He motioned for me to walk up on stage with him and I did. Of course, I did. Kade and I were a team, so I’d be by his side everywhere. When I reached him, he leaned into me, both hands grasping hold of my face, thumbs pressed hotly into my cheeks, and kissed me. His body unraveled and loosened, and he breathed me in deeply. The crowd erupted in mayhem. Cheers, whistles, screams, and a standing ovation. He waved blindly to the crowd and pulled me off stage in caveman Kade style.
The night continued with after parties that, of course, Kade declined. Right after we stepped foot backstage, he whisked me out of the back door to a waiting car headed to the airport. He just wanted to be on the next flight home. So did I, because tonight, with Dylan and Jen’s help, I planned a huge celebration for him at the bar, which included a private performance from my favorite band, just for this occasion.
“There’s a really pretty guy singing on my brother’s stage,” he eyed me suspiciously, as we walked inside the bar. A round of cheers and clapping exploded when everybody noticed we had walked in, and an explosion of streamers and confetti were thrown in Kade’s direction. “Ah, yes. This looks like just as much fun as bloody root canal, yeah? We’re staying fifteen minutes, and then we leave. I have another party planned.”
“Oh, do you now? Who will be in attendance at this party of yours?”
“Me, you, and an empty house. I’m going to fuck you in every damn room.”
“Let’s make it ten minutes and you got yourself a deal,” I said as I leaned on my tippy toes and kissed his lips. He growled against my lips.
Jen and Dylan call us over to the bar and give us a beer each, as the band’s song ends. The tattooed lead singer taps on the microphone, and I swear the entire audience of women sigh, as he chuckled into it.
“That man is just so…I mean just look…” Jen stuttered.
“Yeah, love, he’s almost as good looking as me, yeah?” Dylan teased next to her.
Before the singer began to speak, a pair of red lacy panties flew across the room, landing at his feet.
Kade laughed next to me, “What the bloody hell? He’s not that bloody good looking, is he? How do you know this band, Sam? You know them personally?”
“The two singers were once patients in my trauma unit. They were in a motorcycle collision.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Hey, how’s everybody doing tonight? We’re here tonight for a very special woman, Doctor Samantha Grayson, who once saved both me and my wife’s life. We’re here to celebrate Kade Grayson’s award! Let’s motherfucking party!”
“Babe, I’m having that specifically violent jealousy fantasy where I’m killing him with my bare hands. Are you sure he was just your patient.”
Jen giggled as I winked at Kade and walked away. A slow rock ballad started, and I went to start my rounds of hello and goodbye, because we seriously only had like three more minutes. I wanted to leave just as quickly as Kade. Nights alone were far and few between for us.
I listened to the music, the beat and heavy rhythm of the sounds and I felt Kade’s eyes watch me. I should go around and just thank everyone for coming and then we could… All my thoughts completely faded when I looked up and noticed Kade’s dark stare. I heard myself gasp when I saw him. The air just sort of sucked itself right out of my lungs. No one ever watched me like Kade did. It was personal. Intimate. My cheeks heated, when his lips curled into a sexy smirk of a smile. It was animalistic and primal. Hot-as-hell; it made me tingle with a damp warmth between my thighs and against the silken material of my panties. I started to fan myself a bit with one of the bar’s laminated menus. I loved this game we played. Every night, like the first night we met. I never knew…I never knew what it felt like to be truly loved and desired, until I met Kade. I felt wanted. Desired. Hungered for. Lusted. Preyed on. I fanned myself faster.
He was leaning back against the red velvet of the booth chair, dressed in his tuxedo. His inky black hair wildly arranged on his head. His face…all hard angles. A jaw carved out of stone, strong cheekbones and full perfect lips. He wore his strength on his expression, dark, passionate, and profound.
I stared back at him too, holding his gaze, which made my senses, all of them, kick into overdrive. The exchange was maddening and arousing, and like nothing I’d ever felt before Kade, primal and visceral in texture. It was purely mouthwatering.
“Hey, Sam? Mum still watching the kids tonight?” Dylan’s voice broke through the beginning sequence of my pornographic thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, yes. Your mother said she’d look after them, take them for ice cream and stuff. Give me and Kade some time alone to celebrate.”
Jen and Dylan laughed as they both looked back and forth between Kade and I. “Looks like you two are starting your staring foreplay right now. So, yeah, we’ll see you guys tomorrow, huh?”
My eyes were still locked on Kade’s. “Uh huh.”
And the music softy drifted to my ears.
