His features swam in her vision. “I’ve been alone for so long,” she said. “All my life. When I left you yesterday, I thought it would be easy to be alone again.”
“I thought I wanted to be alone…that I’d tapped out my capacity for caring,” Eli said. “That was, as you pointed out, just an excuse.”
“I sound so wise,” she said, smiling at him.
“You were. You are. I want you and I want Paige in my life, more than anything. Because as it turns out, when it comes to love there’s no limit.”
Tears burned in her eyes again, then finally spilled over. “Here’s a thing you don’t know about me,” she said, wet trails running down her cheeks. “I never cry.”
“Except with me,” he whispered, reminding her of another time, when she’d been overcome by passion. “Except in my arms. And I swear you’ll always be safe there, and cherished.”
Her first, last, and forever wish, Sloane thought, she who had given up believing in such things for herself so long ago. “I’m going to make you happy,” she promised.
“No doubt, no limits.” He smiled. “Carpe diem.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “We’ll do that. Seize the day. It’s a fine way to live a fine life.”
Eli’s next kiss expressed that he fully agreed.
# # #
Dear Reader:
Thank you! I hope you enjoyed NO LIMIT, the second book in the 7-Stud Club series. I’m so enjoying writing this guy-centric set of books. It’s so much fun thinking of how I can present them with their thorniest problem—falling in love.
Writing Eli’s book has been a blast. I have a big brother and I know how they think. Giving Eli four younger sisters and then having him fall for a single mom, just when he sees the light of freedom ahead…romance novel gold. Interested in sharing your thoughts about Eli and Sloane’s book with other readers? I hope you’ll leave a review here and look for more of my books to enjoy.
To not miss out on new Christie Ridgway releases and to get other information about upcoming books and specials, sign up for my newsletter. You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or visit my website.
Coming soon is ANTE UP, Cooper’s story! He considers himself lucky…will it extend to love?
Continue on for an excerpt from OUR LAST FIRST KISS (Heartbreak Hotel Book 1)—another one of my sunny, sexy romances.
All the best!
Christie Ridgway
Excerpt – OUR LAST FIRST KISS
Heartbreak Hotel Book 1
© Copyright 2018 Christie Ridgway
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Chapter One
“Maybe we should check into a nunnery instead,” Lilly Durand murmured, taking in the tropical-hued walls, lush greenery, and colorful Moorish-tiled floor of the resort’s indoor/outdoor reception area. Where nuns are dressed in somber black and speak in papery whispers to match our bleak moods.
“What’s that?” her best friend Audra Montgomery asked dully, her gaze vague. She seemed unaware of their surroundings as her fingers plucked idly at the hem of the yoga hoodie half-covering the white lace of the wedding dress she wore. The edges of its short train already appeared tattered.
Lilly placed her fingertips at her temples and contemplated the short check-in line for the famed Santa Barbara hotel, The Hathaway at Dragonfly Beach. Rather than taking her place behind other would-be guests, she continued to hesitate, now yanking on the sleeves of the sweatshirt she wore over her silk organza maid-of-honor gown. Pretty sequined shoes pinched her toes and she decided perhaps one good thing had come out of this disaster—there wasn’t a night of dancing ahead of her in the misery-making heels.
Suddenly, a frisson of awareness feathered down her spine. Her back shot straight and then a wash of heat cascaded over her flesh, prickling all the tiny hairs. It was an unwelcome sensation she’d become familiar with over the past few days, but surely there wasn’t the same cause of it. Not now. Not here.
Pulse tripping, she took a cautious glance around the lobby. Through an archway she could see an elegant lagoon-styled pool in the distance, surrounded by lounge chairs and gently waving palm trees. Over her other shoulder, she caught a glimpse of a courtyard with tables and chairs surrounding a bubbling fountain. Visitors dressed in expensive resort-wear. Employees in starched white shirts and dark slacks bustling about. No tall, athletic figure lurked nearby, upsetting her equilibrium with his confident charm and roguish grin.
