Welcome Today's Featured Author
Kat Schuessler!!
No
Backward Glances
By
When Lorelai
Todd has her heart shattered by her boyfriend, she vows to never
trust a man again. Six months later, she’s called to the hospital
where she works to help with an emergency. She speeds to get there
and is pulled over by Jay, a handsome cop who will eventually
threaten to break down the walls she’s built around her heart.
After giving the
sexy woman a warning and sending her quickly on her way, Jay regrets
not asking her out. Fate seems to intervene when he’s called to the
hospital to identify a potential kidnap victim and finds the nurse in
charge is Lorelai, the beauty he pulled over for speeding.
He wastes no
time in asking her for a date and she accepts, but hesitantly.
They learn they
have much in common – from music to movies. But the most incredible
thing they share is an amazing chemistry. The sex is red hot, they
can’t keep their hands off one another.
Jay is falling
for Lorelai fast, but he’s worried if she’ll ever be able to let
her guard down and trust him. While he's wooing Lorelai, Jay is
caught up in the investigation to find the kidnapper who shot the
young victim who brought them together. Lorelai finds herself
involved, in more ways than one.
Their
relationship is complicated by a mystery, danger and ghosts from
their past.
But one thing is
clear, their hearts are involved.
Can they beat
the odds and find a future together?
Because there’s
one thing for certain –
In the game of
love – there should be NO BACKWARD GLANCES.
Excerpt
“So...I'm sorry
if this seems a little forward, but I've been wanting to talk to you
about something,” Jay said, sounding nervous.
“What's up?”
“Well, we've
known each other a while now and we've been hanging out a lot, but
I'm still not really sure what we are. Relationship-wise.”
Rory immediately
felt her stomach plummet to the ground. She wasn't ready for this
talk yet; in fact, she'd been dreading it.
“Oh, really?”
She replied. She hoped he wasn't going to push the issue, but knowing
Jay, he would. She didn't want to hurt him, but she was absolutely
terrified to agree to any kind of commitment.
“Yeah. And I was
just wondering what you thought, because I'd really like us to become
kind of an exclusive thing.”
Rory felt her
throat go dry, and she swallowed and forced herself to speak evenly.
“I'm not really sure, either. I mean, we're great together. I'm
just not sure if we should put a label on it quite yet. I know it
feels like we've been doing this forever,” she said, trying to do
this the right way, “but really, it's only been like, two weeks.
Maybe we should just see where we're going first. For right now, I'd
just call us friends with benefits.
“To be honest,”
she continued, “That doesn't even feel like the right term. We seem
like we're more than that, which is why I say we should avoid labels,
just for now. For now, we're just..dating.” Rory refused to look at
Jay. She wasn't sure what his expression was, and if it was sadness
or disappointment, then she would feel awful. So she just kept her
eyes on the road and made the turns that the GPS told her to make.
“Okay,” Jay
replied.
The rest of the
ride was silent.
Rory pulled into
the parking lot and parked next to Jay's car, they got out of the
car, and they walked up the stairs and into Jay's apartment, all
without saying a word. Guilt was worming its way through Rory's body,
and a momentary thought flashed in her mind; was this how Matt felt
when he broke up with her? Did he feel as awful about hurting her as
she felt about hurting Jay?
She sure as hell
hoped so.
Rory took off her
coat and shoes as Jay set up the movie and popped popcorn, even
though they just ate and they each agreed that they couldn't eat
another bite. Now she looked at his face, and it didn't tell her
much. There were no emotions, just simple focus on the task at hand.
It was almost like he was on auto-pilot, going through the motions
but not really focusing on them. That worried her a little bit; Jay
didn't do auto-pilot, not with her. He always talked to her while he
did everything, no matter what it was. This was bothering him, and
she knew it.
She wanted to say
something, do something to fix this, but she wasn't sure what that
was, so she just sat on the couch and waited for him to finish. He
split the popcorn into two bowls, as he always did, brought them
over, sat down on the couch and pressed “play” on the remote
control. They sat through the first ten minutes before he paused the
movie and turned toward her.
“Lorelai...are
you seeing somebody else?”
“What?” She
gasped, putting her bowl on the table in front of her. “Of course
not. Why would you think that?”
“Then why won't
you commit to me? I know that's what this is about; you don't want
labels because you don't want to commit. Well, I do. I want to be
able to be with you and say, 'Hey, this is Lorelai, my girlfriend,
and for you to be proud to introduce me as your boyfriend. I want
this to be something real, and possibly permanent. Why don't you?”
Rory sighed.
“Jay...I don't want to go too deep into it, but the last guy that I
really committed to broke my heart. It nearly killed me, and I'll be
perfectly honest; I'm terrified. Just that first dinner with you
scared me, let alone the idea of fully committing to you and opening
myself up to you completely. Please understand that it isn't anything
wrong with you; you're amazing. I just can't shake the fear that it's
going to happen again.”
Jay took a minute,
and then met Rory's eyes with his own. “Lorelai, you mean the world
to me. There is nothing I would ever do to hurt you, not in a
thousand years. If it will take a little longer to prove that to you,
then that's okay; I'll do it. But even if I can't consider you my
girlfriend, I want you to consider me your boyfriend, because I'm not
going anywhere. Understand?”
Rory's heart
melted, and she nodded, unable to speak. She leaned forward and
kissed him, and he put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer
to him.
“Now that we're
speaking again,” he said, picking up the remote, “Let's watch
this movie and actually enjoy it. Deal?”
About the Author
Kat
Schuessler has been an aspiring writer since she was a child,
beginning with short stories starring herself as a superhero, hopping
from sad stories to horror as she grew older, and finally landing on
romance with her first published novel, “No Backward Glances”.
She reads ceaselessly, plays the flute, and takes care of her two
hamsters in her apartment in Ohio.
Social
Media
Beau Coup
Publishing http://www.beaucoupllcpublishing.com/kat-schuessler
Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/zanystarr/
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