today bestselling Blueberry Lane Series, which follows the English, Winslow, Rousseau, Story, and Ambler families of Philadelphia; the six-book, bestselling ~a modern fairytale~ series; and several other stand-alone novels and novellas.
Katy’s first modern fairytale romance, The Vixen and the Vet, was nominated for a RITA® in 2015 and won the 2015 Kindle Book Award for romance. Katy’s boxed set, The English Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, hit the USA Today bestseller list in 2015, and her Christmas story, Marrying Mr. English, appeared on the list a week later. In May 2016, Katy’s Blueberry Lane collection, The Winslow Brothers Boxed Set, Books #1–4, became a New York Times e-book bestseller.
Katy lives in the relative wilds of northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, where her writing room looks out at the woods, and her husband, two young children, two dogs, and one Blue Tonkinese kitten create just enough cheerful chaos to remind her that the very best love stories begin at home.
Sign up for Katy’s newsletter today: www.katyregnery.com!