More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
What she’s made abundantly clear is that I’m no competition when it comes to her love and loyalty for Nate Butler. Over that, I have absolutely no control. She may be a vulture too, for picking me to the bone and consuming my waking thoughts.
having decided anyone who listens to music while emotionally compromised is a masochist.
“I really just want to talk to you, so please don’t force me to play dirty because I have time to kill between gigs, and if you don’t get,” he bites his lip, “your perfect ass in my van, I’m going to bend you over Monday morning and bite it right in front of your daddy. Bet.”
A tale as old as time as far as human nature is concerned. I want what I can’t have.
because if Easton’s taught me anything in our time together, it’s that though music is dated with a time stamp and divided by genre, it’s timeless.
You punched a hole in my goddamned chest in Seattle, only to leave me in the dark to try and figure out how to fill it.”
Something sparks in his eye as he dips in a whisper. “That’s the thing, Beauty. With me, you rarely have to say a word.” “You keep calling me that.” “Yeah, well, it’s a large part of the reason I drove to Austin to collect the girl I met. Because that’s all I see when she reveals herself to me.” He runs a gentle thumb across my lower lip. “Raw. Fucking. Beauty.”
She’s everything I remembered but somehow even more beautiful, more alluring. Simply put, she’s just fucking more.
I’ve never been so drawn to another human being, and I’ll be damned if I give up without a fight. Even if she plans on spending the weekend letting me down gently, by the time she leaves, she’ll know exactly how much those days meant to me.
A black titanium cross dangles from his neck and peeks above the collar of his dark blue T-shirt which clings to his build in all the right places. Light denim jeans accentuate his muscular thighs tapering down to well-worn, dark leather boots. As if that wasn’t enough, inch-thick leather cuffs are secured by large silver snaps around his wrists, along with the titanium thumb ring and tiger’s eye pinkie ring he wore the day we met, making him look every bit the rock star he is.
“Please, baby, please,” he whimpers, “get us the fuck off this highway.” “I’m on it,” I reply instantly, stunned by his term of endearment as the directions populate. He darts his gaze between the rearview, side view, and the road while my heart rate continues to spike, beat after beat. He’s said it before, when we were intimate, in the moment. I know why this one hit so differently. It’s because of how he said it—so naturally, as if we already exist as an us, as if I already belong to him in the most intimate sense. It’s also because I know I want so much for it to be a possibility, to be the
...more
“I don’t have the urge to call my friends and share my highs and lows. I don’t miss them with an ache so deeply etched inside that it keeps me awake at night, and I sure as fuck don’t drive for hours in hopes they’ll spend a few days with me. And I definitely don’t jerk off to the image of them coming on my cock. I don’t feel this way for my friends, Natalie—close or otherwise—so I dare you to call me your close friend again,” he warns. “I fucking dare you.”
“I look at you, and honestly, I just don’t give a fuck. It physically fucking hurt me when you slammed that door on me.”
“You can do this with me, but you won’t. There’s a difference, and I would drop it, but I know how you feel about me. You don’t want this limited to friendship any more than I do.”
I am my father’s daughter. I’m his legacy, and his legacy is my future. Nate Butler has been my rock, my hero, and the man in my life my whole existence, and I can’t forgo him or our relationship so easily. Our relationship is precious and sacred to me, and I’m done explaining that to Easton because it’s falling on deaf ears.
Having a reason to despise him will make things a hell of a lot easier because right now, I can’t reconcile the mess between what my heart is screaming and what my head is trying to explain. But one thing is for sure, both are roaring mad and jointly jaded by his shitty behavior. He once told me vindictive behavior doesn’t come naturally to him. Tonight, he made himself a liar.
A large part of me wishes I’d never flown to Seattle, never laid eyes on Easton, never raced after him out of that bar, and got into his truck. That I didn’t know the feel of his hands, the pull of his scent, the warmth that emanates from him. That I’d never got lost in his blazing kisses, or discovered the intensity of our chemistry, or felt the weight of his body on top of mine. I wish I’d never become privy to the intensity of his lovemaking, the mind-blowing feel of his thrusts and the rippling of ecstasy that follows.
“Don’t make me come after you, Beauty. If I do, you won’t like it. Neither will your editor.”
“I don’t have enough time to talk sense into stupid, but you can take that judgmental look and shove it up your ass, pal.” I snap. “I have a degree and a penchant for writing from which I make my living. Which means I can pay my own fucking bills. I can also cook a five-course meal and change a flat tire. I even have my own set of power tools. And while I can do all of that, I can also embrace my femininity, rock this dress, these heels, and enjoy the feel of both while I feast on the dick of any worthy man of my choosing.” I step up to the asshole who put me on the offensive with a mere look,
...more
The joke’s on those surrounding him, though, because he’s the supernova, the one passing them at lightning speed.
I don’t want to play adult games with a childish heart.
though words are supposed to be your kryptonite, mine don’t seem to do shit.”
“Intelligent men don’t let life-changing women pass them by without trying to grasp onto them with both hands. I don’t need endless months to figure out you’re that woman for me. I’m not most men, Natalie. I know exactly what I don’t want, and it’s everything outside of that door. What I do want is standing in front of me, and the idea of letting her walk away from me a second time is fucking eating me alive.”
