Beautiful Ruin
By Alison Foster
Synopsis
Grace Kendall knows what it’s like to
have life knock you on your butt. She’s been through hell and made it back.
She’s fine with trusting no one and expecting nothing until a night wind blows
something quite unexpected onto her doorstep in the rain.
The scruffy, yet gorgeous enigma known
as Nathan Henley steps inside her apartment and brings with him all those
feelings Grace has tried so hard to tuck safely away. Beneath his bruised and
damaged exterior, she senses all the dark and beautiful secrets lost within the
tarnished diamond of his lonely heart.
Like everyone before him, he must be too
good to be true. She resists his mystery as long as she can, but she knows that
any woman would gladly throw themselves against his rock hard chest and shatter
helplessly into a million lustful pieces.
When Grace finally decides to trust
again, her ex-boyfriend Jack returns to her life with his crooked grin and the
past comes crashing down. With the world spinning all around her, Grace must do
more than trust, she must fight for the salvation of her own lonely heart.
*Content Warning: this book
contains explicit language and sex. Mature readers only.*
Excerpt:
He raises my chin with one
finger and smiles at me with a sincerity that is worrisome rather than
reassuring. I’m not sure what game he’s playing, but everything in me screams
that this is indeed a game.
“You’re so innocent,” he says.
“You mean naïve?”
He shakes his head, staring
deep into my eyes. The smell of his tanned skin is intoxicating. My heartbeat
increases making me feel faint.
Control
yourself, Grace, is all I manage to think. He’s not the man I
kissed at the library. I take a
breath and pull myself away from the physical and emotional closeness he’s
trying to build between us.
This will never happen. It
cannot happen. I’m not bad looking, but I’m not exactly calendar material.
There’s no way a man like this could be interested in me. Taylor is the one
who’s always gotten the attention when we went out together or met new people.
Whatever Nate’s issues are, they have nothing to do with me and I don’t need
another troubled man in my life.
“This has been interesting, but
I think it’s time for you to go,” I say. “It’s getting late and I’m exhausted.”
He looks frustrated. “I haven’t
said what I came here to say.”
“Well, just say it already.”
This might have come off as a little aggressive. I try to soften it up. “Or
don’t say it.”
“Will you be my friend again?”
His meaning escapes me. “Are
you asking if things can go back to normal?” I say, shrugging my shoulders.
“Sure, why not?”
“I want us to go back to that
moment when I invited myself for dinner,” he says slowly. “I want us to start
from that exact moment.”
I get up and lock my eyes on
his. “Why, Nate? I mean, we had no problems being shelter buddies and getting
along in our strange way. That seems to be our most peaceful state. Why do you
need to make it something more? You sound a little crazy wanting to go back to
a moment in time. Why?”
“Because you’re the most
curious person I’ve met in a long time.”
“Me? I’m the curious one?” I
laugh in an exaggerated manner.
“It’s more of a curiosity I
feel when I talk to you, when we’re close, when we kiss, when my body feels
your warmth,” he says almost scientifically.
I make sure to give him my most
incredulous glare. “Really? If it was the kisses and warmth you were after you
pretty much fucked that up.”
“I know I did,” he says like a
sad puppy. I sincerely want to jump his bones, but resist. “That’s why, Dear
Grace, I am asking to be friends only.”
“Silly Nate,” I say. “Forgive
me, it’s Nathan, right?”
“Nate’s fine,” he says.
“Anything your voice says is fine by me.”
“What girl can be only friends
with you?” I say weakening.
Instead of an answer, he puts
one hand behind my head and pulls me back down to the couch with his face close
to mine. “I don’t care about any other girl,” he says.
My whole body loses the will to
resist as he parts my lips with his tongue. He tastes like honey and cinnamon.
He tastes like happiness. He gently bites my upper lip, letting a finger trace
my ear ever so slightly.
His arm tightens around my
waist sending splintered pulses along my spine. I fight to keep a simple truth
from him, that he could make me do whatever he wants. I hide a thousand yeses from him, desperate that if they
all spill out at once there would be nothing left of me to love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alison Foster loves reading a good
love story almost as much as she loves writing one. She spends her time
dreaming up strong heroes and even stronger heroines and she enjoys finding
unexpected strengths within her characters when they are in the most
unexpected places.
She believes that passion makes
the world go round and that a sexy grin is as sweet as candy. She loves
interacting with readers, so feel free to drop her a line.
CONNECT WITH ALISON:
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