I think it’s the most romantic book I’ve ever written, and it’s coming on 5/2. Here is a brand new excerpt from Behind the Curtain!
Excerpt #2, Behind the Curtain
The soothing sound of trickling water intermingled with the sweet notes of her singing. His gait quickened, his muscles straining tight. Finally, he paused in the shadow of a bowed sycamore at the edge of the familiar rocky, rough sand beach, peering through the foliage to find her.
He stilled. His already roughened skin grew even tighter.
She stood knee-deep in the shallows, water running in streams down graceful arms, high breasts and a smooth, taut belly. As she tossed her head to the side, a spray of water flew from waist-length dark hair like a shower of sparkling diamonds. She fisted the wet mane at her nape and pulled, causing a rivulet of water to cascade along a breast and down her ribs and belly. He watched, enthralled, as her full, dark pink lips moved.
“I may be blind, but you I can see,” she sang.
Her eyes flickered and suddenly she was staring right at him.
He was sure he hadn’t moved and given himself away. One second, she’d been utterly lost in her own private world; the next, she’d sensed him. For an electric few seconds, neither of them moved. He didn’t breathe and was sure she didn’t either.
Asher considered himself a good writer. He despised hyperbole and strived for lean, matter?of?fact prose. But how could you tell a truth like the one he experienced at that moment as he stared in wonder at this naked, glorious woman? It was something felt,
not told. It was like unexpectedly sighting a mythical creature or something. His senses overflowed with the reality of her. His lungs forgot how to work. Even his blood seemed to come to a screeching halt in his veins. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, let alone imagined.
The inland lake had long been his secret, special place. But somehow, she’d just made it sacred.
She suddenly started. Fear leapt into large, almond-shaped green eyes. The spell was shattered. He staggered onto the beach, his hands up.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Don’t be afraid,” he begged. “Please,” he added desperately when he saw her glazed expression of shock and fear. The thought of her being afraid of him made him sick.
“Ash? Where are you?” Rudy called in the distance, his voice muffled by the trees.
Asher’s eyes widened. Hers did too. She lunged toward the beach, her lithe arms covering her bare breasts and dark pubic hair. She pulled back, her desperate gaze jumping from the pile of clothing and what looked like several notebooks on the beach over to him.
He shook his head, a horrible feeling swooping through him when he realized she was looking at him like a wild, trapped animal would at its captor. She was wondering about her chances of escape with him standing so close. He stepped backward quickly away from the shoreline, giving her space. He heard a sound like a branch snapping.
“What the fuck, man? Where’d you go?” Eric yelled, irritation ripe in his tone. He heard the sound of Eric and Rudy tramping on the distant path, their tread much louder than his had been. More aggressive-sounding too, he realized as he took in the girl’s panicked expression.
“I’m going,” he said very quietly. “I’ll lead them away from you. Don’t worry. You’re safe.”
She stared at him mutely, a strange, blank expression of shock on her beautiful face.
“I won’t let them see this place either. It was my secret place too. Once.”
He took one last look at her, absorbing her like a man inhales his last breath before he submerges underwater for a long dive. Then he turned and hurried into the forest, intent on intercepting his friends and preventing their intrusive gazes.
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Behind the Curtain is available now for preorder! For another excerpt from this contemporary, emotional, second-chance romance, click here.