Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) (57 page)

I felt both her hands, checking for her grandmother’s ring. I was afraid I’d screw up and place it on the wrong hand. I couldn’t look like an idiot, placing it over her other ring. With her left hand in mine, I took another deep breath. “In all my life, I’ve never wanted anything more. Vanessa, would you give me the honor of becoming my wife?” I asked and then waited.

I couldn’t tell if there were tears falling from her eyes or if it was from the rain that started coming down a little harder. Her eyes lit up as she bit her lip. She seemed to pause and shook her head as she looked up to the sky again. I swallowed nervously and realized I should have waited another year or something. I can’t believe she’s going to tell me no. Do women say no when they’re proposed to? It’s the rain. What a stupid idea to do it in the rain. What woman wants to be soaking wet when asked such an important question?

“Out of all the men in the world, I never thought you would be the one to steal my heart.” She smiled as the rain continued to fall, her hair was almost soaked now, bringing back the memories of one of the most amazing kisses we’ve ever had. “I would love nothing more than to become your wife,” she said to me as tears filled her eyes. At least I thought they were tears, but with the rain falling, I couldn’t tell.

Relief flooded through me and I finally felt like I could breathe again. I quickly started to place the ring on her finger as if I were worried she would change her mind. She placed her other hand on mine just was I was about to slip the ring on. I looked up at her, almost panicked that she was going back on what she said. “You have to promise me that no matter how hard you try to tell me you’re not romantic, that you still keep surprising me with the things that I consider romantic.”

A rush of air blew out of my lungs as I shook my head and laughed. “Deal.”

With so many people to thank, I would like to first start off with the people who are truly responsible for encouraging me to write this book
— my readers. This book was truly written because of the incredible and wonderful feed back I received from all of you when I published
Promises, Promises
. I am humbled by your many comments telling me how much you enjoyed Izzy and Z’s story. When the questions started coming in asking for when the next book was coming out, I honestly couldn’t resist.

Truly and honestly — thank you!

Deanna — I couldn’t have done this whole journey without you. Your annoying deadlines and pushing me to always go out of my comfort zone helped to create yet another book. You truly are an amazing friend and I’ll always be grateful for constantly pushing me out of my comfort zone. As much as I bitch at you. I love you!

I knew no one in the Author world when I first published. I’ll be honest, it scared the daylights out of me to try to meet other authors. It actually makes me laugh now when I look back. Since then, I’ve met so many awesome authors who I would truly consider my closest friends. Lola, stalking you was one of the best decisions I’ve ever had. You can tell me all you want that you’re not great with squishy stuff, but you sure as shit helped me through my tough times. I’m forever grateful!

To all my WFD girls, I love you. Seriously, the advice I received coupled with the laughs was the best medicine for whatever was my ailment at the time, metaphorically speaking, of course.

And how could I forget my RR bitches? Lola threw me into that room and then left. I’m actually a little glad she did that, because I would have never reached out and met such a welcoming and fun group. You all distracted me, in a good way, and I love the friendships I’ve formed with you guys!

Beth and Kristen, I can’t thank you enough for being there when I needed to bounce ideas off someone! Thank you for being my sounding board and letting me whine!

Karen, now that I know what else you can do, be prepared. Thank you so much for figuring out the plot holes and giving me advice and questioning the storyline when I needed it. Thank you so much, especially for being there for me at the last minute.

To a dear friend from the past, Lynda. Thank you so much for all your last minute late night efforts! I really and truly appreciate all of your changes. You can honestly tell your daughter you found some. YAY for you! Thank you for popping back into my life!

My list of people to thank could go on and on. If I haven’t listed you out by name, know that doesn’t mean I don’t value or appreciate all the things you’ve helped me with.

To my girls, my little angels. You don’t know it, but you really do inspire me to keep going. And thank you for making it a fun game when we have sift through the laundry on our treasure hunt for socks together. I love you both so very much.

To my husband, I love you. You are the best friend, husband and father a woman could ever hope for. Although I spend time with all of my fictional men, you really are all of them wrapped up in one. You are my inspiration and my soul mate. Thank you for always being there for me.

Look for the next book in the

Alluring Promises Series…

Breathless Promises.

Find out if Clark and Aubrey find love

…and if so, will it be with each other?

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for upcoming releases and other news!

Newsletter SignUp

Love Against Love

(Subject to Change and Edits)

Prologue

Justin

Jordan. The perfect girl. Slim, athletic body, but add in great curves, long silky brown hair with subtle honey highlights, and deep emerald green eyes that search your soul when she looks at you. She loves sports, hiking, adventure travel shows
and UFC fights. She loves to hang out with the guys and hates catty crap with the girls at school. She enjoys movies like Borne Identity, Spy Games, Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones. God, she’s cool. She’s the perfect “girl next door.” She’s not a tomboy to the extreme that she’s like a boy, nah, she likes girly things just as much as all the boy stuff. My brother Nick and I taught her well.

To my brother, Jordan was his little sister. Seriously, he always wanted a little sister, so when Jordan came into our lives, he took his big brother role with her very seriously. Not me. Not at all. To me, she was my best friend and a girl that I could practice kissing and copping a feel without being slapped. We wanted to go farther in the sex experimental stage, but my brother caught us in the act — several times. More on that later.

Jordan is the perfect best friend and if she were a guy, she’d be the perfect best friend I didn’t want to have sex with...but, she’s not a guy...and damn, I so want to sleep with her.

