Losing It: A Collection of VCards (30 page)

“I can stop, Nolan. We don’t have to…” I say, not sure I can really keep my word now, all of my base instincts taking over, my arms threatening to weaken their hold, to let my weight fall fully into her.

“Reed, I love you. I want this, with you,” she says, her eyes opening just long enough to look into mine, to give me her consent.

My thumbs graze both sides of her face, my elbows caging her body, my weight held by my tingling arms. I take her bottom lip in-between mine, holding it in my mouth, my tongue tasting her quivering lip as I lower myself completely, falling into her; her insides squeeze against me. I can feel her body tense; I wait a few seconds before rocking out of her, then moving into her again. With every shift, her body grows more willing, until finally, I feel her hips begin to rock into me again, meeting my rhythm.

Our kiss never stops—it only grows more intense as our bodies move together faster. I let my hands slide down her side, gripping the side of her leg and bringing it up around my hip, letting me push into her even deeper.

As much as I shouldn’t do this, because it threatens to send me over the edge with every new movement she makes, I can’t help it. My hands want all of her. My mouth—it wants all of her. She feels fucking perfect. I am going to have to do this again.

This…this isn’t one of those things I can have only once. This is addiction, in its finest form.

Nolan isn’t my first. But holy shit, nothing compares to the way she feels. Her arms and legs only give into me more, until I finally feel her hands grip at my biceps, her back arching as her breasts beg for me to touch them. I slide my hand beneath her, pulling her hard peaks to my mouth as my hips work slowly, my mind actually counting seconds to keep me from ruining this, from going too fast—from hurting her.

When I lower my head and pull her nipple into my mouth, sucking lightly, Nolan gasps, her breath a whimper—like a siren going off, my body reacts. Knowing I’m only seconds away from losing control, I work her breasts with my tongue, sucking on each until they’re hard and raw. Nolan’s breathing has fallen into a pant. When her teeth dig into my shoulder, her mouth letting out a small cry of pleasure, I finally let go too—everything escaping me in one massive rush, my head dizzy as I collapse next to her, finally falling away, and breaking our hold on one another.

That was selfish.

What I just did, it was one-hundred-percent for me. I had to have her; I will forever be her first. I just took something from Nolan, something that I know I’ve taken from others, but for some reason, have never stopped to think about like I am right now.

What Nolan gave me, she can only give once—I am not something that will ever go away. I’m a permanent memory. I’ve tattooed myself on her heart and soul. The gravity of all that—
fuck
. For once in my life, the weight of a moment isn’t lost on me. All I want to do now is deserve it.

Deserve her.

Rolling to my side, I reach my arm over her, pulling her into me, my fingertips touching the moist skin along her back, my ears content to listen to her breathe. Nolan looks up at me, and that worry—the mark on her face I left there from so many mistakes—is gone. Doubt—gone. Happiness is all that is left.

“I love you, Nolan,” I whisper into her ear. “And I swear to God I always will.”

***

“Selfish” is an extended bonus scene from
Waiting on the Sidelines
by Ginger Scott.

About the Author

Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling author of six young and new adult romances, including
Waiting on the Sidelines
, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling
and
You and Everything After.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at
http://www.littlemisswrite.com
.

When she's not writing, the odds are high that she's somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork 'em, Devils).

Titles:

Waiting on the Sidelines

Going Long

Blindness

How We Deal With Gravity

This Is Falling

You And Everything After

Social Media Links:

Website

Facebook Page

Twitter: @TheGingerScott

Pinterest

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Google

Goodreads

Sealing The Bond

by A.O. Peart

The Universe's violent powers are trapped in the ancient Amulet to protect the stability of the world. Raging forces of nature that affected most of the planet finally subsided. Amber, the Summer Goddess, blinded by greed for dominance is trapped in her Realm, and the epic battle between Winter and Summer Shape Shifters and their Goddesses came to an end. Jatred and Jasmira—the rivaling Races’ royal heads can finally give in to the forbidden attraction between them. Free to explore their sexuality, genuinely enhanced by the ancient powers, this young couple gets lost in one another.

***

They sat on the stai
rs leading to Jasmira’s mansion, wrapped in each other’s arms, watching the rain and taking in the damage caused by the earthquake. Even though the natural disaster left the city crippled, it by no means compared to what Jatred and Jasmira managed to survi
ve today.

