Let Love Shine Cover Reveal

Book Title: Let Love Shine, Novella Author: Melissa Collins Genre: NA / College Contemporary Romance Release Date: January 10, 2014

What comes after “they lived happily ever after?” Maddy and Reid have seen their fair share of trials and tribulations, of love and loss. Facing down the biggest challenges of their young lives, they managed to survive and endure. With the future stretching out before them, they must learn to navigate new and unfamiliar paths. Being new parents, starting new jobs, and continuing college is enough to overwhelm any couple. New challenges come up daily, as do small victories. Watch Maddy and Reid grow stronger together in this “one year later” tale of the everyday stuff that happens in real life. With a solid foundation of love under their inexperienced feet – and with the help of their family and friends – Maddy and Reid learn how to let love shine, lighting the way for a beautiful future to come.

 

 

 I’ve always been an avid reader. Majoring in English Literature was a no brainer. Becoming a teacher and instilling my love for reading into my students was also a no brainer. I’ve spent the last ten years teaching and I’ve loved (mostly) every minute of it. When I was home on maternity leave for my third son, I discovered a new genre that sparked my creativity. My passion for writing sprang from my love of reading and once I knew I had a story to tell, I couldn’t wait to get it out there. I only hope that my readers enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

   

 Yet, here we are a year later and we couldn’t be happier to have Braden’s first birthday party tomorrow with our friends and family. Between prepping for the party, me working overtime, and Maddy finishing up her last summer course, we’ve barely been able to stay awake past eight every night. But watching them dance and laugh in front of me makes it all worth it. I pull them both into my arms and just hold them for a quick second before Braden starts shimmying out of Maddy’s arms. He’s caught sight of his Lightning McQueen racecar on the floor and is reaching for it. Handing him his car, Maddy puts him in his bouncy seat. I should be warmed by the sight of my wife taking care of our son, talking baby talk to him and kissing him sweetly. But all I can see is her ass right now. Yep, I want her. “Get over here.” I pull her back to me once Braden’s situated and brush her hair out of her eyes. “You look beautiful, you know that?” I trail sweet, soft kisses behind her ear and down her neck. “Hmmm.” She mumbles and it makes me smile against her skin. Moving from her neck across to her mouth, I feel her lean into my lips. This is something else of which I’ll never get tired. Her full, luscious lips pressed against mine; the taste of her sweet mouth still drives me crazy. “Well, hello there.” Pulling away from our kiss, Maddy arches her eyebrows as she presses her hips into my groin. The last motion surprises me more than a little. To say that our sex life has been different in the last year is, well, it’s an understatement to say the least. “What? I’m not allowed to want my wife.” I grab her ass and push her into my erection a bit more. Our hands roam as the kiss rises in intensity. I fist a handful of her hair and pull her mouth even closer to mine. It’s the hottest kiss we’ve had in a while. Just as her hips start to roll into mine, we’re distracted by a sound, and smell, to which we’ve grown all too accustomed in the last year. Before I can even move my hands from her body, Maddy’s pinching her nose closed. “Not it!” She calls out and laughs. “Damn, you’re getting quick!” It’s kind of been our thing to decide who gets to change him. I scowl playfully at her and she just laughs at me. “Dude, you’re killing my game.” Braden smiles as I hold him out in front of me. “Holy crap! What the hell did you feed this kid today?” Seriously, he’s lethal.

 

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Let Love In

Let Love Stay

Let Love Heal

 

Let Love In

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Ocean's Collide Release Day

My name is Livie Marie Acosta. I am a firm believer that childhood memories are supposed to be happy, joyous, and beautiful. I also believe everyone else in life has just that… except for me, of course. I came close to having that once with my own family. I had a loving mother that treated me like her little princess. My father was, and still is, the biggest support system in my life, but even his love isn’t enough for me at times. I would have been a proud big sister at the age of seven, but Antonio Jr. was torn away from us before he was even born. I was destined to be alone and hurt, both emotionally and physically scarred. The only skeletons that remained of my once happy family was a father I adored, but who lived hundreds of miles away, and a mother whom I had spent most of my own life saving from her demons. Like many people, they are scarred so deep that when they bleed, it is a reminder that they are still human. I have a secret. A secret only I know about. I keep my secret well, and keep it hidden from the peeping eyes of the world. At least I tried… that is until two angels barged into my life, and into my scattered heart. Their presence in my life spun me on my heels, turning my world yet again upside down, and right side up all at the same time. What I find could either save me, or finally push me over the edge. Here is my story…