Another positive outcome of the disaster, she thought, briskly rubbing her arms to dissipate the goose bumps that invariably followed that rush of heat—she’d put distance between herself and that man.
The assertion didn’t ease the sense of foreboding that seemed to hover over her, though. Lilly decided to chalk it up to the emotional rollercoaster they’d been through that day, but it didn’t stop her from taking an additional wary look about. Across the space, in a huge mirror in an ornately carved frame on the opposite side of the room, she saw her and Audra’s reflections. Even with her face paler than usual, the other woman’s delicate beauty was undeniable. Her champagne-blonde up-do and the pale blue of her eyes gave her the look of a graceful flower in a meticulously planned and very well-tended garden—an iris, perhaps.
On the other hand, Lilly, with her unruly dark hair, blue-black eyes, and pink-cheeked complexion was the brash, stubborn weed that managed to grow between the cracks in a neglected sidewalk.
Despite their contrasting appearances—and all their other differences—they’d been fast friends since their first week in college. Audra was soft-spoken, generous, and prone to seeing the very best in people. Lilly talked fast, trusted few, and expected little from her fellow man. But Audra and the entire Montgomery family had always been exceptionally kind and welcoming to Lilly and in return she had given them her undying loyalty.
Which is why she’d do whatever she could to take this bad situation and make it better.
As if she had any certain idea on how to go about that successfully.
Taking a deliberate deep breath, she linked her arm with Audra’s. The idea of spending some recovery time at this resort had come to Lilly in the aftermath of the disaster. Audra’s dad had opined it an excellent idea and instantly offered up his credit card. The shattered expressions on the faces of both parents of the bride had underscored that they were as devastated as their daughter.
Audra’s mother hadn’t been able to stop crying and Mr. Montgomery declared he was going to take a cue from Lilly and go ahead with his and his wife’s already planned R & R trip to London for two weeks—as long as Lilly felt capable of supporting Audra on her own.
Knowing that hovering and noticeably upset parents would only make her friend more distraught, Lilly had promised she could handle it…and hoped like hell she wouldn’t make a liar of herself.
“Let’s go,” Lilly urged Audra now, stepping toward the check-in line.
The other woman didn’t move.
Turning to her, Lilly swallowed hard. There was so much pain in Audra’s eyes. “What is it, Audie?”
“Jacob,” she said in a near-whisper. “Maybe I should go back to the beach. Maybe he’ll show up there after all.”
The beach. Where there had been a beautiful rustic arbor decorated in seashells, ribbons, and draped with blue flowers just waiting for a pair of people to promise themselves to each other for a lifetime. White chairs for seventy-five guests. A string quartet preparing to accompany the sound of the surf as the bride walked down the sandy aisle.
“Jacob,” Lilly said, trying to control her rising rage at the thought of the jerk, “is not going to show up at the beach.”
“He might,” Audra insisted. “When he can’t reach me on my phone.”
Oops. That would be the phone that Lilly had hurled into the ocean after her best friend had showed her the text the groom had sent calling off the wedding. Just another of Lilly’s faults—a fiery temper, thanks to her French ancestors, she supposed. Her good arm was due
to two years playing left field on the dorm softball team.
“Come on,” Lilly urged again, forcing her friend forward. “We’re going to check into this lovely resort, strip out of these fancy clothes and pinching shoes, and get comfortable.” As she grabbed the handle of one suitcase and pushed another forward with her foot, she hoped like heck that Audra had packed something more than a bunch of bikinis and bridal lingerie—she and Jacob had been planning on leaving for their honeymoon in Tahiti the next day. According to the loathsome, cowardly text he’d sent, he’d exchanged his ticket for one on a flight that left that very afternoon.
“Are you sure staying here is the right thing to do?” Audra appealed to Lilly again, looking lost and nothing like the capable PR executive she was for her father’s company in Los Angeles.