“This is me fighting dirty for us both, so please just admit it so I can give you the best parts of me, because I want every fucking part of you.”
A fast tear falls as the first confession tumbles from my lips. “I cried the whole way back to the airport because I knew it would never feel the same with anyone else, so I haven’t bothered to look. I couldn’t.” Another tear falls. “I wrote that article because I wanted you to know I saw you, and I love what I saw inside you. Because I was frantic on that plane to keep a piece of you—of us—as close to me as possible. And because I felt the dire need to try to protect you, and that was the only way I could think of doing it.” I swallow. “I’ve thought about nothing but you since I left
...more
“Poor baby, it must have been sooo agonizing with all those titties and bare-naked asses bouncing around you.” Batting my lashes, I dole out my best Southern drawl. “However did you cope until I arrived? Bless your little heart.”
“Will you at least read the emails?” “Because you’re having such an awesome time dealing? No fucking thank you.”
can we have a ‘no exes within ten miles’ rule?” “Let’s make it a fucking hundred.”
“I’m going to be the man to satisfy every filthy fantasy you come up with. Bet.”
My attraction for her hums through me now—a beastly threat that I, in no way, want to cage.
Her lips curve into a sultry, reflective smile, and I shoot a quick prayer up to the creator of souls that this feeling never leaves me.
“I’ll have to be all of it, your boyfriend, your best friend, and confidant. I’m fine with that, just until we come clean with our parents. Okay?”
“And while the ‘no ex within a hundred miles rule’ is very fucking much in effect,” I add, “insecurity and jealousy will end us faster than our discovery might—at least when it comes to your line of thinking.”
“So, we have to keep our heads at all times. Any photo or anything you read in print gets discussed before it’s argued about.”
“You’re making me a weak woman.” “You’re kidding, right?” I chuckle and brush my thumb beneath her lower lip. “You fought like a four-star fucking general last night.”
She’s under my skin, fueling my days, lightning in my veins. I’m already gone.
“Benji?” “He’s like a son to me, but he’s jaded as hell, and sadly his perception is a bit fucking skewed because of what he’s been through with Ben and Lexi. He’s smart. I’ll give him that, probably more intelligent than all of us. Buried somewhere inside him is a good heart, but make no mistake, he’s got more acid than blood running through him at this point.”
“He has a strong aversion to our government and commitment issues, but that’s Benji’s prerogative. Credit me for having a mind of my own.”
“Fuck, you look beautiful.” “You need your eyes checked, buddy. I’m a hot, sweaty mess.” “You were the last time I saw you, too, and you looked just as beautiful.”
“Seriously? Right now, I would fly into the fucking sun to get back to where we were last weekend. I felt sick when I had to leave you in that chalet.”
I don’t want to hide anymore. If that means being reckless and stupid, then I’ll be reckless and stupid with you. Being with you makes me happy. Everyone close to me can see a difference in me, and I want to tell them why. I want to tell them who you are and what you mean to me. Who I belong to and with. I’m not mad, I swear, and I’ll relay that to your cock myself, which by the way, isn’t broken, but only answers to its new owner. Drive Safe. XX
“You can’t base important life decisions on the feelings of others. That’s one thing I can say for certain. What you two found with each other and have now is rare, really fucking rare, and I can attest to that because I’ve watched it happen. So, embrace it for what it is and let the worries for what might be go for now, because those are out of your control.”
He’s dressed in all black, including his jeans and boots, along with the leather cuffs I bit into, leaving an indentation on them the last time he took me roughly.
This can’t be bought or bottled. It can’t be replicated, duplicated, or imitated. Being with Easton in any capacity is like trying to cling to a shooting star, and somewhere inside, I know that if I don’t relish this time with him, I’ll miss it as he burns his brightest.
Love is purpose, belonging, and the very definition of living.
Surrounded by thousands, he holds me captive as I become helplessly attuned to the fact I’m utterly, hopelessly, and desperately fucking in love with Elliot Easton Crowne.
I’m done hiding. From everyone. I’m done hiding my love for this man, period. Endless daydreams of a repressed future start to unfurl as he continues to pour himself, his love, into me with the most beautiful of love songs.
“N-no,” I say, pulling my hand away, “No. N-no more h-hiding.” He stares down at me, weighing my words. “You’re sure?” “Positive,” I sniff. “I l-love you, Easton. With e-everything in me. No more hiding—from anyone.”
“I-I-I’m ruined. You’ve r-ruined me!” “Only fair.” I read his lips more than I’m able to hear him due to the increasing commotion surrounding us. “W-w-wh-hat the hell am I s-s-s-upposed to do now?” I sniff and shake my head as he clears the mascara beneath my eyes. He grips the sides of my face, his gaze prodding. “Marry me.”
“Marry me,” he repeats, “let’s do it, let’s make a life together.” He slowly lifts my left hand and presses a soft, full-lipped kiss to my empty ring finger. “Marry me because we’re the rare, lucky ones who managed to find something together so many others don’t have—it would feel criminal not to. For both our sakes, marry me, Beauty, right now, marry me tonight.”
