Skin To Skin
J.M. Stone
Synopsis
“I kissed Brandon.”
Three little words. One drunken night. And everything changed.
Starting over is never easy to do, and Chloe made it that much harder on herself when she lip-locked Brandon. Guilt-ridden, she confesses to Allie about the kiss. Instead of the black eye she figured was coming, she gets way more than she bargained for in the form of an Allie-sized reality check…but she still can’t shake the haunting memory of a certain toe-curling, leave-you-breathless, wet-your-panties kiss.
With Brandon and Chloe walking on egg-shells around each other, fate, this time in the form of two scheming, hormonal, pregnant women and three funny furballs, steps in once more, forcing them to face the fact that things have definitely changed between them…
But is it for better or worse?
*Recommended for readers 18+ due to HOT sexual encounters, adult situations, and language.
**This is book three of the Skin Deep Series; recommended to read after Skin Deep, book one of the series, and Under My Skin, book two of the series.
Three little words. One drunken night. And everything changed.
Starting over is never easy to do, and Chloe made it that much harder on herself when she lip-locked Brandon. Guilt-ridden, she confesses to Allie about the kiss. Instead of the black eye she figured was coming, she gets way more than she bargained for in the form of an Allie-sized reality check…but she still can’t shake the haunting memory of a certain toe-curling, leave-you-breathless, wet-your-panties kiss.
With Brandon and Chloe walking on egg-shells around each other, fate, this time in the form of two scheming, hormonal, pregnant women and three funny furballs, steps in once more, forcing them to face the fact that things have definitely changed between them…
But is it for better or worse?
*Recommended for readers 18+ due to HOT sexual encounters, adult situations, and language.
**This is book three of the Skin Deep Series; recommended to read after Skin Deep, book one of the series, and Under My Skin, book two of the series.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
“I kissed Brandon.”
The words exploded from my mouth,
following a whispered apology, before I could even think about stopping them.
Horrified, I clapped my hand over my lips, squeezing my eyes shut as I imagined
Allie’s fist meeting my face. That was so not how I envisioned finally getting
this off my chest.
When nothing but silence met my
comment, I risked peeking over at her. She was standing beside me, her hands
frozen over the flaps of the box we were unpacking that had just come into her
store. She stood like that for just a second before she smoothed her hands down
her swollen stomach and nodded decisively.
“You know, I was going to ask you
why there was some kind of tension between you two. Guess I don’t have to do
that now, huh?”
She chuckled wryly, the corner of
her mouth tilting up in a half-smile.
My heart stopped, but my face
crumpled and my mouth started running of its own volition.
“I…I don’t have any excuse, really,
Allie. I’m sorry. I’m so, so completely sorry, and I really never meant for it
to happen. We were just on that road trip and I got drunk one night when I was
feeling sorry for myself and…I just kissed him.” I threw my hands up, shaking
my head as I felt tears threaten.
Soft, small hands cupped my cheeks
and brought my face around. My eyes clashed with the big, bright blue ones of
my future sister-in-law.
She sighed, her thumbs gently wiping
away the tears that had just started to fall. “Chloe, don’t cry. You didn’t do
anything wrong. Brandon and I were done at that point. I’m marrying your
brother, and I’m having your nephew. I’m not mad…I won’t lie to you and say it
doesn’t hurt a little…but I’m not mad.”
The tears began flowing faster down
my cheeks. How could I have done this to the amazing person standing in front
of me? How could I have hurt the person who has done so much for me ever since
I showed up unannounced and buried under a mountain of personal baggage?
A sob bubbled out from my chest and
I choked it back, not wanting to break down completely. I didn’t deserve to
break down in front of Allie…she was the one who was hurt. I deserved nothing
more than an ass kicking.
Allie groaned and pulled me into her
arms, hugging me tightly and the dam broke. She just held me tighter, letting
me cry on her shoulder, literally. And as shitty as it was for me to do, I let
her do it, and I cried. Hard.
When the storm of sobs had finally
slowed, she pushed me back and looked me over as I stood there, struggling to
catch my breath and wipe my face.
“Okay. I think that this is a
perfect time to just close up shop, head over to your house, and have some
special sundaes.” She paused, rubbing her belly again before shaking her head
and smiling as she said, “Well, you’re gonna have a special sundae and
I’m just gonna eat the frozen yogurt.”
