In anticipation of the January 25th release of Hallowed
Ground, the newest stand alone to the Flight and Glory Series, Rebecca Yarros has placed Full Measures (Book
One) ON SALE.
Do not miss out on the opportunity to grab this
beautifully written, emotional military romance about love, loss and survival
for ONLY $0.99!
ON SALE NOW!
**Limited Time Only - Each
book can be read as a stand alone**
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1mAypW4
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1O9CKGj
iBooks: http://apple.co/1Z728qN
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1PLTOqk
Google Play: http://bit.ly/1PLTOqk
She knew. That’s why Mom hadn’t opened the door. She
knew he was dead.
Twenty years as an army
brat and Ember Howard knew, too. The soldiers at the door meant her dad was
never coming home. What she didn’t know was how she would find the strength to
singlehandedly care for her crumbling family when her mom falls apart.
Then Josh Walker enters
her life. Hockey star, her new next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most
delicious hands that insist on saving her over and over again. He has a way of
erasing the pain with a single look, a single touch. As much as she wants to
turn off her feelings and endure the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their
intense attraction.
Until
Josh’s secret shatters their world. And Ember must decide if he’s worth the
risk that comes with loving a man who could strip her bare.
Full Measures Hallway Scene
- Josh POV
The tile floor was cold under my
bare feet as I leaned back against the kitchen counter, eating even colder ice
cream. Muffled voices came from the entry hall, which probably meant Jagger had
another girl over. Not that I cared, but it was a harsh reminder that the only
girl I wanted was literally a wall away and wanted nothing to do with me.
Then again, after watching her set
that shirt on fire yesterday, I was beginning to think it was less me she was
angry at and more the entire world. I got it, really. She’d lost her dad, her
mom wasn’t functioning, and she couldn’t get a moment peaceful enough to get
her feet under her. She was frustrating as hell, and I couldn’t even blame her
for it. Stronger women would have crumbled under what she’d been handed. So I
flipped Jagger off when he’d asked me if we needed to call Oprah about my
“manpain,” ate ice cream like a heartbroken girl, and tried not to fantasize
about licking it off Ember. Looks like I failed that one, too.
“Barbies?”
Ember’s voice came through clear as a bell, and I nearly dropped my spoon. Chills ran down my arms, and it wasn’t
because of the ice cream currently melting on my tongue. Nope, just my skin
reacting to her nearness. I licked off the back of the spoon, abandoned the
bowl on the counter, and moved to straighten my shirt, but I wasn’t wearing
one. I didn’t give it a second
thought before I quietly rounded the corner, leaning back against the wall to
get a better look at her.
“Walker! You got company!” Jagger called out,
not realizing I was right behind him. Then again, neither did Ember, which gave
me a coveted minute to soak her in, adorable bare feet and all. “Just in case
he isn’t what you’re looking for… My name’s Jagger.”
“It’s
nice to meet you, Jagger.”
“Oh,
it’s my pleasure.”
Oh, hell no. I knew that voice on
Jagger, the one that sought any good-looking woman in a five-mile radius, and
couldn’t stay quiet. “Jagger, back the fuck up off Ember.”
His
head dropped a fraction of an inch, just enough to let me know he’d heard me
stake the claim. I’d pulled some kindergarten shit and basically licked her
like a snack I didn’t want to share — I didn’t give a fuck if it was immature.
“And
another one bites the dust,” Jagger said as he passed by me. He shot up his
eyebrows in question, and I answered with an almost indistinguishable nod. Yes, this is the girl I’ve been talking
about.
He laughed so quietly I almost missed it. Almost. Laugh it up. One day it will be you.
I
locked my gaze on Ember and waited to see what she would do. She was like a
wounded animal, and every time I reached my hand out, she’d bite, so this time
I’d let her move first. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to move
toward her.
She
walked inside the entry hall, stopping close enough for me to kiss. Damn, she
was beautiful. I would have killed for even a hint of what was going on behind
those blue eyes. She blinked, but stayed silent.
I
reached out before I could stop myself and palmed her cheek. “December?” Damn
if she didn’t lean into my touch. It was there, the crackle of energy, the
invisible tie that kept me tethered to her no matter how hard or far she pushed
me away.
Her
breath hitched as she turned into my hand, her lips parting as she skimmed over
my skin, inhaling. Want slammed through me, and I forced it back on the bench.
I wasn’t sure why she was here, or what she needed, but it wasn’t me pouncing
on her.
Or maybe it is. I barely finished the
thought before her mouth was on mine, hard and insistent. I was all too
willing.
