When Talia first moved from California to Australia to study abroad, she never dreamed she'd find the love of her life. Bran understands her like no one ever has before. And despite the numerous challenges they've faced, they've always managed to figure out how to stay together. But this time they'll face their toughest hurdle yet. Is their love strong enough to keep them together?
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About the author:
After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, Lia Riley scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live mostly in Northern California.
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“See how I want you.” His agonized whisper is barely audible over
the water lashing the tiles. His hips lose their slow, lazy tempo. He pounds
himself deeper, harder.
An intense ache spreads from my belly through my breasts. I’ve
forgotten what it feels like to be turned on. Muscles tighten within my sex.
I’m fast remembering.
“Want. You. So. Bloody. Much.” He always sounds like this right
before he comes, as if it hurts, like I’m pressing on a wound that’s too much to bear. “Damn it, Talia.”
I can’t look away as he loses himself in a blaze. I’m a prism,
refracting his light. His features spin through a kaleidoscope of emotions
starting at brutal need and ending with an unexpected vulnerability. My fear
about the future disperses so quickly it’s hard to believe only minutes ago it
felt inescapable. Bran isn’t some scary what-if. He’s a fact, a truth to hold
on to against all life’s uncertainty. Why have I been so afraid he’ll see me as
a walking disaster? He knows what it’s like to mess up, to feel like a failure.
I need to reframe my question. Rather than asking what if Bran gets sick of me,
maybe I should ask, what if we’ve worked our asses off, and finally have a shot
at a real forever?
He falls to his knees and grabs me before I can take a breath or do
anything but throw my arms around his lean shoulders. Water soaks through the
white cotton of my pajama pants until I might as well be naked too.
“Show me the way back to you.” He buries his face in my neck, drags
his lips to the place behind my ear, the headwaters for all delicious shivers.
“I want that so much.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes, go off the map.”
“You will?”
“We’re already there.”
He’s right. We’ve been explorers for some time. During the last
little while it’s as if a blizzard descended, we were stuck in a whiteout, so
close, but the snow made everything indistinguishable. At last, the storm’s
abating and he’s right there, and I’m over here. Suddenly, we can see each
other.
Within us is the way forward. We each possess half of the compass
and must join together to find the right direction.
“You’ve got to know how much I need you.” A lock of his wet hair
twists in a boyish curl.
I go to smooth it down, but my fingers tangle in the thick waves,
and instead draw him closer.
He bows his head, still panting a little. “You can’t check out on
me like that again. I can’t live this bloody life devoid of you—”
I brush my mouth over his lower lip, that reddening mark where his
teeth left imprints. “I won’t. I’m so sorry. I-I’m ready to try. Thank you for
believing in me.”
“I’ll never stop.”
We rest our foreheads together, holding one another upright.
Droplets fall from his hairline onto my cheeks, joining fresh tears. He’s
water, I’m water, and our flotsam and jetsam fit in a way that’s strange, yet
familiar. I have no idea where we’re going, only that the way out is lined with
broken feathers, bloodstains, marrow ash, and the serrated teeth of sharks.
This journey will take all I’ve got, a small price to have
everything.
And that’s exactly what this guy in my arms is.
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