My name is Melissa DeOlmos, a newbie to the world of indie writing. I live in sunny side Palm Bay, Florida with my two lovely crazies ages five and two, along with my Law Enforcement champ of a husband. I could say that writing novels has been a passion that I've always pursued, but I can't. Writing for me has always been my own secret escape into a land of wonders, opportunities, loves and so much trouble that I sometimes wonder if I need medication for the stories that pop into my head. I am now deciding to share my mystical mind and stories with the world, so that hopefully others may also find that little something extra they've been looking for. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy my books.

 

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LuLu

White Rose on Red Velvet

As an extra special gift Tony Rand Scott has written a Christmas Short to say Thank You to all his readers.  This is the first in a three part story and I'll forewarn you to get the tissues out.

A White Rose on Red Velvet

By Tony Rand Scott

1

On matters concerning the heart, both literally and figuratively, Lucas Aspergil had always felt broken. Born with a congenital heart condition, he felt trapped in his body and smothered by his parent’s loving fears all his life. Growing up, he had felt alienated and alone, restricted from normal life as his condition restricted his breathing. He had never felt alive before Jenavieve, during those few glorious months leading up to his eighteenth birthday. The day he had died.

The first time he died was in the dining room, just after trying to blow out his candles, with his mother begging God for a miracle. The second time, fifteen seconds after being revived in the back of an ambulance, his father’s strong, reassuring voice warbled as he cried repeatedly, “That’s my strong boy, that’s my strong boy.” His father’s voice followed him back down into darkness. The third time was the last and the charm, a kaleidoscope of sights and a cacophony of sounds suddenly flooding in from a black sensory deprivation. The rhythmic click of the gurney wheels as they hit the grout lines between tiles, a backbeat to the droning flat line tone that suddenly began oscillating in higher pitched tones. Faces appeared above him, floating without bodies. An EMT was straddling him and thrusting against his chest as he performed CPR. “I got a pulse,” Lucas heard him shout, but then the voice trailed off echoing slightly. The fluorescent lights in the hallway above flared then seemed to fracture and crystallize, fading to floating embers as darkness began creeping back into the corners of his vision, and the flat line tone carried him once again down into oblivion. When Lucas had woken up from surgery, the first face he had seen was Jenavieve’s. If he had not been certain before, Lucas was certain then. He loved her.

2

Jenavieve Frost had lived a hard life in her short span of years, left on church steps seventeen Christmases ago. As she grew up Christmas took on a special significance in her life, and not always for the worse. She had moved from foster home to foster home, with stints on the streets and in homeless shelters along the way. It wasn’t until her fourteenth Christmas that she found family and a home.

Martha Steinman had been sleeping on the couch, still dressed in her black dress. Her eyes had been swollen from crying, too sad to change clothes after her beloved Frank’s funeral. Frank Steinman had been a New York cop, and had survived a stabbing and two shootings. He had not survived Alzheimer’s. They had retired to Florida and had been happy for many years until Frank starting forgetting things. Martha wasn’t sure now, if the slow hell of your loved one losing their memory of you was worse than losing them to death. She had woken up when Jenavieve broke the window in the backdoor of the kitchen.

Jenavieve had been cold and hungry, with nowhere to go. Martha had left the kitchen light on, with food from the funeral reception left out on the table. Emotional raw and scared, Martha had grabbed the gun Frank kept in the house for security. Afterward, they had both decided they needed each other that night. Staring down the sights of Frank’s .45, as Jenavieve wept for her life, Martha realized she needed someone to take care of again. Jenavieve looked so in despair, Martha had wanted to throw the gun down and hold her. Looking down the barrel of a gun, choking on the food she had been shoveling in her mouth and crying hysterically, Jenavieve realized she needed someone to take care of her, to love her. Something she had been running from all her life. The gun had ended up on top of the refrigerator, and they had ended up on the kitchen floor, hugging and crying to one another. By New Years they were a family. They started a tradition that Christmas. Jenavieve had taken the first shower in a long while, and Martha had made homemade hot chocolate. They sat on Martha’s back porch, drinking hot chocolate and sharing their life stories. They laughed and cried, listening to each other’s joy and pain, all while Mr. Farmers Chihuahua Melvin barked at them from next door. That Christmas morning, Jenavieve thought her life couldn’t get any better. And it didn’t until she saw Lucas for the first time in high school.

