Seeing Black (34 page)

“Wait one sec.” She let go of his hand and ran
towards the object that had been hovering above her and had fallen.
She could hear Alexander’s bare feet shuffling in the sand behind
her. She walked to where she thought the object had fallen.

“What is it?” Alexander asked behind her. She bent
over to pick it up.

“Hmmm? It’s a kite,” she said.

Alexander looked around. “Did it just fall?”

Jill nodded. “Yeah. I saw it. It was gliding and
gliding, and then it just fell.”

“Who flies a kite at night? There’s not even that
much wind. And a black kite? That’s weird. I bet you can barely see
it at night.”

Jill held on to it. She turned it around. The string
was threadbare and broken, and there was a rip on one of the
corners. It was just a plain, dollar-store, run-of-the-mill kite,
except it was black and boring, yet it wasn’t. It was exceptional
because, even broken, it had managed to hover. To fly. To glide.
And when the moonlight hit it at just the right angle, it even
shone. It was a beacon of light. And the only thing Jill could
think of was Paul. “Paul Black.”

Alexander took the kite in his hand and looked at
it. Looked around, possibly to see if the owner of the kite was
nearby. When there was no other explanation, he nodded. “I will
always be grateful to Black. Seeing Black that day in my house was
what saved you.”

She nodded. A lump formed in her throat, and she was
at a loss for words. Two men. Two nemeses. Two heroes. The two men
who loved her unconditionally, but only one had survived. The other
one would never be far. At least in her heart, he remained.

Jillian and Alexander walked hand in hand back to
the suite. They were still salty from their earlier swim in the
ocean. They were headed to the same suite that she had met with
Rocco in over a year ago. It was a lovely suite. And even though
Alexander had asked numerous times if she was sure she wanted to go
back to Rota Island to recover, she was sure because it would never
be Rota Island to her. It would always be Onion Island. But she
still believed in Fate. Even if it weren’t some romantic notion
that some higher being had brought all of them together, even if it
had turned out to be her father and uncle’s maniacal attempt to
kill her and her mother, she still somehow ended up on that island
twenty-four years ago. It was the same island that Oliver and
Alexander were born on, the same island where she would marry
Alexander. No one else would be there—not Oliver, not Heather, no
one—because there was no time to waste. Their courtship had lasted
long enough. When he’d presented her with a three-carat ring the
same day they arrived—three days ago—she’d said yes before he
finished asking. He had hidden the ring in a seashell, an unusual
looking seashell, that he had purposely placed for her to see.
She’d picked it up and looked at it, made a comment as to how
beautiful it was, and then the ring had fallen out. With tears in
his eyes, he’d gone down on one knee, and she’d jumped up and
knocked him down to the sand, yelling, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” at the same
time he tried to say, “Red, will you ma—” That’s as far as he had
gotten.

After they’d arrived back, they had to give report
after report, interview upon interview, account upon account as to
what had happened, about what her father had done, not just to her
but to everyone through the years. Alexander and Jillian had spent
four days in bed. He’d held her, told her all the ways he loved
her, and showed her all the ways he loved her. Then he told her
they’d leave for a few weeks away. They needed time alone. She
needed time to recover. He needed time to recover. He had never
given upon her, and for that, she would always be grateful. She
loved him even more if that were possible. Even Oliver, whom she
would never hold it against, had given up. Not his love, but he had
considered her dead or a runaway. Seven months was a long time to
hold on to hope, but Alexander did. She knew he would find her.
They were connected. Psychic or not, paranormal or not, there was a
connection, and he had felt her. He’d known she was alive. He told
her over and over.

When Jill put all the practicalities back in
order—reenrolling in school, which was no problem considering the
circumstances, same thing for Alexander—they found themselves with
a few free months. Jill was given the good news of Heather and
Oliver’s engagement, which apparently had been beautiful and
heartfelt. She’d expected nothing less from Oliver. Heather had
told her that the combination of hoping, searching, and finally
grieving for Jill had brought them together in a way that they just
didn’t want to waste one single minute. A quick engagement had been
the only option.

