Between Then and Now Read online

  “Laney, sweetheart, that’s not a good idea.” It’s brilliant, asshole, shut up. He could barely grind out the words. His body was not on board with being noble.

  “Probably not.” She pressed against his hand, flat against her upper chest, stretching her body to reconnect with his face, and the upper swell of her breast filled his palm. This time the groan was louder. “Tell me to stop.”

  “We’re going to regret this.” Freud would have a field day with what was going in his head. Baser instincts were definitely gaining traction.

  “Probably. Tell me to stop.” Her lips found the corner of his mouth, at an angle, and then her face turned again and they were sharing the barest of open mouth kisses, her bottom lip resting on his, pressing it down. Her eyes were wide, pupils dark and full of want. He didn’t see any hesitation, only heat, and his resolve slipped. One kiss. He let her breath slip into his mouth, hot and moist, and he was lost, disoriented in a mixed fog of memories and unfulfilled fantasies.

  With a slight jerk, his extended arm relaxed, allowing Laney to crawl back on his lap, straddling his hips this time, and she looked down at his erection with a smirk. “I knew you didn’t want me to stop.”

  “Wanting you to stop and knowing you should are two different things. Hell no, I don’t want you to stop.” He dragged a ragged breath into his chest and ran his hands down the sides of her body, squeezing her hips, tracing over her thighs and then up again, harder this time, sliding his palms under her sweater and over the thin cotton tank top hiding underneath. “But I don’t want you to hate me, either.”

  “I’m not an innocent college kid anymore, Kyle.” She wiggled her hips, trying to slide closer to the bulge in his jeans. “I like sex. You make me think of sex. I’m all fired up from fighting. Let’s go.”

  It should have been an ardour-dousing wakeup call, the casual offer of something that was once so special to her, to them. The higher-thinking part of his brain was protesting that something was wrong, that Laney couldn’t possibly want a booty call, but all Kyle could focus on was the easy confidence that she had gained, how she must have gained it, and his primal need to re-possess that which he had lost took over. He could hear raspy need in his voice and he didn’t care. “Now it’s your turn to tell me to stop, sweetheart.”

  Buy What Once Was Perfect now – retailer links at ZoeYork.com!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  aka The People Who Make Me Smile in a Crazy Big Way

  This book was written in a week and a half, and edited in about the same length of time, so not that many people knew about it. Those that did blew me away with their support. Those that didn’t were thrilled when they heard about it after the fact. I’m grateful to and humbled by both groups.

  Special notes of love and appreciation for:

  My husband, who continues to smile and nod and love me unconditionally.

  Molly, who read this first, in pieces, and told me when it was awesome and when it was not. Chapter Four is better because of her. Way better.

  Bonnie and Ingrid, who turned on their retired teacher eyes (best eyes ever!) and hunted for typos.

  Jennifer, who fixed an embarrassing number of tense slips and errant commas.

  Mandie, Lori, Hannah, Rachel, Natalie and Andraena, who make it really easy to hit send on the email saying, “here’s the latest book, what do you think?”

  Book bloggers who embraced me as a totally unknown first time author and shared What Once Was Perfect: Nadine and Tamara from Hook Me Up Book Blog, Beth at Read Your Writes, Hootie and Globug from their eponymous blog (best nicknames ever!), Kim at Sugar and Spice Book Reviews, Eirene at Sleepless Nights Reviews, Caitlyn at Made For You Book Review, Savannah Mae, RomReader, Best Sellers and Best Stellars, and so many more.

  Goodreads readers, who have friended me and welcomed me into their groups. Thank you, thank you, thank you. A particular note of appreciation for the “Some Like It Hot!” group, which continues to support me with honest early reviews, and provides awesome book chats when I need a break from writing.

  Divas and Tweeters, who continue to push me to write as much and as well as I can in the spare hours I find in the day.

  And finally, my readers. Holy crap, I have readers! I love each and every person who has read my book, joined my mailing list, written a review, tweeted or blogged or posted on Facebook…I can’t thank you enough for your support. I love to hear from you, please keep the emails and messages coming!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Zoe York lives in London, Ontario with her young family. She has an English degree and works at a university, so it was probably a foregone conclusion that she’d write a romance novel one day. She’s currently writing the second full-length novel in The Wardham Series.

  www.zoeyork.com

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2013 Zoe York

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 978-0991973644 (RRKY)

  ISBN-10: 0991973644