Congrats & Happy Release Claire
Contreras!
Kaleidoscope Hearts is LIVE!
Meet Oliver and Elle in this wonderful
stand-alone!
ONLY $0.99 (Limited Time Only)
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Blurb
He was my older brother's best friend.
He was never supposed to be mine.
I thought we would get it out of our system and move on.
One of us did.
One of us left.
Now he’s back, looking at me like he wants to devour me.
And all those feelings I’d turned into anger are brewing into something else,
something that terrifies me.
He broke my heart last time.
This time he'll obliterate it.
Excerpt
“Look at me, Elle,” he says, using the
deliciously low demanding voice that once made my toes curl and my eyes roll
back, and I have no choice but to tilt my head to give him my attention.
“Forget those lame guys you’re dating.
Let me take you out.”
My heart, if possible, spikes
further in my chest, overriding all warning of the impending chaos that’s sure
to come. I try turning my attention to the poster hanging beside me, but the
kissing couple makes me look back at him and the deep green eyes that are
burning into mine. My stomach does a flip-flop, the way it always does when he
looks at me that way and I try to take my hands back because these feelings are
too scary for me to deal with right now, but he holds them tighter, bringing
them up to his mouth and kissing the tip of my ring finger. Why did he pick
that finger to kiss? I pull harder and he finally lets my hand drop.
“I can’t,” I say, my voice coming
out hoarse.
A myriad of emotions flash in his
eyes before they settle on determination and I’m forced to take a step back,
away from his scent, away from his warmth, and into the cold closet behind me.
“Why not?”
I sigh, finally looking away,
back down to his naked feet. “I just can’t.” He knows why not. He shouldn’t ask
me that question. “What’s Vic doing, anyway?”
His body moves into mine so
quickly that I don’t have time to react to his large hands clutching my arms or
his face dropping until we’re nose to nose. I just stare, wide eyed, waiting
for his lips to fall over mine, but they don’t. He just looks at me, breathes
on me, lets me breathe on him, and he groans. And that fucking groan travels
from his body into mine and crawls into the core of me, draping over every
fiber inside of me.
“What do you want, Oliver?” I
whisper against his lips. “What do you want from me? You want to kiss me? You
want to fuck me? You want to come into my life like the hurricane that you are
and tear down everything I’ve rebuilt and disappear just as quickly?”
His lips brush slightly against
mine, just a breath of a touch as he stands there, crowding me like he’s about
to devour me. But he won’t. He never goes in for the kill. He just lures me,
casts me, reels me in and pulls away. His hands drop and his face leaves mine
with the same quickness and I feel a pang deep inside me that I wish wasn’t
there.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly,
shaking his head in a movement that makes his hair sway back and forth. His
eyes are soft on mine now and I can almost hear his thoughts: I should have never kissed her. I should
have never—
My brows rise in surprise at the
apology, though. There are so many things I can say to him, but the sudden
defeated look in his eyes keeps my mouth shut. Finally, I exhale and push off
the wall, standing in front of him, with enough distance between us that we
can’t reach out and touch each other.
“It’s okay just… don’t do it
again. The kiss the other day was a mistake…” I stop talking and walk past him,
putting my bra away and sorting through my underwear drawer like it has some
sort of hidden treasure or something. This time when I feel him come up behind
me, I drop my head and exhale. He really needs to stop sneaking up behind me.
“Oli—“ I start and gasp when I feel
his lips on the back of my neck, soft and warm. My heart thunders and my hands
begin to shake inside the drawer so I close my eyes and focus on breathing. He
drops another kiss right beside that spot. I never knew the back of my neck was
so sensitive. The feeling sends a ripple of sensation down my arms and through
my body.
“It wasn’t a mistake,” he says in
a husky whisper that makes my flesh break out in goose bumps. “You’ve never
been a mistake. You want me to tell your brother that I want to take you out?
Is that what it would take?”
Author Information
Claire Contreras graduated with her BA in Psychology from
Florida International University. She lives in Miami, Florida with her husband,
two little boys, and three dogs.
Her favorite past times are: daydreaming, writing, and
reading.
She has been described as a random, sarcastic, crazy girl
with no filter.
Life is short, and it’s more bitter than sweet, so she tries
to smile as often as her face allows. She enjoys stories with happy endings,
because life is full of way too many unhappy ones.
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