EXCERPT
“What are you, Casey?”
Ryder asks over his shoulder as he scrubs his hands with antibacterial soap.
“Your little cancer
warrior,” she answers with a small smile.
“That’s right.” He dries
his hands and turns, a proud grin cracking his mouth. “The bravest one ever.”
I grab Casey’s hand and
hold it tight, knowing nothing I’ve ever seen, heard, or felt compares to what
she’s facing. This child’s living with a fear I can’t comprehend. One that’d
slay all of my fears put together.
“Ready?” Ryder asks, his
tone soft and caring, everything it should be.
Casey nods, clenching my
hand. My heart swells, anxiety building thick in my throat as Ryder slips on a
pair of medical gloves and cleans the area around her port with Betadine swabs.
Casey looks at me, the cool
blue of her eyes misting over. “Are you scared of needles?”
“No,” I say, running my
free hand along the back of her neck. “Are you?”
“I used to be.” She sighs,
a single tear slipping down her face. “But not so much anymore.”
It takes everything in me
not to drag her little body off the table and run out of the apartment with
her. I wipe the tear from her cheek, my need to hide her away, sheltering her
from the sinister storm she’s in the middle of, growing with each unsteady
breath.
“A little cold,” Ryder
warns before spraying the anesthetic on her skin.
“Hurry, Ry,” Casey pleads,
her voice weak yet panicked. “It doesn’t last that long.”
“I have to make sure you’re
numb, Case.” Ryder ducks his head and stares into her eyes, trying to keep her
focused on the silly faces he’s making.
His tactic works.
Casey’s tiny giggles bounce
around the kitchen, their musical notes blocking out the sound of Ryder popping
the cap off a weird-looking needle. With a small, clear tube like a tail—and
plastic wings stretched out on either side—it reminds me of a dragonfly. Ryder
presses his gloved finger against Casey’s port a few times, his attention honed
in on her face as he says, “Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?” Casey smiles
at me, completely unaware that Ryder’s pricked her skin with the needle.
“Aardvark.” Ryder pushes
the medicine through the syringe, his attention cutting between Casey’s face
and the needle.
“Aardvark who?” she
manages, a thin sheen of sweat dotting her upper lip.
“Aardvark a hundred miles
for one of your pretty smiles.” Ryder pulls the needle from her chest, and
before she can blink, he rests his lips against her forehead, kissing away her
remaining fear.
Close to immobile, my heart
tugs, the magnitude of what this man means to this little girl—what they mean
to each other—scraping tears up my
dry throat. I swallow the sound before it can leave me, warmth pinching my
stomach into a beautiful knot as I observe them.
“It’s over?” Casey asks,
uncertainty flashing in her eyes.
“Yeah, kiddo. It’s over,”
Ryder answers, his voice heavy with relief as he applies a small piece of gauze
over her port. “You’re all set, warrior. Go get cleaned up, and we’ll get ready
to leave.”
With Ryder’s aid, Casey
slides off the table and heads for the bathroom, the bounce in her step less
tangible as she slips around the corner. Quiet reigns, the events from the last
few minutes whispering across my mind as Ryder looks at me with exhausted eyes.
Stress lines cut across his forehead, wariness drowning his beautiful features.
Overcome, I watch him swipe a tired hand over his face and turn, resting his
palms against the counter. As though having no control over my body—a magnet
pulling in my gut—I stand and move toward him, each tentative step I take
carried out with shallow, quick breaths. I come up behind him, lift a shaky
hand and tap his shoulder, my pulse lurching as he turns and meets my gaze. Our
connection strikes, a bolt of emotions paralyzing us as we stare at each other.
I touch my fingers to his
stubbled cheek, my conscience crying out that my actions are wrong, so very wrong,
but my heart mutes the warning as I move my palm to the back of his neck.
His muscles go taut,
restraint lighting the fiery blue of his eyes. “Amber, don’t.” The words come
out not as a rough warning but a soft plea. “Don’t do this.”
“I have to,” I whisper,
trembling. “You’re . . . amazing, Ryder. What you did for her, everything you do for her . . . I just .
. .” I drop my eyes to his chest, my heart galloping as I register his hands
gripping my waist. Their heat sears through me, a thrill jumping from cell to
cell. “You’re tender, cocky, gentle, and an asshole all at the same time.
You’re kind, giving, nurturing. You’re . . . everything.”
My lips find his, testing,
teasing, barely touching. Our breathing comes faster, harder as I pull him
down, our foreheads pressed together as we stare into each other’s eyes.