Jenavieve had watched Lucas for years, at first feeling sorry for him, then simmering in a slow infatuation. During lunch break or between classes, she would watch him. She ached to go to him as he sat alone eating. Or to take his hand as he walked alone in the halls. He was always alone, and she was too afraid of what he might do or say. Lucas moved through the day, from class to class, like a wraith. Jenavieve was a dreamer and a romantic. She was a poet and avid reader, and she dreamed of all the ways she could let Lucas know he was not alone. It wasn’t until Mr. Vandover’s English class that she had truly fallen in love with him.

Jenavieve stood at the front of the class, squirming uncomfortably with fear. She hated public speaking, but hating sharing her personal thoughts even more, so giving a book report in Mr. Vandover’s class was doubly distressing. She stood before her classmates, met with a mix of disinterest and ridicule. Lucas only stared at her and smiled encouragingly, and his support comforted her.

“My book report is for Rising Dawn, by E.I. Jennings,” she began hesitantly as snatches of jeers and laughter erupted from the class. “Respectfully silent and dutifully attentive,” Mr. Vandover boomed, accentuating every syllable as if he was driving nails in with his tongue. “That is the only acceptable demeanor for an audience.” The tide of raucous behavior receded, only to resurge and diminish between her fumbling through her book report and Mr. Vandover’s glares. “The main character is Jessica Dawn and she discovers she is a pureblood vampire. Her guardian is Rueben, a werewolf who is sworn to protect her. They are in love.” Jenavieve blushed, thinking of Lucas holding her, and the classroom broke out into laughter again.

Mr. Vandover cleared his throat loudly, and the class quieted down. “I had a dream once, that Lucas was my prince and he gave me a white rose laid on red velvet, and asked me to marry him…” Jenavieve was suddenly shocked, realizing she had spoken that out loud. Daydreaming of Lucas, she had spoken in an outburst from her heart. The class room of students gasped as one, and even Mr. Vandover seemed embarrassed. “Was that part of your book report, Miss Winters?” He asked gruffly. The laughter and catcalls erupted and rolled over her like thunder, as he vision blurred around her and focused on Lucas’ impassive face. He showed no emotion either way to what she had revealed she had dreamt about him, and she felt like the world was closing in on her. She ran to her desk, and sat with her head buried in her arms, crying.

Clapping made her look up, not caring about the makeup running down her face. Lucas stood by his desk, giving her book report a standing ovation. Shouts of “Lucas has a girlfriend” then “a raccoon for a girlfriend” and other remarks were made by the other students but she didn’t care. “Sit down Mr. Aspergil, and get your hormones firmly in grasp.” Mr. Vandover was fuming at the class disruption. “A young man can’t go around clapping for every young girl that has fancies for him!” But Lucas kept clapping, and Jenavieve ignored Mr. Vandover as well. She sat turned around in her desk, and watched Lucas. He seemed to be bathed in light. All she could do was smile; a smile that threatened to fall off the edges of her face it was so big. Her dream had come true, and she had found her prince at last.

The bell rang, and Jenavieve got up slowly and walked out of class in a daze. When a hand took hers outside in the hallway she didn’t even look. She just smiled and laid he head on Lucas’ shoulder as they slowly walked to their next class. Their knuckles where white as they gripped each other’s hands tightly, the attraction surging between them like electrical current.