I gave her a watery smile and
nodded. We shut down the store and headed to Allie’s, er, my house. It
was still so weird to say my house, and even weirder to hear Allie say it, too,
especially because not too long ago, it was Allie’s house. I guess I’m
even more flabbergasted at the generosity of Allie…I mean, I had nowhere to
stay when I showed up on Luke and Emma’s doorstep, looking for my brother. I
knew he was building a house and I could always crash with him, that went
without saying. Instead, I ended up at Allie’s house in her spare room, and
when she moved into Jackson’s house, she’d handed me a piece of paper that
turned out to be the deed to her house. I tried to refuse, but…I finally gave
in a took it for what it was worth; a chance to start over fresh on my own two
feet, which is exactly what I came here for. I just didn’t expect it to happen
so quickly.
I left L.A. a broken and battered
mess, running to the little town of Phillus, Ohio where my brother had decided
to relocate. Initially, he’d come to see his best friends, Luke and Brandon,
but one look at Allie and his mind was made up. He bought land, started
building a house, and now he and Allie are engaged and expecting my little
nephew in a little over two months. Of course, their story was a little more
complicated than that, but…you get the idea.
Half an hour later we were sitting
on my couch after a slight detour to the store to grab special sundae items.
The first time they’d handed me one, I was a little skeptical. Strawberry
daiquiri wine cooler over strawberry frozen yogurt? Yeah, not a combination I
ever really thought would be good. But lemme tell ya, it is yummy!
I took another bite of my sundae and
laughed at the yearning, pathetic look Allie shot my bowl as she spooned up her
own bite of boozeless fro yo. She scowled as she shoveled it into her mouth on
a huff.
We ate in silence for a minute
before Allie broke it on a sigh. “Look. I know I said it hurt earlier when you
told me you kissed Brandon. It’s true…it does hurt. But I have no right to be
mad at you, and like I said, I’m not mad at you. Brandon made his choice
to walk away from what we had, and I made the choice to let him. I gave up,
didn’t fight for him, and do you know why?”
I shook my head, my own eyes
beginning to brim with tears as they started falling from hers.
“I didn’t fight for him because I
realized that, deep down, I knew the love I had for Jackson was so much deeper
than the love I have for Brandon. But I’m selfish, I guess, because if he
hadn’t walked away, I would have kept him with me, and honestly, that would
have probably ruined us...someone would have ended up unhappy and, in the end,
we wouldn’t even have the friendship that we do. I couldn’t bear that. Besides
Emma, he’s my best friend.”
She paused for breath and to wipe
away the tears falling unchecked down her cheeks. “I was so jealous of you, Chloe,
when you showed up. Brandon was always running to help you, sleeping in your
bed. You knew it…I mean, hell, you apologized every five fucking seconds. And I
think my jealousy stemmed from the fact that you guys were close…you’ve known
each other and been friends for years. Not only that, but…you’re fucking
gorgeous!”
She laughed and I just shook my head
at her. She held her hand up when I would have voiced my protest, and I shut
up, allowing her to continue.
“In the long run, Brandon did what
was best for him, and for me and Jackson, too. And yes, God, it still
hurts and I’m still so pissed off at him at times, so much that I just want to
throat punch him! But, again, he did do what was best. For all of us.
Regardless, I love him, and I always will. He’ll always hold a special place in
my heart, and the woman who finally lands him is just gonna have to deal with
it, because I’m not letting go of his friendship. I can’t. Trust me, I’ve went
back and forth about this whole thing many times since he walked away. Emma was
ready to castrate him because of it; she kept saying that he had made such a
big deal about making it work and everything…and then just left it all behind
when things got hard.”
“But, he didn’t!” I interjected
loudly, shocking both myself and Allie.
She quirked her eyebrows at me and
cocked her head. “Well, yeah, Chloe, he kinda did,” Allie said softly.
I shook my head, still unsure as to
why I was forcing the issue, but…I just couldn’t let her think differently.
Unable to stop, my mouth opened and the words poured out, memories overtaking
me…
About the author
J.M. Stone is a legal
assistant by day, and a writer by night. She started writing at a young age,
mostly poetry and song lyrics, some of which were published. She currently
lives in Ohio where she's lived for most of her life, and enjoys spending time
with her other-half, their mouthy daughter, two spoiled and crazy dogs, and the
rest of her abnormal family. (Don't worry, abnormal is good!) In her spare
time, she loves to read, write, sing, and make people laugh, which usually
happens at her own expense! Skin Deep is her first novel, and is the first in
the Skin Deep series.
She loves to hear from her readers, so drop her line at jadelynna23@yahoo.com or stop by her Facebook Page!
Happy Reading!
She loves to hear from her readers, so drop her line at jadelynna23@yahoo.com or stop by her Facebook Page!
Happy Reading!
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