This was different on some many levels, exhilarating, and unparalleled to anything they had ever experienced before. Their S
hape
Shifter bodies and minds had been put through so much during the battle, and they both should now simply be exhauste
d. Instead, something new had awakened in them: a rare energy that fed off of what had been gifted to them by the unleashed powers of the Universe and their enhancing Spirits. Even though the Spirits that led them in the battle withdrew from their minds an
d bodies while still in the In-Between, they left behind their residual knowledge, unparalleled combat skills, and ancient powers to guide their Shifter hosts—Jatred and Jasmira—for the rest of their lives.

In addition, the Universal forces of the ten-tho
usand-year mark not only accentuated what the enhancing Spirits gave them, but also catapulted them into full-fledged adulthood. Although not yet seventeen, they were granted the experience and maturity equal to adult leaders. A sudden, burning need stirre
d inside them, demanding to be acknowledged, recognized, and set free.

Jatred realized first what that urge was. It fascinated him how different his responses became to Jasmira’s touch, her voice, and the feel of her breath on his skin. There was no denyi
ng how much he wanted her. But he also didn’t know how she would react. The last thing he wanted was to scare her away or make her uncomfortable.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her mouth. She eagerly parted her lips, granting him access to explo
re. He still didn’t remember their past together, as all his memories were irrevocably erased by the Winter Goddess. She did that in an attempt to prevent the Summer Goddess from redirecting and using the previously unleashed Universal powers for her own w
ickedly dangerous purposes. They both finally understood she had done what was necessary. It was the only way. She had to keep them apart to protect the order of the Universe. Nonetheless, it bothered Jatred that he was deprived of his past with Jasmira. S
he remembered it all because her memories were not affected. However, this
wasn
’t the time to dwell on that sad subject. His only priority now was to make her his, to mate with her, just the way the wolf in him demanded.

His hand slid up the back of her n
eck, his fingers tangling in her thick, curly hair. He pulled gently to tilt her head at just the right angle for him to claim her mouth and dominate her body. She moaned softly, melting into him, which only increased his desire. He growled deep in his thr
oat, nipped at her lower lip and then immediately soothed the sting with his tongue. Her eyelids fluttered, her arms tightened around him, and she pulled him on top of her, lowering herself onto the
stone landing
.

The stairs were cold and wet from the rai
n, but Jasmira seemed not to notice. She parted her legs and wrapped them around Jatred’s narrow hips, pressing him to her.

“Baby, you know what you’re doing to me,” he whispered against her lips.

“We both do. We both want it,” her answer came in between
ragged breaths.

Was this the same Jasmira he witnessed leading the Summer Shifters’ army in the In-Between? He would have given so much to know how she was before—his high school sweetheart, the girl he loved so much, as all his friends told him. Was she
so candid before? So bold and mature as she was now? Or was she a shy sixteen-year-old who was still unsure of her own feminine powers? He had a nagging feeling the Jasmira from his past was the latter—which, at the moment, was of little concern. The ten-
thousand-year mark changed them irrevocably. Their innocence was gone, but it had been replaced by something greater—and he was ready to put it to the test.

Jatred’s mouth descended
onto Jasmira
’s, claiming her and demanding her compliance. “Mine,” he sai
d with his mind, his hand closing over her breast. “You’re mine now.”

“I am. I belong to you.”

He kissed her hard, their tongues sliding and swirling around one another, their breaths short. His hand kneaded her breast, while the other hand slid under her
butt and pressed her closer into his growing erection. She moaned in need. He hissed through his clenched teeth in response.

“You know there is no way back, right?” Jatred breathed heavily.

“
I don
’t want to go back. I only want us to move forward. That’s
the only way for us now,” Jasmira whispered in his ear, sliding her hands up and down over his back.

He swore and pulled away, lifting her off the ground as if she was as light as a feather. In a blur of motion, he ran up the stairs with preternatural sp
eed and stopped in front of the heavy double doors. Briefly, he lifted his eyes to glance at the four grim-looking warriors carved into the massive wooden
doors. As if
through a haze, some distant memory resurfaced. He knew he’d been here previously.

“I’v
e been inside before, right?” Jatred asked.

Jasmira laughed and nodded in his arms, clutching his shoulders with both hands. “Indeed. Do you remember it now?”

“Kind of. Not much though, but these pissed-off dudes are hard to forget.” He motioned with his
chin to the warriors.

Jasmira laughed at Jatred
’s comment and then kissed him on the cheek, indicating with her eyes the large sun face icon on the warriors’ shields, chest plates, and helmets. “That sun face is the Summer Race’s symbol. Do you recall it
at all?”

“I remember everything, pretty much, except the most important thing—
you
.” He frowned. “But we are getting quickly acquainted.”

“
Not quickly enough.
” Jasmira mockingly raised her eyebrows and reached to press down on the large door handle.

It gav
e way, and one side of the doors swung wide open.

“Right on.” Jatred walked over the threshold with Jasmira still in his arms, her legs playfully dangling over his strong arm. “How come it’s not locked?”

“That’s a pretty good question.” She slid out of hi
s embrace and walked ahead to investigate.

Jatred locked the door behind them and followed her, turning the lights on. A huge crystal chandelier bathed the foyer in a bright glow. The powerful earthquake that had shaken Seattle just hours earlier left a l
ot of interior damage
, just
as it had on the mansion's exterior. A long, zigzagged crack ran across the beautiful marble inlaid
floor.
Its decorative tiles depicted the same sun
face
as was visible on the entry doors, surrounded by a disk of twenty-four ra
ys—alternating straight and wavy ones. Shards of broken glass and china, overturned furniture, and pieces of plaster that had fallen off the ceiling and walls, now littered the floor.

“J, be careful, please,” Jatred called after Jasmira.

“Okay. I’m just
trying to see how bad it is. Everything happened so fast, what with that earthquake striking out of nowhere.” She turned and looked at him. “I was scared. Really, really scared, especially when my grandma got hurt, and I had to drag her outside. The back o
f the house will need to be rebuilt. The balcony over the back terrace broke completely off.” Absentmindedly, she touched the Amulet through the fabric of her shirt. 

Jatred walked quickly to her and pulled her into his chest. “Shh. It’s over, baby. We ar
e safe. The Summer Goddess can’t hurt you anymore.”

“
We don
’t know that. She might find a way …”

“
True. We don
’t know for sure, but the odds are slim.” He pulled away and, gently grasping her arms, looked in her eyes. “Besides, you have the Universal power
s trapped in that Amulet. They will protect you.”

She nodded slowly, her tense features relaxing. “
I still can
’t believe everything that’s happened today—the earthquake, the battle, the Amulet and Dasht-e Kavir fusing together and sending that light … the
ray … it was so intense, so amazing. How did it go straight into Crystal’s sword and then banish Amber back to her Realm? I can finally think about that and analyze what I remember, but I don’t come up with any answers. And all those natural disasters happ
ening all over the world! I have no idea how we didn’t go insane from all this. Who knows, maybe we did.” With those last words, she shook her head and then slowly wrapped her arms around his neck.

She tilted her head to one side and half-closed her eyes
in the most seductive way. He felt one corner of his mouth lift up in an appreciative smile.

“If I remember correctly, your bedroom is up these stairs.” Jatred looked at the wide spiral wrought-iron staircase. “Or do you want to stay here?” He grasped the
hem of her torn, dirty shirt and pulled it up. She didn’t object.

H
ot desire
coursed through him, making his heart pound heavily in his chest. He wanted her so badly. And she wanted him, which came as no surprise. Her eyes shone in anticipation when her
breathing got deeper and faster. The Amulet fell between her round breasts, sending cascades of bright-blue rays from her chest.

Jatred grasped Jasmira around her waist and pulled her close, slamming her roughly against him and digging his fingers into th
e flesh of her buttocks.

She moaned, threw back her head, and closed her eyes. He kissed her hard, moving her hips in circles to rub against the thick bulge in his jeans. When he lifted her up again, she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist, holding
onto him and pressing her cheek against his chest. 

Jatred carried Jasmira up the staircase and straight into her bedroom. He crossed the large room and entered the bathroom, careful not to trip on any items that had fallen on the floor during the earthqu
ake. He put her down, and tugged his own shirt off, revealing a well-defined chest and chiseled stomach. A thin line of black hair lead down from his navel and disappeared under his jeans. He unbuttoned them and slowly pulled down on the zipper.

Wordlessl
y, Jasmira stepped back to watch him. She bit her lower lip, her cheeks reddening. Unhurriedly, Jatred pushed his jeans down all the way to the floor and stepped out them, his manhood straining against the fabric of his boxers. Her gaze slid down to look a
t him and she smiled in appreciation, as if
assessing the size of what was about to bring her immense pleasure. Her fingers gently brushed over the bulge, as if testing his reaction. Maybe she was
checking her own response. Jatred grunted, pushing forward,
into her hand.