Those few months passed in a blur of bliss for both of them. Lucas had invited Jenavieve to his birthday dinner, choosing that time to reveal their relationship to his parents. Jenavieve had kissed him for a long time before answering, then told him she couldn’t. She was dual enrolled in school, and in nursing school, and would be training at the hospital that night. If she had asked him, Lucas would have ashamedly admitted he was relieved. He was still not sure how his over protective parents were going to react to Jenavieve. When Lucas passed her in the hallway, as he died the third time, Jenavieve had almost fainted. Her relationship with his parents would have a volatile start, forged in fires of distress. She introduced herself to them in the waiting room. Lucas’s father was too numb to feel anything. Jenavieve could tell from her eyes, that his mother hated her immediately but she said nothing. She wouldn’t even look in Jenavieve’s direction. All three waited in an uncomfortable silence to see if Lucas would live.

To be continued....

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Christmas Dawn Part One

The 1st of December means one thing to me - its the start of Christmas.  YAY!!!  Over five days Jess will have a rough ride and her little Christmas adventure starts here.  Fate on the other hand is less than cheery!  Please remember that I write Paranormal Erotica.  This blog is 18+ and this Christmas serial has sex and swearing in it.  If its not for you, you're welcome to stroll on by.  So, let the festivities begin and Merry Christmas to y'all.

Chapter One

Christmas should be a happy time and I was miserable. The room was decorated like a Christmas bomb had gone off in the Library, thanks to Megan and there was the biggest Christmas tree I had ever seen in the corner. Everyone was singing and dancing to carols and cheesy Christmas songs. Even my father was having a ‘dad’ dance with Maria. Oh the horrors! I sat in the oversized chair looking into the roaring fire and wondered why the hell I wasn’t happy? I had more now than I ever had. I had friends, family, Reuban and more importantly I had our baby growing inside me. I worried what sort of life my baby would have and I finally understood why my mother had kept the truth from me. In a few more months I would officially be a mother and I didn’t feel ready. Was I doing the right thing bringing a baby into this world? Especially now? I still believed I was the reason the people I loved got hurt, no matter what my father said. I was always at the centre of the shit when it hit the fan and I really didn’t want to put my baby through that. What if I got my own child killed? I doubt that would happen. It was something that had been nagging me for the last two months since I discovered I was pregnant. This child deserved better than having me as its mother. Don’t get me wrong, I was over the moon that I was having Reuban’s baby and he was becoming so over protective it was ridiculous. It made him happier than I had ever seen him. He keeps nagging me to set a date for the wedding but I couldn’t think about that right now. I was still wondering what things would be like if I had never been born. I know everyone would have been safer without me around.

“You should stop thinking like that you know…” I looked up to see Maria furrowing her eyebrows at me,

“Just because I decided I would lead, doesn’t mean I’ve accepted anything,” I sighed. Maria sat in the chair next to me and smiled.

“Look at everyone Jess…everyone’s happy and that’s because of you…”

“Is it? Look at the pain they’ve all been through because of me. I can’t help thinking the way I do!”

“I know honey but you’re having Reuban’s baby now and you have to snap out of it,”

“You’re right I suppose…”

“There’s no suppose about it. You raged over your parents not telling you the truth and being there for you and now…well…this child is very lucky to have you and Reuban as its parents. Although Reuban does keep glaring at everyone when they come near you…look, he’s doing it now…”

I turned my head so I could just about see around the wing of the chair and saw Reuban dancing with Diana as he watched me like a hawk. If looks could kill I think Maria was a goner for sure. I shook my head knowing full well Reuban was going to get worse and I would end up having a doozy of an argument with him.

“Come on, stop sulking over things that could have been and enjoy Christmas for a change. We all know it’s not your favourite time of year because it has some pretty shit memories but things have changed and its time you made new ones.” Of course Maria was right, so I smiled and before I knew what was happening she dragged me to the others, bouncing her hip off mine making me laugh.

Before long I found myself wrapped around Reuban in bed. All the dancing and laughing had made me feel exhausted and I was snuggled in his arms listening to him breathe.

“It’s ok you know baby to feel scared…” he suddenly said. I lifted my head from his chest and looked into his eyes,

“I don’t feel scared…” I felt terrified!

“It’s new for both of us and remember I can feel your emotions now…”

“Shit I forgot about that!” I mumbled.

“I can feel how unsure you are and it’s growing by the day.”