“Please . . . I just . . . Just once more. That’s all I need.”
I think . . . hope.
With hunger demolishing all
traces of restraint from his gaze, Ryder buries his hands in my wavy curls and
looks at me a beat before capturing my lips in a slow, passionate kiss. I sigh
into his mouth, my senses drowning in his familiar flavor as I fall in step
with his calculated strokes. On a deep groan, he draws me closer, his tongue
dipping in and out, out and in. Still, nothing about his touch is rough, yet
everything in it screams that he needs me in this moment.
In this wicked space and
time of his life.
Every lick and nip is a
soft caress, like he’s trying to burn the sensation of my lips into his memory.
My pulse hammers in staccato mode as I melt the full weight of my body into
his. With my blood swimming through my veins, and sinking further into everything
that is Ryder, I feel the emptiness
of his soul slice through me. A dull ache pinches my heart, spreading its
misery through my muscles as he cups my cheeks and deepens the kiss with a
gentleness I never knew he possessed. My breath catches, wiped from my lungs as
he glides his lips along my jaw, down the base of my throat. The cadence of his
exotic growl slips through my ears, dizzying my head in the sweetest way.
“Christ, I fucking want you
so bad,” Ryder whispers hoarsely. He drags his lips back to mine, his kiss
urgent, greedy. However, he brings it down a notch, his movements revisiting
slow, sensual, worshipping this moment for everything it is. Worshipping me for all I am. “So badly, peach. More
than I’ve ever wanted anything or anyone. You drive me crazy. Your smell, skin,
eyes.” He sucks my lip between his teeth, a groan punching from his chest as he
runs his fingertips along my bare arms.
Goose bumps pop,
deliciously pricking my skin as I tighten my grip in his hair.
“Your little giggles,
pouts, personality. Every single fucked-up scar you own in and out. All of it.
All of you.” He licks into my mouth,
his tongue exploring mine with precision as his hands find my nape, their hold
possessive. “Fuck. It should’ve been me. Not him. Me.”
And just like that, our
moral compasses spring due north, Brock the center of its attention—our attention. We slowly break the kiss,
our breathing choppy from the loss.
Are you
Team Ryder or Team Brock?
Find out
in Amber to Ashes Releasing on June 9th!
Pre-order NOW AVAILABLE
AMAZON US
Blurb
From the New York Times bestselling author of Collide and Pulse comes a gritty new novel about a shattered young woman who
unexpectedly falls for two best friends.
They were a storm I never saw coming, an
unforeseen heartbreak on the edge of a dangerous cliff.
Amber
Moretti’s life changes in the span of minutes. An orphaned outsider, she is
desperate to start fresh the moment she walks onto campus. In the time it takes
to cross the university’s dining hall, she meets two men who bring color, air,
and light to her darkened world.
They became my addiction, each a needle
to my next hit, my high.
Brock
Cunningham’s appeal is dizzying, a potent force Amber can’t deny. A green-eyed
smooth talker, he instantly attracts Amber. It doesn’t take long for him to
consume her every thought, her every breath.
Ryder
Ashcroft, a blue-eyed, tattooed, and pierced bad boy, turns Amber off
immediately—that is, until he kisses her, stealing a piece of her heart, her
soul.
They were as opposite as fire and ice,
yet I ached for them equally.
Never
knowing she could be broken down in so many unexpectedly beautiful yet
petrifying ways, Amber finds herself falling for both men.
Immoral? Maybe. I say undeniable.
Uncontained.
But one
devastating event changes everything, shattering each of their lives...and
Amber isn’t sure she can recover from it.
About the Author
A
self-proclaimed chocoholic, married mother of three, and a lover of writing for
as far back as she can remember, Gail McHugh is the author of two New York
Times bestselling novels. The COLLIDE series (which includes COLLIDE and
PULSE), was acquired by Atria Books on September 17th, 2013.
"The first of two sexy contemporary romances about a woman torn between her seemingly perfect boyfriend and a dark, mysterious stranger who will stop at nothing to have her." - Publishers Weekly on COLLIDE, a Top 10 Romance pick!
You can follow Gail on the below social media sites:
"The first of two sexy contemporary romances about a woman torn between her seemingly perfect boyfriend and a dark, mysterious stranger who will stop at nothing to have her." - Publishers Weekly on COLLIDE, a Top 10 Romance pick!
You can follow Gail on the below social media sites: