I’m packing up a last box when Alex comes in, wrapping his arms around me from behind.
I sigh a happy sigh.
I had no idea that I would be this happy in such a short amount of time. BB practically sings to me every day—that’s how satisfied and happy she is. You know what they say…a happy vagina is a happy woman. Well, they might not say that, but they should.
“What do you think?” Alex asks as he brushes a kiss along the crook of my neck, right where I like it. “Are you sad to leave?”
I look around at the plush corner office that I worked so hard to get. And I know that I’m not sad, because I’m winning on so many different levels. I’m going to a better office. Win. And it’s surrounded by grapevines. Double Win. I’m dating a fabulous and sexy guy who is successful and confident. Triple Win.
Everything seems to be clicking into place, like it was meant to happen this way.
I read somewhere that every broken road in life leads to where you were meant to go in the first place. Or something like that. And it really is true. I thought I was meant to be with Rick the Dick and live until we were old and gray in a corner room of the retirement home. But he had other plans…and so did Life.
Life threw grapes at me but I turned them into wine.
God, I love wine.
I turn to Alex. “No, I’m not sad. I’m not sad at all.”
Then he kisses me until my knees grow weak.
And I know beyond any shadow of any doubt that I’m doing the right thing…regarding every aspect of my life. My knees were meant to be made weak by this man.
“Kiss me again,” I tell him.
So he does.
Epilogue
“You can stack that over there,” I tell a mover. The movers all appear to be burly and rough around the edges, but I gave them doughnuts for breakfast, so they like me. This one grunts and moves the box.
“Hey sweetie,” Alex calls from our bedroom. “How do you want me to label this box?”
I walk back and find that he has packed up my bedside stand and all of the glorious toys that it contained. Over the course of the past year, I added a few companions for Geronimo. And Alex and I use them regularly…together. Hey, don’t judge. It’s freaking hot.
“Um, how about Sex Toys?” I suggest. He rolls his eyes and writes ALLI’S NIGHTSTAND- –PRIVATE.
“As if no one will know what that means,” I giggle.
“Are you absolutely sure that you want to move?” Alex asks for the twenty-fifth time. I glance at him.
“I think that after having a gorgeous new house built on the edge of a vineyard, we’d probably better move, don’t you think?” I ask wryly.
Alex stares at me. “I just know that Sophie grew up here. You have a lot of memories here. I don’t want you to leave unless you are sure you want to.”
I smile. “You are the sexiest, most handsome man on the planet. It was my idea to move. I want to start our marriage in our own house. Not my house.”
He grins. “Mrs. Harris. I’m really loving the sound of that. Although, just know that you will never be allowed to take tennis lessons.” I smile, remembering that his bitch of an ex-wife cheated on him with a tennis instructor.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “I hate tennis.”
“I knew I loved you for a reason,” he jokes as he seals up my toys.
“You love me for a lot of reasons,” I answer.
He nods. “I won’t argue there, Alli Cat.”
The first time Colby overheard Alex calling me Alli Cat, I think he almost choked on his tongue. But he recovered quickly and things have been very normal on that front.
Colby is one year into his MBA program and he’s doing very well at Zellers. My replacement quickly promoted him from an intern to an entry level manager because of Colby’s initiative and drive. I know from personal experience that the boy’s got initiative. And drive.
Sophie is kicking ass at swimming and taking names. She’s well on her way to winning at State levels and then she can swim in college. And who knows how far she’ll go after that?
Rick the Dick is alone. Vanessa broke up with him shortly after Alex and I got together. I seldom have to see him, but when I do, we manage to be civil. He’s a dick, but he’s not my dick anymore. He can cause someone else grief. Someday, that is, when he convinces someone else to date him.
And Sara… my devil of a best friend is dating Tom, Alex’s recruiter friend who got me the job at the winery. She called him up to check on the job market and they somehow wound up dating. Sara’s good at flipping a situation like that. She’s going to be my maid-of-honor, of course, and she’s already got all kinds of top-secret things planned for my bachelorette party. I’m terrified already.
Oh, and the winery. Alex ended up buying into the winery, so we’re part owners now. He gave it to me as an engagement present. He proposed on a cliff in Hawaii when we were there this past summer. It was romantic and sweet and perfect. Just like Alex. The ring I’m wearing on my finger is enormous. So huge and sparkling that it made Sara howl with envy, which of course is important.
Last but not least, my girl BB is as satisfied as a cat with a belly full of milk. Or make that a cougar with a full belly. She gets waxed regularly now, every three months or so. And that Waxer Girl was totally right. It doesn’t hurt nearly as much after the first or second time. BB is bald and proud of it. She’s a sassy wench.
“Alli?”
I can tell by Alex’s tone that it’s not the first time he’s said my name.
I turn to him, staring at the way the morning sunlight falls against his handsome face. I stroke a hand where the light hits him.
“Yes?” I ask sweetly.