What have we found
A diamond in the rough
What have we lived
To know we’ve had enough
You’re what I craved
When the loneliness takes hold
You’re what I need
To waken up my soul
You’re what makes it all beautiful
You’re the one that makes it worth the fight
You’re the one that took my wrong
And make them all turn right
Side by Side
Don’t wanna do it on my own
Together, together
With you I’ll never be alone
You make it all beautiful
You make it worth the fight
You make it all beautiful
You make it worth the fight
The bloody song fades into background noise. I was sitting at my usual table, texting Mum to see if the kids were behaving. Yes, bloody hell, I’m a dad. It’s the best bloody thing I ever did. As soon as we were married and I was cleared of any suspicions concerning the self-defense killing of that monster, Samantha and I adopted three children, who also suffered abuse at the hands of the ones they loved. The first of our little ones was Sophia, who was seven, and she came to us neglected and so undernourished, she only weighted forty-eight pounds. Our second was five-year old Toby, who was witness to the bloody murder of his sisters and mother by the hands of his father. And lastly, there’s my little Sunshine, with hair as bright as the blazing sun. She’s three, but was abandoned and left at a hospital when she was only a few days old. Because of what David did to Sam, doctor’s told her she’d never be able to have children of her own, to which she laughed at the man and said, “Oh, I’ll be a mom, and I will have children of my own, maybe just not through birthing them.” I think my wife plans to save all the children she can find who suffered as we have, and show them what love and family truly is. And, you bloody know what? I love her more for that, so much more. My mum texts back that all the children are tucked away in bed at her new house, a few miles away from ours, and to enjoy our night alone, when a small fluid movement caught my eye. Backlit as she stood in front of the illuminated bar, I had a perfect view of her silhouette. Deep cinnamon hair tumbled wildly over her creamy white neck, falling to her tiny waist as if it were liquid silk. Petite, yet voluptuous, with soft curves that had me instantly thinking about sinking inside deeply, and riding her hard. On one side of her face, her long hair was pinned back with a soft lilac ribbon that made her look indecently innocent. Shiny waves were cascading down from the little clip and fell around her face, framing soft porcelain features. She wore a familiar emotion on her face that I knew all too well, haunted. The plain raw intelligence of her face was utterly breathtaking, and for the first time in my life, I couldn’t find the correct adjectives to describe something. No mere words would have done her natural beauty justice, or could have described the way she moved.
It was like…liquid.
That’s the only word I had for her.
; Flowing, fluid, melting into everything with a precision that seemed naturally calculated. I felt like Adam looking at Eve for the first time, having never seen another woman before her. Just like the first night I saw her. I get up and stalk towards her, devouring the distance of the room between us in long strides. I can’t stand to be away from her any longer. I can’t stand not being inside her for a minute more.
I don’t know what will happen to our love, or to our family, does anyone? I hope that we will always be as strong as we are, and never know more heartache. All I do know is that people can heal. They can go on. The can survive and not only live though it, but beyond. Especially if you open up your heart and let people in.
In the middle of the bar, in the crowd of people, which being stuck in the middle of always makes me on edge, I grab her cheeks and crush my lips to hers. She opens her mouth greedily, my Samantha. My everything.
“Kade, are you okay?” she says, green eyes staring up. “What are you thinking about?”
“Our future,” I whispered against her lips. Gently pushing her with my body, hands clasped around the soft skin of her neck. She lets me lead her, walking her backwards down the back hallway and straight into Dylan’s office. My hands twist and tangle tightly in her hair, and I press her into the wall. Her lips part with mine, her hands slid up my sides, digging fingers and nails into my muscles. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, baby.”
“And what do you see of this future, Mr. Academy Award?” She murmurs, as her fingers swiftly skim down to my belt. Buckle yanked, teeth of my zipper scraped, hot hands fisting and pulsing around me.
I lean my head back. Green, green eyes. The eyes that are my redemption. “You want me to write our epilogue?” My hands tighten in her hair, pulling down, her face…her green eyes burn out in heat.
“Yeah, what would it be?”
“We make love every single morning, and we fuck every single night. You are in every character I write. You’re the strength in my hero, the courage in my victims, you’re the face of every fierce woman I write... And we’ll have as big a family as we can.” I watch her swallow back tears and smile. “You'll go back to the hospital but you won't go back to trauma. You find living with me is all the adrenaline rush you need. But you help so many people that have been touched by trauma, by violence. By evil. You bloody fucking heal them all. And you are an amazing mother to our children, and you center me, and sit beside me until my last breath.”
“Sounds perfect.”
“It will be.”
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because our future is anything we can make it. Anything you bloody want it to be, love. I'll write that epilogue for you.”
Acknowledgements
There is a huge stack of teetering people I should be thanking and acknowledging publicly in this book, yet I feel I should just whisper thank you, quietly to each of you.
Pssst.
Thanks.
Cold-Blooded Beautiful Playlist
Whiskey In The Jar – Metallica
Leaving Earth – Clint Mansell
(Mass Effect 3)
Simple Man – Shinedown
Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones
Raise Your Glass – Pink
Just Give Me a Reason - Pink
Radioactive – Imagine Dragons
So Far Away – Avenged Sevenfold
Down With the Sickness – Disturbed
Books by Christine Zolendz
Mad World Series (Paranormal Romance)
Fall From Grace
Saving Grace
Scars and Songs
The Beautiful Series (Suspense and Romance)
Brutally Beautiful
Cold-Blooded Beautiful
For more information about Christine Zolendz, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/ChristineZol?ref=hl
https://www.facebook.com/christine.zolendz
http://christinezolendz.blogspot.com
https://twitter.com/ChristineZo
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6448939.Christine_Zolendz
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Christine Zolendz, Cold-Blooded Beautiful
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