“I can’t help it. It was reckless of me to get pregnant!” I sighed.

“It took two of us baby and it wasn’t reckless…” he lay his hand on my belly and smiled.

“…this baby was made from love. Our love. I know you can feel me and I promise not to be too protective but you’re pregnant with my first born. I’m just as scared as you but there’s something else…I know there is!” His eyes were sparkling amber and I could feel his love for me and his child.

“I…its ok…I’m fine.” Of course I was lying and Reuban knew it when I felt him huff.

“I suppose at some point you’ll tell me?” I rubbed around his nipple to distract him, “It’s a good job I like to be distracted by you!” he laughed and then tossed me onto my back until is hot naked body had pinned me to the bed.

“Who says I’m distracting you?” I chuckled.

“I am!” he said nipping at my ear. I could already feel his cock swelling against me, seriously it was no wonder I was pregnant.

“But what a distraction.” I said panting as he licked across my shoulder. The best thing about being bonded again was the fact I could feel Reuban. Sex was definitely a new experience feeling it from both perspectives. I could feel the blood rushing into Reuban’s cock and it was making my clit swell and throb. I didn’t have time to dwell on the feeling when I felt Reuban’s teeth on my nipples. I was sure he liked to bite and lick because of his wolf but I wasn’t going to over analyse, not now. He rose from my body and hooked my legs over his big powerful thighs so he could look at my naked body.

“I swear you get more beautiful every time I see you.” he smiled and then I felt his cock rubbing against my clit. Even before the bond I felt so much for Reuban it scared me and now I loved him so much it hurt. He quickly turned me over so I was on my knees and began nudging his cock against me. Every stroke across my clit made me pant louder and louder until I thought I was going to come with him doing just that. Reuban could feel how close I was too because he began nudging himself inside me, deeper and deeper until my muscles took all of him. I threw my head back as he started to thrust harder and harder. I didn’t think I could take anymore until he raised my legs over his hips, holding me in place with his hands. He was deep now and with every thrust I felt him hit the end of me. I was letting go when I felt Reuban’s orgasm shoot down his spine. It felt different being able to feel him coming but I was soon screaming his name as he spilled inside me. I hadn’t locked inside him since we bonded but it didn’t matter anymore. He stilled and looked at me. I felt a little awkward because I still had my legs around his hips but he was rocking gently inside me as he lowered me back down to the mattress. I turned around until I was resting on my back. Reuban made sure we hadn’t broken contact and was still inside me, rocking ever so slowly. As he ran his hand over my belly smiling, I felt another orgasm pulse through my body and I shook in his arms. He leaned forward because he knew what I would need now. My fangs erupted from my gums and I sank them as gently as I could into his neck. He was mine just as much as I was his. I must have fell asleep shortly afterwards because I suddenly felt myself jerk awake and to my absolute horror I had two blue eyes looking down at me as I lay naked next to Reuban’s sleeping body. I was about to scream when I realised who’s bitchy face was looking at me.

“Fate what the fuck do you want?”

Chapter Two

“Is that anyway to greet someone that saved your life?” she bitched loudly.

“Will you shut up, Reuban’s asleep.” I whispered as bitterly as I could.

“Oh the wolf can’t hear us…I’m here for you, not him!” One of these days Jess you’re going to kill that bitch but she did have a point, she did save your life. I pushed her away from me, realising she was straddling me on the bed and grabbed my silk dressing gown from the chair. I smiled as she fell awkwardly, cracking her ass on the floor. She got up and brushed herself down.

“What do you want Fate?”

“You!”

“I think I’ve established that…I mean why are you here?” I grunted. She liked to play games and I had enough with my father doing that all the time.

“It’s not like I want to be but what the Creator wants I have to do…” she huffed running a blonde curl through her fingers,

“The Creator?” Obviously, I knew now there was this divine being that created everything but I never thought he, she, whoever, would interfere in my life. Come on, who was I kidding, everybody else wanted to!

“Yep…I’ve been sent to put your mind at rest about who you are and apparently this shit only works on Christmas Eve. Believe me I would rather be in the Underworld with Nergel but as I can’t refuse the Creator I’m here…”

“Nergel hey?” I smirked. Everyone knew she had a thing for the God of the Underworld ever since Angie came on the scene. Fate rolled her eyes at me and grabbed my arm. I slapped her hand away.

