Lies.
When
does hiding the truth to protect someone you love turn into
deception?
Deception.
When
does your unwavering trust turn into the ultimate betrayal?
Betrayal.When
is the truth more than it appears to be on the surface?
Within less than
twenty-four hours of proposing to the love of his life, she
disappeared. No note. No trace. No explanation. Nothing. Now, five
years later, she’s resurfaced and Gray will stop at nothing to make
Livia his again. But is love enough to forgive an unforgivable wrong?
Livia ~ I
had less than sixty seconds to make a decision that would forever
change my life and those of the ones I loved.
I
sacrificed.
I
suffered.
I
survived.
And
no one must ever discover my shameful secret, especially him.
Gray ~ I
had dreams of a future with the woman who breathed the very life into
my soul.
I was betrayed.
I was abandoned.
I was lost.
Now that she’s back, can I find it within
myself to leave the past in the past and forgive so we can move
forward and have the life I’d imagined?
Excerpt
Excerpt
#1 from Forsaking Gray by K.L. Kreig
Livia
He’s on one knee in
front of me and I can’t breathe. I can’t hear anything through
the roar of blood rushing like Niagara Falls in my ears. I watch his
mouth move. I watch him pull out a fancy jewelry box from his coat
pocket and open it. I watch a lone tear slowly streak down his cheek.
Then I’m on the
ground with him, throwing my arms around his neck, whispering yes,
yes, yes and kissing him everywhere my mouth can reach.
I don’t care that
we’re in public, kneeling on the dingy, greasy floor of Rocky’s.
The only thing I see is the man I love with every fiber of my being.
The only thing I hear is him murmuring words of undying love in my
ear. The only thing I feel is his strong, comforting arms cradling me
tightly to his hard, sinewy body. A body that I want more than
anything else at the moment.
“Take me home and
make love to me,” I beg. I don’t want to be here anymore and I
don’t know if I can wait the half hour drive to his apartment
before he sinks inside of me. In fact, I know I can’t.
Standing, I take his
hand and drag him from the floor, quickly walking through the
restaurant to the Employees Only area, which I can easily access
because I work here. Pushing the door open and pulling him through
with me, I shut and lock it and pull his mouth to mine on a groan,
turning our bodies so his back presses against the door. I fumble
with his belt buckle as I break our kiss and trail my lips eagerly
down his neck.
“What
are you doing, angel?” he rasps, his breathing erratic.
“I
need you in my mouth. Right now.” I now had his jeans pulled down
his thighs and was already on my knees in front of him, sinking his
throbbing cock impatiently between my lips. The taste of his pre-come
had me moaning, taking him deep.
“Christ,
Livvy. You suck me so good.” His hips push forward, and his hand
threads tightly through my hair. I look up to snare his hooded,
desire-filled eyes with mine. “Harder, angel,” he demands. When I
increase my pressure, his eyes break contact with mine and roll back
as his head falls against the wood. “Fuck, yes. Just like that.”
I
know every single thing my man loves. I know how to strum his body
expertly, as he does mine, so I lightly fondle his balls, reaching
back with a finger to gently stroke his perineum. His cock swells,
his thrusts increase violently, and my scalp stings from how hard he
grips my hair. “I’m gonna come, baby.”
Seconds
later, loud bellows that can’t be mistaken for anything other than
one in the throes of an orgasm, echo off the four thin walls of the
lounge. I swallow every drop of his salty goodness and continue
licking him until he softens.
Strong
arms reach under mine and he pulls me to him, grabbing my lips in a
bruising kiss. “Let’s go home. I want to fuck my new fiancée
properly in private. Only my ears will hear you moan and scream for
me.” His silky voice feathers in my ear, causing goose bumps to
blanket every inch of flesh.
“I love you Gray
Colloway.”
“Not half as much as
I love you, my soon-to-be wife.”
I wake from my dream with
tears streaming down my face. I haven’t dreamed about the night
Gray asked me to marry him in years. It shreds my already butchered
heart to microscopic pieces. I was deliriously happy that night. We
went back to his place and made love until the sun rose.
After
only four hours of sleep, my father called, begging me to come home.
