First
Loves and How They Met
Rae
and Zach have lived in my head longer than almost any other character, and as a
result I have a good idea of about 90% of their backstory. At one point, I even
thought their tale would be told in a young adult universe.
I
never got very far with that venture, but I did write out the day they actually
met.
Deleted Scene
Rae stuffed her books in her
locker, grabbed the brown paper bag with her lunch in it, and let the wave of
students wash her down the stairs and towards the cafeteria. Before she reached
the common area, a glance through a side door replaced her irritation with a
smile. She peeled away from the throng and made a beeline for the empty spot
under a tree at the edge of the lawn.
She rested her back against the trunk
and stretched her legs out. The sun was high enough that the warmth hit her
feet, but the branches canopied out to shade the rest of her.
“Excuse me,” a male voice
interrupted.
She looked up to find a pair of
steel blue eyes watching her, and heat flooded her cheeks.
“It’s Rae, right?” he asked
She nodded, and pulled her knees
to her chest.
“I’m Zach. We kind of, but not
really, met at registration.”
She nodded again. She recognized
the blond hair that just brushed his ears, and the clothes that looked like
they cost more than her entire wardrobe and hung nicely off his frame.
“You’ve got one of the best spots
out here, and I was wondering if maybe I could share it with you?” He asked.
She nodded a third time and
scooted aside to make room.
“Are you sure?” He sat across
from her. “I mean, if you’d rather be alone…”
“You’re fine.” She cringed
inwardly at the feathery whisper of her voice.
He grinned. “So you do talk. I
was starting to worry you didn’t like me.”
She swallowed and forced the
breathiness from her voice. “It’s not that. I’m just shy.”
He stretched his legs out until
they rested parallel to hers. “I saw you with your friends, you’re not shy.”
He was so at ease, why couldn’t
she do that? “Not with them, I know them.”
“So now you know me too.”
He made it sound so simple. Her
mouth twisted in exasperation. “It’s not the same.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve known them for a long
time,” she explained. “If I say something stupid in front of them, they expect
it. If I say something in front of you, and you don’t know what to make of it,
then I have to eat lunch alone.”
His face scrunched up in thought,
and then he looked at her again. “And if you don’t say anything, I’ll leave
anyway.”
“But at least then I won’t spend
the rest of my high school career wondering if it was something I said.” What
was she doing? This had to rank near the top of saying embarrassing things.
Her self-consciousness floated
away when he laughed. A genuine, clear sound. “You’re doing fine so far,” he
assured her. “Don’t worry so much.”
Thanks for stopping by. As part of this celebration, I'm giving away a $5 Amazon GC and a copy of Holding Her Close to one random commenter, so don't forget to say hello in the comments while you're here, and let me know... summer or winter?
Blurb
When heartbreak and betrayal
define a billionaire playboy’s past, the last thing he needs is to fall for the
one woman who can save his company. See how it all started in the prequel to
Allyson Lindt’s Bits & Bytes series. Holding Her Close is a sexy,
contemporary romance about first loves and second chances.
Zach is haunted by ex-girlfriends.
The day his fiancée dumped him she also sold her shares of his multi-billion
dollar corporation. On top of that, that girl who broke his heart in high
school – the only woman he’s never been able to forget – is back in his life.
She’s filling his business partner’s head with delusions of recovering from the
hostile takeover, and haunting his most vivid fantasies. But he’s got a plan to
solve half the problem: one night together and they can put the past behind
them.
It’s been years since Rae talked
to her high school sweetheart. But running in the same circles –her best friend
is his business partner – has caught up to her. Rae is seeing Zach everywhere,
including her explicit, rampant imagination. When he proposes a single night
together for closure, she hopes it will be just what she needs to move on.
The past and the present
intertwine as “Just this once” becomes “Just one more time.” Especially when
Rae discovers the solution to Zach’s business problems. Can he trust her enough
to risk his heart and livelihood a second time, or will experience convince him
to walk away from everything?
Buy Holding Her Close on Amazon.com:
Find
Allyson Lindt
About
Allyson Lindt
Allyson Lindt is a full-time geek
and a fuller-time contemporary romance author. She prefers that her geeky
heroes come with the alpha expansion pack and adores a heroine who can hold her
own in a boardroom. She loves a sexy happily-ever-after and helping deserving
cubicle dwellers find their futures together.
