Final Teaser

With just one day left to go before the release of my New Adult contemporary romance, I thought it would be good to have one last teaser. I’ll post both an image teaser like I’ve been doing and a full excerpt from the book.

Excerpt:

I want to ask if I’ll see him again, but now that the sun is coming up and reality is sinking back in, I’m confused and torn in two directions. I really like him, but he doesn’t need for me to drag him into my mess. And the closer I get to someone new, the harder it will be to keep secrets. Until I can be sure I’m ready to talk about what happened up in Boston, I can’t really allow myself to start something new. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us.

Still, I want him. There’s no denying it. Is it stupid to push him away?

“Thanks for the ride,” I say when we get to the parking lot.

“It was my pleasure.”

I place my hand on the large metal handle of the old truck. “I’ll be sure to look for you next time I’m stranded in the middle of the night,” I say with a laugh.

He leans forward against the steering wheel. “I was hoping maybe we could see each other sooner than that.”

I press my lips together and close my eyes. I don’t know what to say to that.

“I really did have fun tonight,” I say. My heart is aching because I want to be free and tell him that yes, let’s see each other tomorrow and the next day and the next. But at the same time, I am still chained to my past. I can’t afford to get hurt right now.

“But?” he says.

I shrug. “But my life is really complicated right now.”

He studies me. “Maybe that’s why you should just say yes,” he says. “Sounds to me like you could really use more nights like tonight.”

I can’t help but smile. He’s definitely right about that. “The problem is that nothing stays fun and carefree like this forever,” I say. “Once emotions get tangled up inside it, everything becomes complicated. And I can’t afford another ounce of complicated right now.”

His face falls and he swallows hard. “Whatever happened to you, I wish I could take it all away.”

The words sink deep into my heart and hot tears spring to my eyes. “It doesn’t work like that,” I say, my voice barely a whisper.

“I know,” he says. “Doesn’t make me wish it any less.”

We sit there, a heavy silence between us. I feel the weight of the words I wish we could say to each other. Words we might share in another place, another time, if things weren’t so complicated. If we both hadn’t been through so much that wanted to stay buried.

I grab my high heels from the floorboard of the truck and open the door. “Good night, Knox,” I say.

“Good night, Leigh Anne,” he says back.

I still feel our connection tugging on me as I step onto the pavement.

It lingers long after I’ve gotten in my car and driven away from him, wishing I’d had the courage to say yes.