He sounded scared. I thought something had happened to Alyse. It
wouldn’t have been the first time. I left my sleeping fiancé a
note that I’d be back soon, but when I got home, Alyse was nowhere
to be found. Instead, standing in my father’s living room was a
wolf in sheep’s clothing. And he was surrounded by his gun-toting,
roughneck pack mates. I’m here to tell you, a loaded gun in your
face by someone who isn’t afraid to use it will make you do just
about anything.
The
next choked words out of my father’s bleeding mouth changed my
life. “They’re here for Alyse.”
My
father. I had missed so much of my life
because of my father, because of his weaknesses. Peter Wilder may be
the monster that literally held my life, and that of my family’s,
in his hands, but my father was the catalyst. The decisions he made
led us all to where we all are today. His greed, his lack of
integrity and his selfishness had far reaching effects on so many
lives.
Even in death, I’ll
never forgive him.
They
didn’t want my father’s life to pay his debt. No, that would
serve them no purpose, so they took his daughter instead. While Peter
wanted Alyse, he settled for me. But I would selflessly do it again.
With Alyse’s fragile state at the time, she would not have survived
a man like Peter Wilder; he would have broken her within a week. It
took him far longer with me.
I did
the only thing I could to save her. I threw myself on the proverbial
sword. I married a man I did not know, a man I did not love…a man
who turned out to be the vilest, most ruthless and cruel of men to
ever walk the planet.
It’s
over. It’s behind you, Livia. After over
three years of tortured hell, I’m free from both my literal and
invisible chains, and my sister, Alyse, is safe and successful and
happy and healthy. In love. That’s
what matters. She has no idea the fate she escaped, and it will stay
that. My single regret is that I crushed the man I loved in the
process of saving my sister.
My
phone rings, pulling me out of my reverie. I quickly wipe my eyes and
silently curse the fact that I had to run into Gray again. Now I feel
like I’ve taken several steps back in my ability to cope with the
circumstances the universe decided to hand me. I may not be living,
but I was at least surviving until I laid eyes on the man I am still
in love with. The man I’d constantly thought about seeking out over
the last two years but couldn’t as I was no longer good enough for
him.
I grab
my cell and looking down, I see it’s Alyse. “Hi Lysee,” I
answer, trying to sound upbeat, when I’m breaking apart inside.
“Hey,
Libs. I haven’t heard from you in a while. Just wanted to see how
you’re doing. Did you get that job?”
The
one concession I’d gotten from Peter was to keep in touch with
Alyse, but only sporadically. He’d let me have supervised phone
discussions, so I didn’t reveal anything I shouldn’t, but I was
never allowed to see her. I didn’t lay eyes on my sister for three
long years. When my father got ill and passed away, she couldn’t
understand why I refused to come home. I told her I was in Europe and
couldn’t afford the ticket back. Lame excuse, but it was all I
could offer. Of course the truth was, Peter wouldn’t let me, but I
couldn’t tell her that because she didn’t know about Peter. It
definitely put a strain on our relationship, but we’re finally
bouncing back, slowly.
“Yes,
I did. I started on Monday, but the girl I’m replacing went into
labor early, so now I’m trying to get by on my own.” It was
Saturday, and it had been a hell of a long week. I foresaw many long
evenings next week too. I would be glad when this board meeting was
over because next week that was my sole job. Making my boss look
good. I did not want to get fired and have to go back to waitressing
again.
“That
stinks.”
“Yes,
it does. But I’ll get by. I’m lucky to have gotten the job.” I
was just hoping Wes wasn’t regretting hiring me.
“When
are you coming home? I want you to meet Finn.”
Finn
was the man that Alyse had fallen in love with. She started dating
him a just a few months ago, right after we sold our father’s
house, and I haven’t been able to set foot again in Detroit. The
idea of going back there, where there are memories of Gray everywhere
I look makes my stomach lurch. So I haven’t met Alyse’s boy-toy
yet, but by the way she talks, the guy could give Jesus a run for his
money. He is “perfect in every single way.”
Gag.
And
call me a bad sister, but even though I am over-the-moon happy for
her, I just don’t want to witness it firsthand. I may be better,
but I’m still human. And far from perfect.
“I
can’t really afford a bus ticket right now, Alyse, but as soon as I
get my first couple of paychecks under my belt, I promise I’ll come
back for a weekend.” I didn’t own a car. I lived close enough to
the train and bus stations that public transportation worked out just
fine for me, so never saw the need to invest in a car. I didn’t
even have a driver’s license, anyway.
