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My mom approaches me first for a hug. “That was amazing, honey,” she says, squeezing me tightly. “You looked so beautiful up there. And that last song… it took my breath away. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
Eve
ryone else takes turns hugging and congratulating me until the only ones left are Jimi and Jaxon. Jimi approaches me with tears in her eyes and just the sight of it makes me feel like crying, but I keep my composure.
“Well, I don’t know what to say after all that, other than… thanks for letting me be a small part of this. I’ve been to a lot of shows with Dad, but I think this one tops them all. You were fucking phenomenal, sis. Caleb would probably do a pirouette if he saw that.”
I laugh and she hugs me a bit longer than everyone else. I can’t believe how much has changed in two years. Today, Jimi is the one person I will miss the most while Chris and I are on the road this summer. But there’s one person I won’t have to miss. And when I let Jimi go, Jaxon is standing there, wearing a crooked smile that fills me with both joy and sorrow.
Jaxon knew from the day we met that he had some big shoes to fill. Which is why, though we met almost a year and a half after Caleb’s death, it still took two months of flirting for him to work up the nerve to ask me out. And even then, it took three dates for him to try to kiss me.
I don’t blame him, though. When we first met, my favorite topic was Caleb. And there’s never a family gathering where he’s not mentioned. But Jaxon has one of the kindest, gentlest souls I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. And he’s always encouraging me to remember Caleb. Not just for the gifts he gave me, but for teaching me how to give and receive love.
Jaxon holds his hand out to me and I’m reminded of Caleb’s lyrics: “I knew then that your heart would never really belong to me / Because blackbirds can’t touch the sky if you never set them free.” My heart will always belong to Caleb. But Jimi is right. Wherever Caleb is, he’s beaming with pride because I got up on that stage tonight and gave my heart—his heart—to the music. And I danced like he was the only one watching.
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RIPPED
A Shattered Hearts Series Novel
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Now turn the page for a preview of
RIPPED
A Shattered Hearts Series Novel
CHAPTER ONE
Adam
(Disclaimer: This excerpt is unedited and subject to change or deletion from the final book.)
I approach slowly, not wanting to anger it, then I position my shoe in just the right spot before I bring it down fast on top of the cockroach. A sickening crunch tells me I destroyed him, but Lindsay still cowers on the bed, her back against the headboard and knees hugged tightly to her chest. I slowly remove my size-thirteen sneaker from the wall where the three-inch-long flying cockroach was perched.
It twitches slightly and Lindsay lets out a shrill scream. “I hate this resort!”
The 80-percent-dead roach falls to the floor on its back and makes a half-hearted effort to turn itself over.
Lindsay continues to scream. “Don’t just stare at it. Put it out of its misery! It’s suffering!”
I shake my head. “Sorry, little guy. But you have to die or I’ll never have sex tonight. It’s survival of the fittest.”
I swat the roach one last time, then I scoop it up with some toilet paper and flush it away. After I wash off the bottom of my shoe, I come out of the bathroom ready to consummate our unofficial second honeymoon. But Lindsay is curled up on her side, hugging herself.
“Come on, baby. It was just one monster-sized flying roach.” I sit on the edge of the bed and push her blonde hair out of her face. “We’re on the edge of a rainforest. There’s probably critters in all the hotel rooms in this area. I’ll bet they even serve the roaches as a delicacy at the Four Seasons.”
“You’re literally making me sick with fear.”
The bungalow on the beach in Bahia is one of the shittiest rooms we’ve stayed in since I began surfing competitively seven years ago. Seven years. I can’t believe I was afraid my dad would tell me twenty-three was too old to start competing again after a two-year hiatus. Well, I’m thirty now and at the top of my game. So why the fuck am I staying in a shitty room like this?
It’s all my fault.
The resort sold me a package, which included a bunglow on the sand and a couples’ massage in their “five-diamond” spa. I’m not allowed to get a massage from anyone other than Edie, my sports physician. But I thought Lindsay would appreciate it. And I was afraid if I didn’t book the package right away, Lindsay would change her mind about coming with me.