“I was just going to ask where you wanted to get brunch. But never mind. I have a better idea in mind.”
He strides across the room and locks the bedroom door and then pushes me onto the bed with the wicked grin that I so, so love.
The movers can wait.
The End
To read more of The Cougar Chronicles, please watch for Book Two, coming soon.
Also, to read excerpts from Courtney Cole’s book,. Of Blood and Bone and M. Leighton’s book, Down to You, please continue reading.
Acknowledgements
Holy cow. I have a lot of people to thank for this book.
M. Leighton. My partner in crime and BFF. Thank you for everything. Thank you for brainstorming with me and for pushing me to finish writing this book. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I can’t wait until we move to the Keys and have adjoining secret passages to each other’s wine cellars.
My husband. Thank you again for putting up with me and keeping me around. Thank you, too, for giving me the “Drop a man to his knees in five minutes” scene. I can’t help but wonder if that was self-serving in any way, shape or form… but oh, well. I love you anyway and I’ll keep you. Hehe.
To my Cougars! Rawrrrr! Thank you, ladies, for your early input on Alli’s story…for your enthusiasm and for just being downright awesome.
Tracy Mims
Megan Ridgeway
Marcia Woodell
Courtney DeLollis
Maria Vargas
Autumn Hull
Michelle Files
Drita Kinic
Danielle Morales
Christina Pryor
Tammy Luke—thank you for being my patient and amazing cover artist.
And thank YOU, my awesome and amazing readers. Without you, I wouldn’t have the best job in the world. I love what I do and I am thankful for you every single day of my life.
About the Author
Courtney Cole is a novelist who lives near Lake Michigan with her domestic zoo (AKA family), her pet iPad and her favorite cashmere socks. To learn more about her, visit www.courtneycolewrites.com
Other books by Courtney Cole:
The Paradise Diaries (YA, Contemporary)
Dante’s Girl
Mia’s Heart (Coming Soon)
&
nbsp; The Bloodstone Saga (YA/NA, Paranormal Romance)
Every Last Kiss
Fated
With My Last Breath
My Tattered Bonds
House of Thebes
The Moonstone Saga (YA/NA, Paranormal Romance)
Soul Kissed
Soul Bound
Princess of the Moon (Coming Soon)
The Minaldi Legacy (Dark Romance/Contemporary)
Of Blood and Bone
If you are in the mood for something darker while you wait for Book Two of the Cougar Chronicles, check out this excerpt of
Of Blood and Bone
The Minaldi Legacy (Book One)
By Courtney Cole
* * *
Love is dangerous…
“I’m a monster, Eva. There is no saving a monster. But I love that you want to try.”
My heart constricts at the expression on his face. He has no hope for himself, so I have to hope for him.
“You’re not a monster,” I argue softly. “You’re a man, Luca. A man like any other, you’re made of blood and bone.”
As a little boy, Luca Minaldi was told he was a monster.
As an adult, he knows it is true.
He lives in Malta, a fairytale-like place filled with sunshine and sea, beauty and secrets. And Luca’s darkest of secrets is the best kept of them all.
Eva Talbot is spending the summer in Malta to finish up her doctoral dissertation. When she meets Luca, a mysterious and handsome shipping tycoon, there is an instant attraction, a disturbing and beautiful energy that she has never felt before. But she senses the darkness that lives within him.
Eva is hired to care for his mother, who suffers from dementia, but it is Luca who Eva will eventually risk everything to save. Her life becomes a swirling chaos of darkness and romance, of secrets and mystery. And the question that emerges will become the most important answer of all.
Can she save Luca from the darkness that plagues him without losing herself?
The answer is a matter of life or death.
Prologue
Luca is gone.
I know it before I open my eyes. The weight of his body next to me is absent, the scent of him gone from the air. I sigh, reluctant to begin this day because I know what it holds for me. I know that if Luca is truly gone, I will spend every hour frantically searching for him.
Gazing around, I find my large suite empty. Everything is neat and tidy and exactly in place. Each lavish piece of furniture is polished with lemon oil, each extravagant painting on the wall carefully dusted. Each expensive vase, each crystal lamp, each woven rug is perfectly aligned and exactly how I left it. Something is different, though, somehow changed in this room that I fell asleep in last night.
My sleepy eyes do another quick sweep, and this time I notice the balcony doors standing wide open while the bright morning sun streams onto the mahogany floor and the white sheer curtains on either side flutter in the sea breeze.
This is the difference and it slams into me like a concrete wall. I didn’t fall asleep with those doors open. I would never do that now, not since I know what dangers lurk in the world, the darkness that can find me.
Immediately after I notice this inconsistency, I also see that across the room, my bedroom door is tightly closed and the bolt is still slid firmly in place.
Just as I left it last night.
My heart stutters as I realize what this means.