When I
moved here, Grant, the man who literally saved my life, thought it
best to keep as low of a profile as possible, so no license and the
lease agreement was in his name, along with my cell phone. Grant…God
I miss you.
“Great.
You can stay with us. Finn really wants to meet you. He keeps asking
me when you’re coming.” I thought it was way too early, but they
moved in together a couple of months ago.
“I’ll
come as soon as I can, okay?”
“Thanks,
Libs.” I smile at the nickname she’s had for me since we were
kids.
We
talk for a few minutes about mundane, irrelevant things before we
hang up. I promised I would call her next week.
Deciding
it was time to get my ass moving and be productive, I got up and
threw on my workout clothes. Because I was so busy at work, I hadn’t
had time to take advantage of the gym, but Addy had recently joined a
gym a just a few blocks away and was able to get me a free six month
pass, so I’d been enjoying running and taking some classes. I’d
slept in too late for the spinning class this morning, but I’d
enjoy a good run on the treadmill instead.
An
hour later, I was sweaty and felt marginally better. I went about the
rest of the day running errands and cleaning our small apartment,
which didn’t take long. By 6:00 I had laundry done and put away, I
had a cupboard stocked with my soup for the week and I was just
settling down on the couch to watch Dirty
Dancing when I heard the key rattle in the
door.
“Hey,
chicky,” Addy chirped. Striding through the door, her hands full of
grocery bags, she slams it shut with her foot.
“Hey,
Addy.” I take a spoonful of my hot chicken noodle soup and blow on
it before shoveling it in my mouth. When she gets her groceries put
away, she stands at the counter with a hand on one hip, just staring
at me. “What?” I finally ask. I look down to see if I’d spilled
something on me or if there was a spider crawling on my leg like last
week. Just thinking about it makes my heart pound.
Yeah,
that wasn’t my finest moment. Even the smallest of spiders scare
the shit of out of me. The glass of milk I had in my hand wound up
dripping down my face, and I let out a scream so loud, we had Mrs.
Ruffalo, the resident busybody, knocking on our door asking if
everything was okay. We never did find that spider. I’d been on the
lookout for it ever since.
“What
the hell are you wearing?” Addy asked with a disgusting sneer on
her face.
“Um,
they’re called pajamas.”
“Yes,
I know what they’re called. The question is…why is a
twenty-eight-year-old single woman wearing pajamas at six o’clock
on a Saturday night?”
“Addy…”
“Livia…”
she replies mockingly. She comes over, takes the soup out of my
hands, carries it back to the kitchen and dumps it down the drain.
“Hey!”
I yell, jumping up from the couch, stalking after her. “That was my
dinner!”
“That
was an appetizer, for fuck’s sake, Livia. That wasn’t dinner. I’m
taking you out to celebrate your new job. My treat.” She walks
around me, but not before grabbing my hand and dragging me behind her
down the hall to her bedroom.
“Addy,
no. You don’t need to do that,” I argue. I hate feeling like a
charity case that my friends think they need to take care of. And
while I won’t be buying a brand new BMW anytime soon, with this new
job, at least I shouldn’t have to feel like I constantly need a
handout.
She
stops ruffling through her closet long enough to shoot me a death
glare. “I know I don’t have
to. I want to.
Besides, it’s really Kamryn’s treat. She’s meeting us at
Finnegan’s for dinner at eight, and then we’re going to Firefly
for some after-dinner drinks and dancing. If you’re lucky, maybe
we’ll find you a nice, tatted bad boy to oil your lady bits. God
knows they need it.”
“Addy,
no.”
“Livia,
yes. No arguments. Now go jump in the shower, slut up your makeup and
put your hair in a sexy twist. And put on this hot little number.”
She throws a royal blue scrap of fabric at me that’s supposed to be
a dress, along with some strappy silver heels. I’ve seen this dress
on Addy. It barely covers her ass, and hers is much smaller than
mine. “Kam’s sending a car to pick us up at seven fifteen, so
chop-chop.”
Fuck
me. Really?
My
friends don’t do this very often, but every once in a while they
find it incumbent upon themselves to try to get me laid. They think I
can’t find a man and that’s the farthest thing from the truth.