She’s only three-months pregnant with our third, but she’s already mega-stressed about this child. Our youngest, Mila, is still in diapers. But now that our oldest, Kaia, is in second grade, we decided to put her in a private school in Wilmington. We weren’t happy with the two tutors we’d hired to homeschool her, and Lindsay doesn’t feel confident her English degree is sufficient to teach the kids herself. This means we had to sell the beach house and move to Wilmington. It also means that, from now on, I’ll be traveling to competitions all over the world alone.
This tournament in Bahia, Brazil is officially the last one Lindsay will be attending with me. Which is why we decided to come here alone. We left the kids with Lindsay’s mom, Lillian, for five days while we enjoy our moldy bungalow “just steps from the beach.” I have to be at the beach at seven in the morning tomorrow for the tournament, and I always perform better when I’ve had sex the night before.
I’m going to have to seduce her.
I tuck a lock of Lindsay’s hair behind her ear and she shudders. She always gets goosebumps when I touch her ears. I trace my fingers lightly down her jawline until I reach her chin.
I gently grab her chin between my thumb and forefinger and turn her head so she’s facing me. “I’m sorry this resort sucks.” I lean down and plant a soft kiss on her lips, then I pull away just far enough so our noses are still touching and she can feel my breath on her lips. “But I think I know how I can make it up to you.”
She lets out a soft puff of laughter. “This isn’t going to work, Adam. The moment passed. I just want to go to sleep. Actually, I just want this trip to be over. If you really want to make it up to me, you can fast-forward through the next three days.”
This is the longest Lindsay has ever been away from the girls. We were supposed to take an eight-day honeymoon after we got married, but Lindsay’s constant worrying about Kaia caused us to cut the trip to three days. Lindsay frets over the kids feeling our absence; especially mine. Since Kaia’s biological father died when she was just a couple of months old, Lindsay believes it’s important for the girls not to feel as if I’m a temporary presence in their lives.
I’ve been away from the kids for as long as eleven days at a time. Sometimes, tournaments are scheduled so close together, it makes more sense to travel straight from one location to the next instead of making a pit stop at home in between. Those are the competitions Lindsay refuses to attend. It’s hard enough to travel with two children. But when you add Mila, it’s just too much.
That’s a joke Lindsay would appreciate, me referring to myself as a child. You have to have a childlike sense of adventure when you get paid to surf. When people who don’t recognize me ask what I do for a living, I always tell them I get paid to play in the ocean. Of course, it’s getting more difficult to find people who don’t recognize me.
I stand from the mattress and round the bed to go to the other side. “Okay, let’s go to sleep.”
I slide in under the covers, but I don’t bother to turn off the bedside lamp. I scoot in closer to Lindsay so I can spoon her, the
n I brush her hair away from her neck and curl my arm around her waist.
Sliding my hand just under the waistband of her panties, I hold my hand over her abdomen. “I can’t wait to meet this little guy.”
“You don’t even know if it’s a boy,” she replies, laying her hand over my hand and threading her fingers through mine.
I nuzzle my face into the curve of her neck. “Don’t argue with me, or I’ll force you to go without sex tonight.”
I lay a tender kiss on the soft skin behind her ear and her fingers tighten around my hand. “I really wanted this to be a romantic getaway for us.”
I run the tip of my nose along the outer curve of her ear and she sighs. “We can pretend that we’re stranded on a deserted island and I built this shitty bungalow myself with my bulging muscles.” She chuckles and I squeeze her tighter. I love the sound of her laughter. “Hey, remember when you were watching me build this bungalow? You were lying on the beach… naked. Because we lost all our clothes when our plane went down in the ocean. You should take off these panties. They’re making it difficult to recall this memory.”
I slide my hand farther down and she sucks in a sharp breath when my finger glides over her clit. I slip my finger inside her and I’m not surprised to find she’s soaking wet. She’s always horny when she’s pregnant. All it takes is a dirty word or a come-hither expression to get her slick.
I feel around inside her a little, searching for her g-spot and I know I’ve found it when her whole body twitches. She lifts her hips a little so she can push down her panties, but I keep my finger locked inside her. Once her panties are gone, she reaches down and pulls my hand out from between her legs.
“What are you doing?”
She turns around to face me, then she begins pushing my boxers down. “I can’t let you lose tomorrow or this awful trip won’t be worth it. Lie back.”