This
wasn’t a gentle kiss, or even an apologetic one. It was open, carnal, and I
sank into her, desperate to give her what we both craved. A growl ripped from
my throat when she sucked my tongue into her mouth. God, she was warm.
I
took control, stroking down her curves until her perfect ass filled my hands.
With a squeeze, I brought her with me as I flipped to press her against the
wall. Then I kissed her like I needed to, stroking her mouth with my tongue the
way I’d used my fingers on her body back in Breckenridge—relentlessly and to
every advantage.
Her fingers sank into my hair, and
she moaned into my mouth, pushing me one step closer to losing what little
control I had left. But when she rocked her hips against me, all thoughts of
restraint fled. I licked down her neck, savoring her pulse against my tongue
and the way she gasped when I gently kissed the patch of skin at the base.
Zip! Holy
shit. She unzipped her hoodie, exposing miles of soft skin above her tank
top. I picked her up, using the wall as leverage as I set my mouth to the
delicate lines of her collarbone. Her taste, her scent, all of her surrounded
me, blurring the outside world until there was only Ember.
I
met her gaze, her eyes soft and hazed with the same lust streaking through my
veins. “Josh,” she whispered, holding my face like I was something precious.
I’d been a lot of things to a lot of different girls, but precious wasn’t
really one of them, and she was infinitely more precious to me for it.
I
set her down but didn’t back away, feeling every curve and hollow against my
bare skin, and barely biting back a groan. I wish I’d had a shirt on. Oh, who
the fuck was I kidding? Ten shirts couldn’t have protected me from Ember.
I kissed her again, using every
ounce of skill I had to make her lose herself in the same way I had. I kept her
guessing, never allowing her to settle into the kiss, changing the tempo, the
pressure, anything to keep her as off-balance as she had me. She skimmed her
fingers down my chest, along the lines of my stomach, and tensed. She dipped
her fingers under the band of my flannel pants, and I was ready to rip every
piece of clothing off her body so I could get to her skin. Another inch and
she’d feel exactly how badly I wanted her.
Damn it. This was way too much, and
not anything of what she actually needed. I’d be her whatever, but I had to
draw the line when she was doing more harm than good. “December,” I whispered
against her mouth, her lips swollen from mine, and pulled back just far enough
to rest my forehead against hers. I closed my eyes until I had my body back
under control. “I’m fucking desperate to carry you to my bedroom, but I don’t
think this is what you want.”
Her eyes flew wide, and her skin
stained pink before she hid behind her hands. “What am I doing?”
I got my shit under control, taking
two deep breaths before I pulled her hands away. “What are you doing?”
“I came to say I’m sorry for the way
I’ve been treating you. Sorry for the mixed signals.” She laughed. “But
apparently I jumped you instead, and now I’m sorry for that, too.”
“Sorry
for jumping me?” Hell no. I smiled.
She could be sorry for pushing me away, for going from hot to cold faster than
the kitchen faucet she used to put that fire out yesterday. But I wouldn’t let
her apologize for giving me a few minutes to glimpse heaven.
“No.
I’m not sorry for jumping you. I’m sorry about my god-awful timing.”
My
smile slipped as I ran my thumb across the lips I was becoming obsessed with.
“I told you I’m here for whatever you need, Ember. Jumping, apologies,
whatever.”
“I’d
better get back to studying.”
Boom. She may as well have slammed the
door on me, and I retreated a step. “I’d better get in the shower.”
“Didn’t
you just…?”
I
let my mind wander to the shower, to what I could do to her body, pressed up
against mine, water making her slick under my hands – how easy it would be to
slide inside her. Stop. “Yeah, but I
think I need another one at a different temperature.”
She
flushed brighter pink. “Oh. I’m sorry about that, too.”
I couldn’t stop a grin from
overtaking me. “I’m not.” I stepped forward until her back hit the wall, then
bent down, a breath away from her lips, from what I knew we both wanted but
wouldn’t push for. “If you apologize like that, feel free to treat me like shit
any time you want. I will be your personal doormat.”
New Military Romance from Rebecca Yarros in
Hallowed Ground (Book Four) of the
Flight & Glory
Series releases January 25th!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1OVPJ0w
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Y05StF
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1NeMPn1
iBooks: http://apple.co/1lywj8A
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1QhPU9O
About the Author
Rebecca
Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and
Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never
choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She's a
graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English,
but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The
Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two
years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she
adores.
When she's
not writing, she's tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some
guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven
years. They finally can call Colorado home along with their gaggle of
rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog.
Stalk Rebecca here
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaYarros
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