At
five feet seven inches, I’m no skinny Minnie, but I’m in very
good physical shape. I have curves and look like a woman should. My
bright green eyes stand out against my fair skin, especially with my
chocolate brown hair. I may not be runway model gorgeous, but I know
I’m attractive enough to bed a man, should I choose to do so. I
just don’t. Hell, my boss has hit on me enough this week, that if I
went into his office, lifted my skirt and bent over his desk, he’d
gladly fuck my brains out.
But
there is only one man I want between my legs and I can’t have him.
I simply can’t stomach the thought of anyone else there.
“Addy,
I really don’t think I’m up to it.”
My
best friend stops what she’s doing and looks at me pointedly.
“Livia, I know things have been rough for you. I may not know who,
what or why, but I see your sorrow. Whatever happened in the past,
you’re here now. You’re alive, you’re young, you’re beautiful
and you have a lot inside you to give. You need to live life, not be
holed up in a shitty two-bedroom apartment eating chicken noodle soup
for supper. And besides, I need
this as much as you do.”
“I
know,” I tell her quietly. “Fine. Okay. I’ll agree to dinner
and dancing, but. Do. Not.
Try. To. Hook. Me. Up. Understood?”
“Yeah,
yeah,” she waived, turning back to her closet to pick out her own
slutty attire.
I turn
and stomp out of her room like a five-year old who was told she
couldn’t have a cookie before dinner.
Ugh.
What have I let my friends talk me into?
REVIEW BY TABITHA:
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review and let me tell you this book had me screaming and crying and then those melt your panties moments. It had me hooked from the very first page and I devoured it in one sitting. Yep, I stayed in my pi's all day just to finish this gem of a book. I wanted to strangle Gray and Livia one minute and then the next I was crying wanting to make it all better and then the next I was back to screaming again. These two characters are so relatable because sometimes in life crap happens that are out of your control and you just have to fight your way through them. I am a sucker for second chance love stories but honestly this one is so much more than that. There were quite a few holy crap I did not see that happening moments. I really love those and how the author gives you no clue really at all as to what it is. I mean I really went back after reading this book and skimmed it again because I was sure I had missed something. Nope, she just wrote this book so well that it was totally unexpected. I really like that we get to see things from Gray and from Livia. That really helps you understand both characters. And truly the secondary characters are all phenomenal as well. I look forward to reading about the rest of the Colloway brothers and then some from this author!! This one is an easy 5 AMAZEBALLS stars rating for me!!
Author Bio
This
is the hardest part…talking about myself.
I’m
just a regular ol’ Midwest girl who likes Game of Thrones and am
obsessed with Modern Family and The Goldbergs. I run, I eat, I run, I
eat. It’s a vicious cycle. I love carbs, but there’s love-hate
relationship with my ass and thighs. Mostly hate. I like a good
cocktail (oh hell…who am I kidding? I love any
cocktail). I’m a huge creature of habit, but I’ll tell you I’m
flexible. I read every single day and if I don’t get a chance…watch
the hell out, I’m a raving bitch. My iPad and me: BFFs. I’m
direct and I make no apologies for it. I swear too much. I love
alternative music and in my next life I want to be a bad-ass female
rocker. I hate, hate, hate spiders, telemarketers, liver, acne,
winter and loose hairs that fall down my shirt (don’t ask, it’s a
thing).
I
have a great job (no…truly it is) with the largest wholly-owned
insurance company in the United States. My kids and my husband are my
entire world and I’d never have made it this far without them. My
soul mate husband of nearly twenty-eight years provides unwavering
support and my two grown children know the types of books I write and
they don’t judge their mom anyway (and my daughter is a beta reader
even…yes, that can be awkward… very).
Although
Forsaking Gray is the fourth full-length novel that I have published
in less than a year, I still consider myself a virgin author. I’m
sincerely humbled by each and every like on my FB page or sign-up for
my newsletter or outreach from someone who has read and loved my
books. I still can’t get over the great support and reviews for my
Regent Vampire Lords series from bloggers and my “fans.” I’ve
made more friends in the last year than I’ve made in my life and
I’m a pretty affable person. It’s surreal. I’m pretty sure it
always will be.
In
short, I am blessed…and I know it.
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