“We don’t have to,” Lilly said, not above second thoughts. Maybe it would be best to drive the couple of hours home, especially because she couldn’t get rid of the sense of…well, not exactly foreboding, but she still felt uneasy.
Uneasy and excited and wound up like she’d felt every time she’d been in close proximity to him.
“Do you want to go back to LA instead?” she asked Audra. “Or we can call your folks. I’m sure they’d welcome you on their trip to London.”
Audra shuddered. “I can’t be around Mom and her disappointment right now. I can’t face my neighbors in LA. All the explanations…”
“We’ll think about that another time,” Lilly said briskly, and now hustled Audra and their luggage to the back of the line. “At this moment we’re getting ourselves a suite.”
As they waited their turn, Lilly’s nerves jittered again. She rubbed the back of her neck and forced herself not to take another surreptitious glance over her shoulder. But damn, her instincts were on high alert, and the coiling tension was making her a little queasy.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get a chance to spend more time with Alec,” Audra said.
Lilly turned to her friend, round-eyed. Nobody had seen them “spend” any “time” together, she would have sworn to it. “Alec? ‘Sorry’?”
She gave a little half-shrug. “He seemed taken with you.”
“He would have been taken with anyone unattached, female, and in the right age range,” she said with a snort. “I know the type.”
“Lilly,” Audra scolded, though her voice sounded as tired as her dress was beginning to look. “You’re such a cynic.”
Not cynical enough to have warned her friend that Jacob was a bad bet. And not mean enough to say “I told you so” when that proved to be true. But the fact was, she hadn’t expressed any doubts about her best friend’s engagement, despite her undeniable qualms. Some people deserved to find long-lasting, stable love, she’d told herself at the time. Audra was one of them.
But now Lilly felt she’d failed the woman who was closer to her than a sister. She should have found a way to dim some of those shining stars in her best friend’s eyes.
Damn. She felt a sting in her own, thinking of Audra’s dashed future plans. And maybe you’re disappointed in yourself for those girlish fancies you were indulging in about Alec Thatcher.
“Carrie Underwood,” Lilly said quickly, drowning out that little voice in her head. “‘Before He Cheats.’” It was a game they’d made up in college, naming the right song to fit the emotional moment. “I wish we could find Jacob’s car. I’d love to take a bat to his headlights.”
Beside her, Audra went still. “You…you think he broke our engagement because of another woman?”
Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. Of course Lilly thought exactly that. What man in his right mind wouldn’t marry beautiful Audra, beautiful Audra from a wealthy, prominent family, who was every guy’s dream of the ultimate good girl? There had to be someone else. Men were easily distracted and had no trouble moving on to the next bright shiny thing dangled in front of them.
“Sorry,” she muttered now, guilt twisting with the tension in her belly. “Don’t listen to me. What do I know?” Except that there were dozens of ways for so-called “love” to go wrong.
It’s why she’d stopped believing in it—at least for herself.
Smart, right? Look at Audra, who’d grown up with every advantage, every emotional support, and still ended up with a broken engagement and likely a broken heart to go with it. While Lilly hoped her friend would pick herself up and brush herself off after this—and fully intended to do her best to get Audra back on her feet—it was going to be hard not to worry about her friend flinging herself headlong into her next romance. But Lilly had no doubt that her bestie would do that very thing, once she healed.
And with that abundance of goodness inside of her, Audra might be able to have it all the next time around.
Now if her last name had been Durand…that was a whole different proposition altogether.
This is how Durands love, her aunt had told her once upon a time, sweeping up the shards of a beer bottle that had been violently flung against a wall.
That’s when Lilly had started wising up.
Which didn’t explain the, well…giddiness that damn Alec Thatcher had made her feel.
Damn Alec Thatcher. She was going to think about him like that for the rest of her days.
No, she was going to stop thinking of him altogether. Immediately.