“Look Jess, I know you don’t like me…” I snorted my agreement, “…but if you carry on the way you are you won’t have much of a life and neither will your child.”

“Leave my child out of this!”

“Oh for fucks sakes!” Fate screamed and then everything went white and we were in the middle of a grey corridor,

“Where the hell are we?”

“Time.”

“What?”

“We’re in time…this is the corridor where all time is connected. Each door is a moment in your life and I am the only one to have access to it, unfortunately for me. I am here to show you your past…” I looked at her and then it hit me.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me? You’re the ghost of Christmas past aren’t you?” I laughed.

“It’s not like I want to be!” she spat,

“I’m in a Charles Dickens novel.” I screamed, could my life get any weirder?

“It wasn’t a novel…anyhows…how did you think he got the idea?”

“You’re telling me it was a true story?” Seriously who had this life?

“Yep, although he did exaggerate a little according to my predecessor but I suppose that’s what authors do?”

“So what? You’re gonna show me some happy moment of my past that will make me suddenly feel better about myself?”

“Not quite. Come we need to walk further down this corridor. The event I want to show you happened quite a while ago…”

“I’m in my dressing gown!” I spat through my scrunched face as I starting walking next to her.

“You’re not going to be seen. It’s more like a memory of a moment…it’s already happened.”

We stopped at a door and she opened it pushing me through.

“Where the hell are we?” I hissed through my fangs. I rubbed a hand over my belly suddenly feeling protective of my baby,

“You’ll see.” she nodded and then motioned for me to be quiet. It didn’t take long for me to realise where I was when I saw my mother pulling an eight year old version of myself up the stairs by my arm. I remembered this night and it was one of the reasons I had started to hate Christmas. I remembered how my mother had dragged me to my room and told me to quickly pack a bag. That night I had to leave everything behind and I hated her for making me leave on Christmas Eve. All she would say is that we had to leave. It was nothing unusual but we had never done it on Christmas Eve. I remembered crying while she yelled at me for being stubborn but I didn’t want to leave. She let me take one present and I hated her for it. It was this moment I first wished I had never been born and now it was playing out in front of me.

“Good, you’re remembering…” Fate smiled.

“You’re a bitch for bringing me here!” I turned around to go back through the door when she grabbed my arm.

“You were too young to realise what was happening that night but it’s time you were shown the truth…come…” she pulled at my arm.

“I know what happened!” I hissed bearing my fangs.

“You can cut that out. Are you sure you know?” Fate started to walk down the stairs behind my mother after she locked my other self in my room. I shook my head and followed her. I saw my mother rummage in the cupboard under the stairs and then to my surprise pulled out a crossbow. Then came the steel tipped arrows! What the fuck?

“Azazeal, I swear to God, when I see you again I’m chopping your balls off.” my mother muttered for me to snigger. Then I heard the floorboards’ creek. We were not alone. I watched as my mother pushed her body against the wall and looked around the door jamb. She looked so small and just like me as she clutched the crossbow in her hands. I walked towards her and then I saw it. I moved myself in front of her as I saw two Ethos Vamps coming straight for her. I punched at them but they simply walked through me.

“I wouldn’t bother Jess. Remember you’re not really here, it’s only a memory…it’s already happened.” Fate laughed and I wanted to punch her in the face, I just might later.

Before I could argue I watched a Vamp walk through the door for my mother to kick him in the balls and stab him through the heart with a steel dagger, where the hell did she pull that from? Then the other came running at her as he saw his friend turn to ash.

“Not this time you fucker. I won’t let you have her!” she yelled and then fired the crossbow, missing him.

“You think the Queen will stop? You’re more stupid than I thought you would be.” He laughed but my mother had already reloaded the crossbow and this time she didn’t miss. The Vamp looked horrified as he clutched at the arrow through his chest, then puff he was ash. I watched my mother with worry on her face as she ran towards the curtain. She looked through the window and I looked around her to see more Vamps walking down the street. They passed for human good enough but I could tell what they were and so could she. She grabbed a present from under the tree and then a pre-packed case from under the sofa. Pulling the mirror from the wall she exposed a hole that was filled with money and a gun.