While I slept, Luca must have climbed from my balcony ledge to escape. But the drop is well over thirty feet and there are sharp rocks at the base of the house. There are gardens directly behind, but beyond that, there is a cliff with a hundred foot drop to the sea below.
I leap naked from bed and rush to the balcony’s edge. My bare breasts press against the cold railing as I peer down at both the gardens and what I can see of the pristine sand beyond that. Luca is not lying broken and bleeding there, so I try to still my racing heart. I search the beaches and craggy landscape on both sides of my periphery and I still do not see him.
He somehow survived the fall.
A hundred different things run through my mind, but the one that stands out in the forefront is the image, the possibility, that he managed to drag himself, broken and bleeding, to a different location, somewhere where he is even now waiting for me to help him.
Because I promised.
I promised him that I would help him, that I would keep him from the darkness that plagues him, that I would heal him.
That I would save him.
I swallow hard and as I do, I realize that my throat is tender from Luca’s hands last night. I know that if I look into a mirror, there will be a bruise in the perfect formation of his long fingers around my neck.
As I softly touch it, I remember his face from the night before. It was shadowed in the moonlight and like always, he was beautiful. Luca is handsome in a very classic and beautiful way, dark hair and cut cheekbones. His bangs are long and almost hide his magnificent dark eyes until he shakes his hair away. And when he does, the sadness that dwells there is apparent to anyone who knows him.
But last night, I didn’t need to look into his eyes to see that his darkness had returned. I knew it from the moment he stepped into my room.
I can always see it. It changes everything about him, even the way he walks and moves. The way he stands. The way he speaks. The way he feels.
He is an entirely different person when the darkness comes.
These are the moments that he dreads with every breath when he is himself; the moments when he is no longer Luca. In these moments, he is filled with thoughts that are no longer his own.
He cannot help it, he cannot control it, he cannot stop it.
But I promised him that I would.
And I have failed him.
I scramble to my wardrobe and pull on clothing, choosing a shirt with a collar, hoping to somewhat hide the bruise on my neck. The only other people here at Chessarae are servants, except for Luca’s mother in her lonely wing. But she is locked in so she never comes into the main part of the house. No one will see me but the staff. And they are used to seeing strange things.
I rush through the house, through the extravagant corridors and over the marble floors, the rich and polished surroundings that I would never have dreamed I would find myself in. I don’t notice it now though. It has faded into an insignificant corner of my mind. All that matters now is Luca.
I make my way out the back of the house, through the gardens, through the English maze that is perfectly manicured and challenging to maneuver. I manage it with ease, however. I memorized its twists and turns on a happier day.
The weather is stormy today and the normally cheerful and bright Maltese sky is gray and thunderous. I can feel the electricity in the air, snapping the ends of my long hair with static. This day looks as foreboding as I feel, which I hope is not a sign.
I search through the maze. I search the beaches as my feet sink into the cool sand. I search the gardens with their exotic and sweet-smelling blooms and then I search the garage. His car, a shiny black Jaguar, is still in its slot and its hood is cool to the touch. Luca has not driven it today. I search the front lawns and the back. And just when I begin to panic, to fear that he has not returned to Chessarae after all, I search the stables.
As I walk through the heavy wooden doors, the smells of the horses and the hay and the saddle-soap and leather assail my nose and I breathe them in. I’ve always loved this place. It is peaceful here. And I suddenly know, because I can feel it, that Luca is here.
I walk quietly down the main corridor, staring into each stall as I pass.
And finally, finally, when I come to the very last stall on the left, Luca is there and my breath hitches in my chest, freezing on my lips.
Luca is slumped on the ground, in the corner, his expression desolate. He is beautiful even here, even in this condition, and I cannot help but stare down at him as tears fill my eyes.
He is dirty and h
is clothing is torn. There are smears of blood on his shirt, dried now to a rusty dark brown. I swallow hard, trying not to imagine where the blood has come from.
Luca’s face is tortured as he stares up at me, his head in his hands. There is blood on his fingers.
“It happened again.”
His words are low and husky and rough, yet elegant at the same time. He is always refined, always perfect, always Luca.
His self-loathe is apparent and it breaks my heart.
I nod mutely because there are no words for this moment. I bend to help him to his feet. At 6’3”, he towers above me. He is slender and strong and masculine. He is lithe and powerful, beautiful and graceful.
And sometimes, on his very darkest days, he is a depraved killer.
But I have gotten ahead of myself. I should begin at the beginning. If I don’t, you will never understand.
* * *
To purchase Of Blood and Bone, you can find it on Amazon here or Barnes and Noble.com here .
*********
If you’re in the mood for something else awesome, check this out from my New York Times best-selling friend, M. Leighton:
You’re about to read an excerpt of Down to You, a contemporary romance. My books can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and in the iStore. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it! Also, I’d like to give a special thanks to Courtney Cole for inviting me and my book to the party. I’m forever in your debt, my friend.
Down to You