The next available clerk beckoned them forward. Lilly shuffled in the direction of the long, gleaming reception desk, each hand fisted around a suitcase handle, Audra trailing behind her. With dismay, Lilly realized the employee waiting for them was a young man. What would he think of their strange half-wedding, half-Pilates class get-ups? She’d rather they’d scored one of the two female clerks standing to his right, who looked to be in their twenties and also sisters or cousins or something. The pretty women would be sympathetic to the situation and likely have the savvy not to mention their odd mode of dress.
But their guy didn’t blink an eye and took hold of the platinum card she presented. “Yes,” he murmured, starting to key something into a computer. “Mr. Montgomery already called ahead and made sure we set aside the best suite available for you.”
Of course he had. The rich really were different, Lilly thought. It wasn’t bitter, that thought, just an observation. Wealth made things so much easier.
Order the pricey wedding planner to de-construct the nuptials-that-should-have-been. Book fancy rooms at a luxe resort for your daughter and her friend.
Lilly’s mind conjured up that tall, athletic man with the charm and the grin who had been slated to stand up for the groom at those canceled nuptials.
Flirt with a woman you just met because you both were in town for the same wedding. Within hours, tow her to a secluded corner and kiss her like you’d already spent hours in bed with her, it was that intimate and panty dampening-demanding. Suggest in a hot whisper they go to this B & B he knew of at Lake Arrowhead for a weekend soon—she’d love the place, with its mountain views and in-room hot tub. He’d make all the arrangements.
Because damn Alec Thatcher was rich too.
And Lilly, giddy—yes, giddy was the right word—on whatever powerful pheromones that man oozed without seeming effort, had begun forgetting a lifetime of caution, allowing secret fantasies to unfurl like seedlings beneath a warm sun.
Stupid. Dangerous. Foolish.
“You’re all set,” the clerk said now, handing over a pair of keycards in paper sleeves. Next he whipped out a map to draw the route to their bungalow nestled amongst the lush greenery of the expansive grounds. When Lilly assured him they could find their own way and handle their minimal luggage alone—Durands were accustomed to doing for themselves—she turned to Audra.
Her best friend’s desolate expression made Lilly’s already heavy heart drop toward her pinching shoes.
“This way,” she said gently, hooking her elbow around the other woman’s arm once again. “Let’s get on with it.”
Get on with Audra’s healing.
And the
screwing-her-head-on-straight for Lilly.
No more thinking of Alec Thatcher, she reminded herself in stern tones. All the daydreaming she’d indulged in for the last couple of days during the pre-wedding hoopla was O-V-E-R. Lilly Durand would recall once more that love was just a fairy tale, and unlike Audra, she’d never been anything close to a princess.
A couple of hours later, Lilly wandered among the flourishing flowers, shrubs, and trees that served to enhance the resort’s air of opulent luxury. The paths were well-groomed and serpentine, allowing her on-and-off glimpses of the lagoon pool, a putting green, and the ocean in the near distance as she ambled, hoping for inspiration in dealing with the Audra problem.
The healing wasn’t happening…not in the least little bit.
Upon arriving inside their bungalow, Audra had zombie-walked straight into one of the bedrooms that were separated by a pretty living area. She’d crawled onto the bed and curled into a ball, still in her wedding gown and hoodie. Lilly had removed her friend’s shoes and covered her with a woolen throw…and then wrung her hands waiting for some further sign of distress…or life.
But Audra’s eyes remained firmly closed and after a while Lilly had changed into dressy jeans, a silky collared shirt, and loafers, then decided an exploration of their environs was in order. Now she felt almost guilty for enjoying the mingled scents of fragrant blossoms and salty ocean. A light melody filtered through the limbs of spreading ficus trees and graceful palms as the afternoon slid toward evening. Another guest walked by, wrapped in a terry robe with an embroidered logo—Dragonfly Spa—on the front, giving Lilly a new idea.
She’d gather up the information on the spa services, the meditation and exercise class schedules, she decided. Maybe the prospect of partaking of those would entice Audra to sit up, get out of that dress, and begin the process of moving on with her life.
NO LIMIT (7-Stud Club Book 2) Page 21
