Release Blitz: After You by Stephanie Rose
I had the happily ever after . . .
until it was gone.
Three became two. And I was alone.
Our time—my time—was over. Alone
was the right way to be. The only way. Life was me, my son, and my
memories. Until the day I met someone who turned my lonely existence
upside down.
This man made me smile, made me laugh,
made me ache for his touch.
But I couldn’t.
He shouldn’t awaken feelings I
resolved to bury with my husband. But he did.
I couldn’t let his presence make my
heart race. I couldn’t let him into our little world, where he fit
so perfectly. I couldn’t want Nick.
But I did.
***
I rescued people. My family relied on
me to lend a hand. Everyone thought of me as the fixer, but no one
had the first clue how to fix me. Until Ellie.
The freckled beauty’s sorrow was like
a well-worn shirt—easy and familiar, difficult to part with—and
she wore it comfortably. And though I was hers from the moment our
eyes first met, she’d never be mine. I loved her in the here and
now, but how did I compete with a ghost?
***
How can there ever be anyone After You?
“Nick, let’s sit here.” Jack yanked Nick by the hand down the
movie theater aisle and pulled him into a seat. Jack plopped down in
a seat next to him adjacent to the wall. So much for my son wanting
to sit anywhere near me tonight.
“Perfectly good seat right here.”
Nick patted the chair next to him. All the theaters had been
renovated with leather recliners. Usually, since my son dragged me to
the latest kid movie, it was a real fight to keep my eyes open and
not drift off mid-movie. I was sure sitting next to Nick for the next
couple of hours would keep me wide awake.
“I can’t wait to see Optimus
Prime!” Jack exclaimed through a mouth full of popcorn.
“Me, too! He was my favorite when I
was your age.” Nick took a handful from the bucket resting on
Jack’s lap.
“Really?”
“And I used to drive a car like
Bumble Bee.”
“You did?” I squinted at Nick as I
took a slurp of diet soda.
“A yellow Camaro.” Nick’s mouth
tipped in a sexy smirk as he pushed his seat back.
I bit my lip to hold in a laugh as the
lights dimmed.
“You can wipe that smug look off your
face. Chicks loved that car.” Nick whispered in my ear. The hot
tickle of his breath against my cheek made goose bumps spread down my
neck to my shoulder.
“Did you drive around blasting
Metallica in your banana-colored Camaro?” I giggled back. “At
least they saw you coming.”
He laughed as the opening credits
started to roll. “Women loved my banana.”
I sputtered a cough as I choked on a
piece of popcorn. Nick shrugged with a sly grin as he settled into
the seat.
I leaned my elbow on the armrest
between us, and it grazed Nick’s forearm. I jumped at the contact
and jerked my hand into my lap, where it was safe. I was catapulted
back to my teenage years when the slightest contact with a boy I
liked sent shivers up my spine.
Nick wasn't a boy, though. He was a
man—a gorgeous man with unforgettable lips that knew how to kiss a
woman stupid. I wanted to touch more than just his elbow. Keeping a
level head around him was damn near impossible with adolescent
hormones ravaging through my thirty-something body.
Nick laughed at my hands, now frozen on
my thigh.
I focused on the screen until Nick
pulled my hand back on the armrest.
“We can share, Ella-Jane.” He
smirked as he slid his hand against mine and laced our fingers
together.
My palms were damp as he brought our
joined hands to his lips. He pressed a long, wet kiss to the inside
of my wrist.
The bristles of his beard scratched
against my skin as goose bumps drifted down my arm. I felt the warmth
of his mouth all the way to my toes. My body was enjoying the simple
but intimate attention too much at that moment to move my hand.
Something felt wrong holding Nick’s
hand around Jack. When I glanced at my son, he was munching on
popcorn and oblivious to anything but the robots on the screen. I
smiled at Nick, but he didn’t smile back. Illuminated by the soft
flicker from the movie, the heat and yearning in his eyes burned
brightly. My breathing quickened as his finger blazed a light caress
back and forth over the top of my hand.
For five years, I never so much as
glanced in another man’s direction. Now, Nick simply holding my
hand melted me into a puddle. It was pathetic but spoke the volumes I
couldn’t admit out loud.
Wow!!! Amazing read!! I love love this book from the beginning to the end. Also this book is an ugly cry book. My heart broke on some parts of the story. Jack, Ellie and Nick, my aged, these characters are amazing and I was easily get attached to them. The story, it's amazing. I love how Ms. Stephanie did an amazing job on this book. Everything is perfect! Loved it!
#mustread #bookhangoveralert
Stephanie Rose was born and raised in the Bronx, New York and still
lives there with her superhero-obsessed husband and son.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in
Business and a day job in marketing, but she always has a story in
her head. Her books are full of swoon-worthy men and feisty heroines.
This lifelong New Yorker lives for
Starbucks, book boyfriends, and 80s rock. Her voice is often mistaken
for a Mob Wives trailer.
Books by Stephanie Rose:
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