“God damn you Azazeal. Just once I could do with a hand.” she grunted as she loaded the gun with wooden bullets, “Jess will never forgive me for doing this on Christmas Eve. You’re a mother fucking bastard…you hear me? You’re a fucking twat bag!” she cursed looking up. I had a little chuckle to myself at how much she was cursing. I watched her grab the car keys from the side board. She ran upstairs and then I heard me.

“But mommy it’s Christmas….I don’t want to go…please mommy…I don’t want leave all my presents…but mommy…” My heart broke watching her drag me down the stairs pushing the Christmas present into my arms. I was screaming and kicking because I didn’t understand. The car was always parked around the back and I finally understood why, it was our getaway if something happened. I watched her load me into the car with our bags and then the last thing I heard was screeching tyres. I remembered the rest of it from a child’s point of view. We spent the next week in a grotty Bed and Breakfast because everywhere decent was booked for Christmas. We ate turkey Pot Noodles and watched TV while I sat miserable looking at the still wrapped present. I never opened it, not even to this day.

I never understood what had happened that night as a child. I thought I had done something wrong and was being punished. How could I have known what she had done was to protect me? Fate held onto me as I felt tears roll down my face and I suddenly found myself back in my room with Reuban snoring like a hippo in bed. I wiped away the tears because I didn’t want anyone, let alone Fate see me cry.

“It’s ok you know. I understand more than you think but you needed to see that night for what it really was. You’ve blamed yourself for over twenty years thinking you had done something wrong but you hadn’t. Your mother was a good woman and only did what she did to protect you…”

“Maybe if she told…”

“Will you stop going there? You were a child, an innocent in all this but your mother loved you very much…”

“And I still do…” I turned around to see my mother siting in the chair in the corner of the room. She got up and moved towards me.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t understand what was happening but if we hadn’t left at that moment they would have taken you and I would have lost you forever. That was not an option.” I was stood stunned. My mother was here.

“I thought you couldn’t be here without unleashing hell?” I said looking at her with teary eyes.

“Let’s just say I’ve got a ‘get out of jail free card’ for tonight only. The Creator lets me out for very special occasions.” she smiled and then had me in the tightest hug I ever felt.

“Fuck you’re strong,” I strained. My mother held me at arm’s length and then hit me hard on the arm.

“Will you stop swearing?” she glared and then I hugged her again.

“How quaint but it looks like my time here has ended…” Fate began to say for my mother to interrupt her,

“Oh just fuck off Fate!” she spat for Fate to throw her hands in the air.

“And this is the thanks I get for helping out? Seriously you wonder why I’m a bitch. This is it.”

“FUCK OFF!” I yelled, for my mother to hit me and Fate to disappear shaking her head.

“What?”

“Stop swearing!” My mother frowned.

“You swore!” I argued back.

“I’m you’re mother.” she smiled and then she looked serious. “Jess I’m here to show you the present. I wish I could stay longer but my time is limited.

“Shit, you’re the ghost of Christmas Present?” I sighed for her to hit me again.

“Yes and language.” she smiled.

Sail Away With Me Release Day

Before Jody Carter and her three best friends ever set foot aboard the luxury cruise ship, Jody falls into the arms of uber hunky celebrity guest Taggart Keith, when he saves her shoe from falling to the depths of the sea. Their attraction is undeniable, but the recently divorced single mom knows the last thing she needs is to complicate her life in just seven short days. But that’s exactly what happens when Jody throws caution to the wind for once in her life and gives into a week of sensational pleasures. Taggart helps her discover her more sensual side — one tantalizing night at a time.

 

Kate Deveaux is a contemporary erotic romance writer and die-hard romantic. A former wedding planner, she has always been “in love” with love! Kate is currently working on several fictional stories – each filled with sexy romance, heroines who are no shrinking violets and heroes who make your heart skip a beat. She is a member of Savvy Author, Romance Writers of America (RWA) and their erotic romance chapter, Passionate Ink. Kate currently resides with her husband in Arizona.

 

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