When photographer Cloe Gaige gets
assigned to cover the Pro Kiteboarding finals in Morocco she never expects to
run into her childhood crush. Back then, their age difference is what caused
her to pull away. Would he resent her for how she treated him back then?
Fully grown, pro kiteboarder Kai
Shephard is a tough competitor used to going after what he wants…and getting
it. When he catches sight of Chloe in the crowd with her camera, nothing can
stop him from trying to be with her again. Except Chloe, that is. Would she see
him for the man he is now?
Read an excerpt:
“I’m
glad you’re here, Chloe.”
“You
are?”
He
turned his head toward her and looked into her eyes, his hands pressed into her
back, drawing her closer. “Because I’ve thought of that night hundreds of
times.” His words were loaded with meaning.
Chloe
skimmed her eyes over his handsome face. He was positively smoldering with
emotion. She swallowed hard. This was the moment, the one she would never
forget. Her eyes locked on his and her mind churned over the different signals
and sensations her body was picking up.
“Have
you?” he whispered.
They
were so close. His lips were right there, and he could kiss her any second. His
deep, dark eyes were drawing her in.
She
nodded.
He
lay still, waiting, but she said nothing more. “You have to give me more than
that,” he said. “I still don’t know what happened. I thought you liked it when
I kissed you.”
Anxiety
filled her. It was time to come clean. What would he think of her reasons? How
would he see her after she admitted what a weak person she was? “I did,” she
said blurted. “It was just….”
His
clasp on her back remained firm and he turned his body to face hers so their
fronts were pressed together. “Just what?”
Chloe
could feel her face filling with the heat of embarrassment. Did he really want
to talk about it? “It was just…school and my friends and….” She stopped and
buried her face in his chest, not wanting to say anything more. He smelled so
good. The warm scent of athletic male and ocean breeze.
He
grasped her chin with his hand and lifted her face. “What else?”
Looked
like she wasn’t going to be able to get out of explaining. He had that earnest
look in his eyes again, the one she remembered from long ago.
“I
need to know,” he said.
She
couldn’t deny him. “Our age difference,” she said with a wince.
“Seriously?”
His breath whooshed out with his surprise. “I mean, I know you’ve made comments
about it before, but that was the
reason you wouldn’t talk to me anymore?”
“Yes.
No. Sort of,” she said in a rush. “Couldn’t you see how strange it would have
been?”
“No.”
She
sighed. “Of course not. You are such a male. If you were a teenage girl you
would understand.”
“What
is there to understand?”
She
pulled away from him and lay on her back once again. “All the pressure,” she
said. “To fit in, to be cool, to be part of the group.”
“And
you and me would have been a problem?” he asked, sounding hurt.
The
tone in his voice caused her long-held guilt to well up. “Not a problem,
exactly. Just…not usual. I don’t think the guys in the senior class we always
hung out with would have accepted you even if some of my friends had,” she
explained. “Come on, Kai. I’m sure you remember what it was like being a
teenager.”
He
ran a hand through his hair and stared up at the stars. “I do but what I don’t
remember is ever having problems fitting in.” After a moment he gave a great
exhale. “Okay, sure. I guess I can understand. Not that I’ve ever lived my life
caring about that stuff, but…I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.” Using
the arm still cushioning her head and shoulders, he turned her to face him
again. “But you did like me then?” he asked.
She
nodded.
He
smiled. “And what about now?”
She
felt shy and squirmy under his gaze but admitted with hesitation, “Yes.”
He
beamed at her response. “And does our age difference still bother you? I’m
twenty-one and you’re twenty-three. We’re always going to be a couple of years
apart.”
She
looked away from him feeling very shy and hating it. He still liked her? Was it
possible after she’d rejected him? A small thrill shot through her stomach.
“No. Why should it bother me?” she said, with a small shrug. Chloe was sure she
looked braver than she felt.
“Because
I want to be with you, Chloe. I want what was lost to us before.” He searched
her face with his eyes and then added in a low voice, “And because I’m going to
kiss you.”
Find the book on release day:
EvernightPublishing, Amazon, All Romance e-Books, Barnes and Noble, BookStrand, Apple
iBooks, Sony or add it to your shelf on Goodreads
About Jewel:
From a young age, Jewel Quinlan had an abundant
imagination and strong desire to write novels.
She particularly enjoys writing paranormal and fantasy romance. An avid
traveler, she has visited fifteen countries so far (which she enjoys using as
settings in her novels) and has plans to see more of the world. She has a
particular fondness for Bavaria and studies the German language as one of her
hobbies. During the day, she works as a pharmaceutical sales representative
and, at night, she writes romance. She currently lives in Orange County,
California with her two dogs; Shimmer and Penny.
For more information about books by
Jewel Quinlan visit her website and blog or you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter
