Beautiful Illusions (34 page)

“I just want to say I’m sorry,” she gives it just above a whisper as she looks to Reese. “And, if you want to go for coffee sometime, I’m okay with that.”

“I’d love that.” Reese takes in a hard breath as if she were fighting tears.

Neva bolts back into the house—probably to crawl back into her casket for the day.

I toss the tent in the back of the Cougar and get the cooler together before Reese and I take off for the falls.

We get up to the top and Reese throws the tent up in the air and laughs as it pops into shape, landing with a whisper over the dirt. I embed us in a clearing under the pines and scoop Reese into my arms as I take us inside our little orange love shack.

“I’m going to love you forever, Reese.”

“I’m going to love you twice that long.”

I land a kiss over her lips, hot as a firebrand.

Reese pulls me down over her, and I make love to her sweetly until long after the sun goes down.

12

Catching Ecstasy

Reese

One week later

The brick walkways at Yeats University are filled with bicycles and skateboards rushing by at this late hour in the afternoon. The eucalyptus trees create a wall of greenery that leads out to the expansive lawns where girls sit in clusters while boys throw a football back and forth. Classes start in a week, and I’ve already situated myself. I have no idea why I let Kennedy talk me into joining her when I could have spent a few more blissful days with Ace. But he mentioned he had a trip planned with Gavin so we wouldn’t be together anyway. The distance is already killing me, and it’s been less than twenty-four hours.

Thank God I have Brylee. She bops alongside me like a child at an amusement park, gawking at all the boys zipping by while they openly flirt with the two of us.

“This year is going to be masterfully insane.” She grips my arm. Her blonde hair billows in the breeze like pale feathers. “I’m going to have orgasms by the dozen just walking to class in the morning.”

“Eww, and remind me to walk in another direction.” I lead us over to the giant falls that cascade over the English building into a narrow reflecting pool that runs down the center of campus. “This sort of reminds me of the Forbidden Falls.” It was a special place to my mother and me, and now Ace and I will always have those amazing memories there.

We take a seat on the edge of the retaining wall, and I pluck out the envelope marked
Special Recipes
.

“You ready?” She pulls her knees to her chest, looking intently at me.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

I knew Brylee would be the best person to have by my side while I read this. Kennedy might have balked at my mother’s whimsical advice. And I would have done it with Ace but a part of me is afraid she’ll say something that might make me cringe in front of him.

I pull out the letter and hold it in my hand a moment. It’s soft and supple as my mother’s flannel nightgown. The letter unfolds with the breeze, and I’m startled to see so few words.

Brylee leans in and wraps her arm around me.

Dear Reese,

If you’re reading this you have already found love. I’ll pepper my birthday letters to you with advice, but here I’ll give you just the bare bones. I could say, make sure he loves you, treats you right, make sure he’s gentle, and has a livable sense of humor. Make sure he’s kind, cooks, and cleans up after himself. Make sure he shares the remote, but I won’t say any of those things. I trust you to know them. But I will say this:

Does he make you happy? Then you’ve caught your ecstasy.

You already know the true recipe for love. It’s been buried in your heart all along—trust it.

Love you forever,

Mommy

A single tear runs from my cheek, staining the page right over the word ecstasy and makes it bleed out, stretching its inky tendrils across the parchment. That would be just like my mother, demanding I let the ecstasy take over. She had a zest for life especially in those last few weeks. She called it instant perspective. She said life liked to throw us a curve ball sometimes until we got it right. My curve ball came last year when I had to spend it away from Loveless—away from Ace. But, now, a magical summer has passed and he’s mine, and yet, I still ache for him as much as I did before, if not more. For now, it looks like I’ll have to catch my ecstasy on the weekends with him.

I curl in and hug the letter as if it were my mother.

Brylee is busy texting away on her phone.

“Geez, sorry I bored you,” I whisper.

She looks up, her eyes stained with crimson lines. Tears roll down her face as she shakes her head. “You killed me.” She lunges over and gives me a hard squeeze. “I have to run, but do me a favor—don’t move. I have a surprise for you.” She wipes her tears with the back of her hand. Brylee leans in and gives me a sweet kiss on the cheek. “I hope I’m as lucky as you someday.” She hops up and skips off toward the bookstore.

I sink myself back into my mother’s letter and touch her pretty handwriting, laying my fingers where hers once were. It’s magic like this with her, my hand over hers just like in those final hours. The breeze picks up, it whistles and howls, and I hear her whisper my name clear and high like a knife over crystal.

A body sinks next to me, and a familiar cologne filters through the air. I’m afraid to glance over, afraid to break the delusion.

“Heads, we play Monopoly. Tails, we skinny dip.”

I suck in a breath and look up.

“Ace!” I fall over him with a hug until I nearly knock us backward into the water.

“Let’s preserve this.” He helps me put my mother’s letter back into the envelope.

“You drove all the way down to see me? This is why I love you.” I dot his face with kisses, his eyelids, each deep well in his cheeks—I never want to stop.

“I love you, too. But actually I drove down here to ask where Beueller Hall is?” He flattens a paper that looks an awful lot like an admittance letter.

“Beueller Hall? That’s my dorm.” I hold his gaze hoping he’ll say what I desperately want to hear.

“Good because that’s my dorm, too.” His dimples dig in as he holds that killer grin back just enough.

I pull him up and leap onto him with my legs tight around his waist. Ace spins me, and I lean my head back feeling dizzy and light—head over heels in love.

“I’m on the team.” He melts a kiss off my neck. “Practice starts tomorrow.”

“You’re on the team!” I take a soft bite out of his ear. “I’m so proud of you. I always knew you had it in you.”

“Thanks.” He closes his eyes a moment before digging something out of his pocket. “You never answered my question.” He tosses a quarter into the air and it reflects the orange sunset like a salmon swimming upstream. I catch the coin midair and hold it close to my chest like catching ecstasy.

“Now we’ll never know if we were destined to take off our clothes or barter for plastic real estate.” His dimples go off and seduce me without even trying.

“We are definitely destined to take off our clothes,” I assure him.

“Is that so?”

“It’s a promise.”

“I’m glad you think so because I’ve got a surprise for you.” His dark hair shines in the ever-dimming light. His eyes beam like blue velvet.

“Another one?” Ace was all the surprise I needed.

“I got your roommate to switch with me for the week.”

“Just one week?” Elation blooms in me at the thought of all the things I can do to him in that tiny box of a room.

“It might have been a semester.”

“You’re a master manipulator.” I tighten my legs over his hips.

“I have you, don’t I?”

“You didn’t manipulate a darn thing to get me. I was yours from the day you told me to stay the hell away from your marbles.”

He gives a little wince. “I may have done a little manipulating.”

“Like?”

“Like that day at lake. I was going to make sure it was tails no matter what. There’s no way I was going miss skinny dipping with Reese Westfield.”

I bounce in his arms.

“That’s because you, Ace, are a brilliant man.” I land a kiss over his lips. “You ready for another fake honeymoon?” I bite my lip and nod toward Beueller Hall.

“About that. I think maybe we should have a real one. You know, tear it up over in married housing—show those other newlyweds how it’s done through those paper thin walls.”

“Really?” A breath gets caught in my throat. The world spins in one giant kaleidoscope of color as his words swirl through my mind.

“Yes, really. Would you do me the honor of marrying me, Reese Westfield?”

“There’s not another living soul I’d rather spend my life with. Yes, I’ll marry you, Ace Waterman.”

Ace and I seal the moment with a kiss that redefines every other kiss we’ve ever shared. His hungry mouth lapses into soft, sweet, soulful kisses as his tongue aches for mine to have it.

I pull back and take him in through tears.

“You make me happy,” I whisper right into his lips.

“You make me insanely happy.”

In a small way, my mother played a part in our love story by spurring me on to create this amazing adventure to begin with.

Our special summer was a perfect ending to the old Reese and Ace, and a perfect beginning for the new Mr. and Mrs. Waterman.

I crash my lips into his as Ace and I finally catch our ecstasy.

Thank you for reading,
Beautiful Oblivion.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review at your point of purchase. Look for
Beautiful Illusions
(Beautiful Oblivion Book 2) Gavin’s story coming 2014.

The following is a brief vignette associated with Addison Moore’s paranormal romance series, Celestra Forever After.

*Intended for
mature audiences only
*

*This in no way offers spoilers to the Celestra Forever After Series*

Marshall is a 6,000-year-old Sector (angel-like being) Skyla is a human with an angelic bloodline of the Celestra Faction.

Celestra in Retrograde

ADDISON MOORE

Copyright © 2013 by Addison Moore

This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

All Rights Reserved.

Celestra in Retrograde

Spontaneous Combustion

Marshall

The sky darkens overhead like a cast iron skillet. I pull a steed from the barn and walk her to the distal end of the property where a view of the grey Pacific waits for me.

“Well, if it isn’t Studly Dudley,” a woman’s voice purrs from behind.

A smile rides low on my lips as I turn.

There she is—stunning as always. A baroque gown sweeps behind her like a wave, the color of sea glass—with a low-cut corset, her bare shoulders pale as the moon.

“Fuck
me,
” it comes of its own volition, quiet as a whisper.

“You don’t curse.” She digs a sly smile into her cheek as she swings her hips in my direction.

“That’s because you don’t dress like that.” I touch my riding crop to her soft cheek. “Regardless, I was giving an order.”

“Nice to see your sense of humor is still intact.”

She slips into my arms without putting thought to it. Her hand traces up the side of my face, and I press a quick kiss into her wrist.

“Marshall!” My name echoes beyond the barn, straining from the sweetest voice like a chime.