So, now here they were, Jill and Alexander, entering
the sanctuary of the suite. With one hand, Alexander untied the
knot that held the top of her bathing suit together. The red
bathing suit top that only accentuated her red hair even further
fell to the floor. As if she hadn’t noticed, she continued to walk,
giving him her back. He lunged towards her, causing a yelp, and
placed her gently on the bed, the white four-poster bed with lush
mosquito netting around it. The doors remained opened in their own
secluded paradise. The waves of the ocean and her panting noises
were all the sounds that could be heard. Jill’s long red curly hair
framed around her face, contrasting dramatically with the white
duvet. Alexander lay next to her. His arm held his head up as he
traced with his index finger the small trail of sweat that had
still not completely dried. Then he bent down, and his tongue
trailed down the same path as the sweat that had slowly made its
way down her body. He placed small sensual kisses at the pulsating
point under her ear, down her neck, moving sideways to the center
of her clavicle, down the middle of her chest, between her breasts,
licking, kissing, and nibbling, all the way down her navel. “You
taste like the beach.” He mumbled as he ravished. He untied the
sides of her string bikini and pulled it away and flung it across
the room. Quickly, he stood and removed his blue board shorts so
that they both lay naked against the white cloud of cotton.

They had wasted enough time being apart. Jill glided
her bare leg between his bare thighs and then kissed her way from
his jaw down to his chest. She flipped over and startled him. It
caught him off guard. She wasn’t normally so forward in bed.

“I want you,” Jill said as she bent down to kiss his
ear. It was an insane, frenzied kiss.

He put his hands behind his neck and grinned. “Red,
you have me.” She felt him harden beneath her. He was gentle with
his touch since she still had bruises on her body and her wrists
still hurt. Jill continued to kiss his ear then his neck as her
hips gyrated against his.

When she couldn’t take it any longer, she lifted,
and he impaled himself in her.
The sensation of
being filled by him was indescribable.
He groaned. She
moaned. He reached for her waist and helped her move slowly up and
down, but this wasn’t what she wanted. It wasn’t what she needed.
She moved faster, harder, and he followed suit, and his grip around
her waist tightened. With his help, she moved up, and then he
slammed her down over and over. When she was right on the brink, he
wrapped an arm around her waist and, still connected, rolled her
onto her back while pinning his mouth to hers. Her legs immediately
wrapped around his waist, and he continued his movement in and out.
He
ran his tongue along her wet skin. She fisted
the sheets. She was a mess, writhing uncontrollably. His fingers
teased her nipples, and w
hen his head dropped to her breast
and his teeth replaced his fingers on her nipples, she came. She
came long and hard and in a way that she knew she’d never come
before. It was the first night of the rest of their lives. The
evening of the day he had proposed, he had told her he didn’t want
a long engagement. She hadn’t responded. “Tomorrow. Tomorrow we get
married,” she whispered. He looked at her and smiled, and it was
the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen.

The End

Seeing Clearly
, A novella about
Heather and Oliver

Seeing Red

The idea of
Seeing Red
was something I fiddled around with for years.
With the encouragement of my husband, I finally believed in myself
enough to complete it. I couldn’t have done it without my husband’s
constant reassurance and enthusiasm. I thank him from the bottom of
my heart, and for this particular novel, his help with all the
sci-fi stuff was invaluable. I also want to apologize to my
wonderful children, whom I neglected for the last few months in
order to finish this book. Mommy loves you!

With that being said, it takes a
village to raise children and to write a novel, so I thank all
those who helped me with babysitting, especially my mom and
dad!

I also want to thank my
beta-readers. Thanks to my mom, Leisha at Rolopolobookblog.com,
and, of course, to Adriana. You ladies helped me put a lot of
thoughts into perspective, and I couldn’t have done it without you.
Adriana, I love you, my friend, and I promise that the MMA series
will have a lot more sex.

Also, I’d like to thank Theresa
Wegand, the best editor/proofreader. Thank you for all your hard
work and for all you have taught me along the way.

Last, but not least, thank you to
all who have read my books! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I’d
like to give a special thanks to the bloggers out there,
rolopolobookblog.com and others who were so supportive of Seeing
Red. You really helped spread the word, and without you, I don’t
know if anyone would’ve known about Alexander and Jill!

Sidney Halston
lives her life by one simple rule:

“The secret of getting ahead is
getting started.” Mark Twain

That’s exactly what she did. After
working hard as an attorney, Sidney picked up a pen for the first
time at thirty years old to begin her dream of writing. Having
never written anything other than very exciting legal briefs, she
found an outlet for her imaginative, romantic side and wrote
Seeing Red
. That first pen stroke sealed the deal, and she
fell in love with writing.

Sidney lives in South Florida with
her husband and children. She loves her family above all else. When
she’s not writing, you can find her reading and reading and
reading.

When she’s not writing or reading,
her life is complete and utter chaos trying to balance family life
with work and writing and reading, but she wouldn’t have it any
other way.

Recently, she signed a three-book
deal with Random House for a übersexy MMA Series. Be on the lookout
for the series coming in Spring 2014.