Riley Walker makes
all the right decisions and knows exactly where her life is headed.
Riley Walker does not make mistakes.
Riley Walker certainly doesn’t make spontaneous decisions.
But then Riley Walker gets dumped.
Spectacularly, gut-wrenching, stomp all over her heart dumped. And she is feeling more than a little angry. And a whole lot bitter. And suddenly the girl who has always done everything right feels like doing something completely wrong.
Garrett Bellows, lead guitarist for the local band, Generation Rejects, is going through life without a plan. Trying not to think past the next gig or the next party, he has worked hard to not become too attached to anyone or anything. So he is shocked to find himself drawn to the snarky girl with a chip on her shoulder. She pisses him off and puts him down. He knows she’s nothing more than a self-entitled college brat who thinks she’s better than the townie boy without a future.
Alcohol and a hefty dose of lust leads to a night both Riley and Garrett immediately regret. Her embarrassment, his pride and the weight of rumors and misconceptions convince Riley and Garrett that their one-time indiscretion will never be repeated. Particularly when their harshest critics are each other.
Riley Walker does not make mistakes.
Riley Walker certainly doesn’t make spontaneous decisions.
But then Riley Walker gets dumped.
Spectacularly, gut-wrenching, stomp all over her heart dumped. And she is feeling more than a little angry. And a whole lot bitter. And suddenly the girl who has always done everything right feels like doing something completely wrong.
Garrett Bellows, lead guitarist for the local band, Generation Rejects, is going through life without a plan. Trying not to think past the next gig or the next party, he has worked hard to not become too attached to anyone or anything. So he is shocked to find himself drawn to the snarky girl with a chip on her shoulder. She pisses him off and puts him down. He knows she’s nothing more than a self-entitled college brat who thinks she’s better than the townie boy without a future.
Alcohol and a hefty dose of lust leads to a night both Riley and Garrett immediately regret. Her embarrassment, his pride and the weight of rumors and misconceptions convince Riley and Garrett that their one-time indiscretion will never be repeated. Particularly when their harshest critics are each other.
But how do you
reconcile a head that wants to let go with a heart that keeps holding on?
And what happens when your biggest regret begins to seem almost perfect?
And what happens when your biggest regret begins to seem almost perfect?
Garrett swept his mouth along the curve of my jaw. “My heart isn’t strong enough to survive you, Riley. You won’t just bend it, you have the power to shatter it to pieces,” he said quietly and with enough feeling to bring me low.
I pulled my head to the side, not able to look at him. “I don’t want to shatter your heart, Garrett. But I’m not sure I can promise that I won’t. I don’t know what happens from here. What all this means,” I told him honestly, knowing he deserved no less.
Garrett pulled my face back around so that I looked at him again. “Handle it with care, please. Because I want to give it to you. Completely,” he murmured, placing my hand on his chest.
My eyes hazed over with unshed tears and I felt way too emotional. I didn’t know what to do with all of these feelings. I felt choked up and downright sick to my stomach by the implications of his testament.
I had a feeling Garrett Bellows might actually love me. And that was a huge complication that I couldn’t face right now.
I started to pull away, ready to shut this down when Garrett held me firm. “Don’t you dare run away from this,” he said harshly. And then his mouth was on mine. Rough and unapologetically brutal. And given the emotional wreckage of my current situation, I needed this.
I threw myself into kissing him. Into touching him. Into immersing myself in him.
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary and Paranormal romance including The Find You in the Dark series, Bad Rep and its upcoming sequel.
A. Meredith spent ten years as a counselor for at risk teens and children. First working at a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program and then later a program for children with severe emotional and mental health issues. Her former clients and their stories continue to influence every aspect of her writing.
When not writing (or being tortured with all manner of beauty products at the hand of her very imaginative and extremely girly 6 year old daughter), she is eating chocolate, watching reality television that could rot your brain and reading a smutty novel or two.
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