24 Roses
By Elena M. Reyes
Genre: Contemporary/Erotic Romance
Release
Date: March 27, 2017
Synopsis
24
roses.
24 days
filled with declarations of love.
24
moments where life will mark her as mine.
I’ve
loved Anahi Pratt since she moved in next door at the age of twelve. With her
knobby knees and a mouthful of braces, she made my heart thump harshly inside
my prepubescent chest. One look into the greenest eyes I’d ever seen, and I was
hooked for life. Owned.
However,
I was tongue-tied and confused and did the only thing I could: offer my
friendship.
Over
the years, those feelings never changed. Instead, they grew—morphed into
something deep and profound. But never once did she see me as more than a
friend. Never did she see the man that worshipped the ground she walked on. The
man that needed to be what she wanted. Needed.
I
stayed on the sidelines until that day:
A
crash.
Her
life on the line and my world came to a screeching halt.
Life is
short and changes in the blink of an eye, a lesson I suddenly understood. There
wasn’t a second to wait. No more hiding behind the guise of friendship.
She was
mine, and it was time I claimed her.
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Excerpt
“How
can you say that with this hideous scar on my thigh?” Fuck, she could be as
stubborn as a mule.
“That
scar…” I hissed out, my eyes searching the floor around her feet for the broken
glass I’d heard fall through the door. It was nothing big. A small figurine
broken in two pieces. Taking the remaining steps between us, I paused in front
of her. “This is proof that what could have been tragic…wasn’t.” Taking her
face in my hands, I tipped it up and lowered my forehead to hers. “It means
that you are okay and here with me. That a drunken asshole crying over his
divorce didn’t take the most important thing in my life away.”
“Stop.”
Prying my hands from her face, she brought them between us and squeezed. “It
isn’t your job to fix this. I was the one that left the jerk I’d agreed to have
dinner with mid-meal and drove off in a rush. I was the one that didn’t notice
the car not stopping as his light turned red. I was the one that put herself in
this position time and time again.”
“Fuck
are you talking about, Anahi?” Every muscle within me tensed as I waited for
her to explain herself.
“That I
should’ve listened to you when it came to the men I dated.”
Staring
into her sad green eyes, my heart clenched. Her pain was mine. “Shit happens,
and it was not your fault.”
“Had I
been paying attention and not thinking about the ‘what ifs I…” Anahi’s face
bloomed with a sudden rush of embarrassment.
“Tell
me.” She shook her head. “Please.”
“You
want to know? Because trust me, I remember everything about that night.”
Letting out a bitter chuckle, she stepped back and released my hands. I missed
her warmth immediately. “Fuck!” Ani yelled out while turning around. Placing
her hands on the top of her dresser, she hung her head. A sob was caught in her
throat, and I rushed forward to wrap her in my arms.
The
pain medication she’d been on tended to make her emotions fluctuate a bit.
“Talk
to me, babe.” With my arms secured around her waist, I pulled her in closer.
Ignored what the feel of her warm skin against my own created. “Let me in.”
“I’m
sorry.” Wiping at her eyes, Anahi took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Didn’t mean to pull the crazy chick card on you.” This was said with a laugh,
but there was real hurt behind the action. “There’s too much going on upstairs,
and I don’t know how to handle it. Between nightmares and anger, it’s a
constant roller coaster.”
“Start
from the beginning,” I hummed against the top of her head. “You’ve never wanted
to give me details about that night. Always vague and avoiding—something about
what happened is hurting you. Let me in, dollface.”
“Why do
you always call me pet names?” Diversion tactic if I ever heard one; that, and
she needed her ego stroked. Not that I minded in the least. For some unknown
reason, Ani felt as if the small scar over her sculpted brow was this heinous
thing that offended the world.
“Because
I can.”
A huff,
and then a smack to my arm. “That’s not an answer.”
“And
neither is yours. Tell me what’s eating you up inside, Ani.”
“Every
time I close my eyes, I see those high-beam lights coming at me followed close
by the sound of screeching tires.” A shiver so hard ran through her that it
rocked me to my core. All I could do was hold her tighter, with my presence
show her that I was here for her. “Next came the sound of metal bending—caving
in on itself—as a searing pain shot up the side of my body. It burned. The
intense jolt caused me to almost black out, but even as everything intensified
around me, I had only one thought in my head.”
“Say
it,” I whispered low into the crown on her head.
Running
her fingers over my hand, she shook her head. “Doesn’t matter in the grand scheme
of things, Bryson, but it’s those what ifs that eat me alive. I’ve lost time I
don’t know if I could ever get back.”
“You
want to know what tortures me about that night?” Turning her around so my blue
eyes could meet her green ones, I placed my hands at her hips and squeezed them
lightly before holding her in place. No more hiding. Anahi wasn’t running away
from the damn truth that was currently smacking us in the face.
Bringing
a shaking hand up, she cupped my jaw. “What?”
“The
fact that I almost lost you when I’d just realized that I’ve always owned you.”
Elena M. Reyes
was born and raised in Miami Florida. She is the epitome of a Floridian and if
she could live in her beloved flip-flops, she would.
As a small
child, she was always intrigued with all forms of art—whether it was dancing to
island rhythms, or painting with any medium she could get her hands on. Her
first taste of writing came to her during her fifth grade year when her class
was prompted to participate in the D. A. R. E. Program and write an essay on
what they’d learned.
Her passion for
reading over the years has amassed her with hours of pleasure. It wasn't until
she stumbled upon fanfiction that her thirst to write overtook her world. She
now resides in Central Florida with her husband and son, spending all her down
time letting her creativity flow and letting her characters grow.
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