Unfortunately, she talks to me like a guy would talk to his best friend. For example, she called me the other night, drunk, to discuss sex. This is how our conversation went:

Jordan:
Tell me what you do in bed with your girls.

Me:
What? No, I can’t do that Jo.

Jordan:
Yes, you can. Come on! I’m so curious! Do you flip your girls around and stuff?

Me: (I laughed and groaned at the same time.)
I can’t have this discussion with you.

Jordan:
Sure you can — just pretend I’m a dude.
Then she used her deep voice and Brooklyn accent.
So ya know Justin, tell me how ya, ya know, do it wit ‘dem chicks.

Me: (laughing)
Even if you were a dude, I wouldn’t tell you anything if you talked like that!

Jordan:
Oh come on Justin. Give me something to get off on!

Me:
Stop! Don’t talk like that!

Jordan:
Why? We used to! Remember? We used to have full on conversations about how it felt when we touched ourselves. Come on...tell me what exciting things you do with girls in bed to keep them
coming back. Please!

Let me try to start at the beginning. Jordan’s family lives next door to my family home. Ever since I can remember she’s been at our house. Her parents had a really nasty divorce and her mom had to go back to work when she was really little. Her Dad visits her every now and then, but pretty much just calls and writes whenever the feeling strikes him. My mom is a stay at home mom and offered to watch her during the day. Personally, I think her mom took advantage of my mom, but whatever.

Mom and Dad basically got the little girl they always wanted and Nick got the little sister he always wanted. Me? I got my best friend. I refuse to
call her my sister because I’ve wanted to have sex with her ever since I can recall. I know creepy sounding, but seriously, I’ve had these “feelings” for her for as long as I can remember.

During middle and high school, we each dated other people here and there. Everyone knew we were best friends, but most didn’t know we “experimented” with each other. We got pretty far, but we were never able to actually go all the way and have sex. Which, I still regret terribly to this day. I had a couple of opportunities, but I never wanted to treat her like the other girls because I wanted our first time to be really special. I had always hoped it would be her prom night, but she was asked out by Derek, the Captain of the Football team and, well, she was really excited about going with him. I actually had a college LaCrosse game that night that I was ready to skip so I could take her to prom, but then Derek asked her out.

My prom night? Yeah, I should have asked her, but I was dating Becky at the time, and according to Jordan, Becky expected me to ask her to prom. I wasn’t sure if Jordan was disappointed since she was the one who came to tell me what Becky said, but I know I was. Becky was annoying at times, which is why we broke up shortly after prom anyway. I regret not breaking up with her before prom and just taking Jordan, like I wanted to.

The summer before I left for college would have worked out if Jordan’s dad hadn’t asked her to spend time with him up in Des Moines, Iowa. She wasn’t thrilled about the location, but she was so excited to actually spend time with her dad. Something that was extremely rare. Turns out she spent most of her summer at a nearby pool, by herself, waiting for her dad to get out of work. There were many nights she was at home alone while he went out on dates. He paid for it when he received his huge phone bill at the end of the first month. After that he made sure she got a cell phone with unlimited calls and texting. We took full advantage of that. One day, I had her on the phone the entire day. I was out with my buddies and she wanted to pretend to be there with us the entire time.

So, fast forward to now. I’ll describe myself as a good looking guy. No, that’s not to sound conceited. At my campus, I get any girl I want and whenever I want. Seriously! I’m tall, nice brown eyes, have dark hair that I try to keep a bit short, except during lacrosse season, I don’t bother as much with haircuts around that time. I work out a lot so I’ve got that athletic build that girls love. I’ve got broad shoulders, cut abs, biceps that aren’t too huge but definitely strong. Really, I’m not trying to sound conceited. It is what it is. I’m fortunate.

Jordan attends the same state college in Virginia that Nick attended and I attend Maryland because of my Lacrosse scholarship (Go TERPS!). Jordan had to stay in state because of tuition costs. Her dad is footing the bill and said he didn’t want to pay more than he had to. Nick was glad we went to separate colleges so we each would get the full campus experience; during high school we were always around each other. Since he’s four years older than me, he made sure to tell me all about college – parties, college chicks...all the stuff I needed to know. Of course, he loved it so much, he spent five years getting his bachelor’s degree, instead of four.

College was great for me last year. Jordan was a senior in high school, since she’s a year younger than me. So she was home whenever I came for breaks. She loved hearing all about college. I didn’t tell her about all the chicks I was with, but she always wanted to know about all the parties and sex on campus, so I’d tell her a little bit.

Of course, now she’s a freshman at another college, and I can’t stop thinking about that. Lately, I’ve had a little problem. No, not
that
problem. I’ve never had that problem. No, my problem lately has been calling out Jordan’s name during sex. I can’t come without thinking about her and so sometimes her name has slipped out...in that moment. I haven’t told Nick about my problem. I’m not sure what he would say about it.

Let me try to elaborate a little bit more about my relationship with Jordan. While I haven’t slept with her yet, I know we will someday. Let’s just say that I am really, really enjoying my college fun right now. Jordan and I will be together one day. I know this for a fact. It’s just a given between the two of us. She’ll always be around for me. So for right now, I’m really going to take advantage of my freedom. I mean I have the rest of my life to be with Jordan, I know she’ll always be there for me. She’s my best friend and I’m hers and getting married later on with her, is just a given.

I think that’s about all the background needed for now. I’ll be having all sorts of flashbacks to fill in the blanks more. So, here we are, present day. It’s October of my sophomore year and Jordan’s freshman year at her college. We call and text each other constantly. Did I mention how much I miss her?