Come Full Circle
By Natalie-Nicole Bates
January 6 – 7
Book Promotions by
Literary Nook
Synopsis –
Fifteen years ago, Bethany Minor fled
her hometown after being left at the alter by Dane Brennan. After the
sudden death of her mother, she is forced to return home and face her
past.
The years have been hell for Dane, and
seeing Bethany again only reopens wounds he long thought closed.
When they realize the flames of their
past love never died, Bethany and Dane will need to confess all
before they can have a chance to reclaim their life that once should
have been.
But when the truth of the past is
finally revealed, will they still stand as a couple?
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Excerpt –
Dane felt strangely nervous about
meeting Bethany. What could she possibly have that belonged to him?
When he’d seen her earlier, at first she’d barely acknowledged
his presence.
But when she hugged him so hard it
almost took his breath away, all of the old feelings came welling
back up inside him, along with the regret of losing her, and the
promise of everything a life with her would have brought.
The feelings of loss and sadness
became so acute, that he could actually feel a pain in his chest.
He’d made so many mistakes, and the gravity of those mistakes was
still apparent.
Finally, he caught sight of her
walking slowly up the street toward him. She was dressed only in a
loose-fitting old sweatshirt and jeans, totally inappropriate for
the cold, rainy weather. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than
to take her in his arms, and beg her for a second chance. That, he
would not do. He still had some semblance of pride and reality.
“Bethany, why did you walk here
in the rain? I would have been happy to come to you,” he said, and
dared to push a few errant strands of her dark hair away from her
face.
“I need fresh air. Being in my
mother’s house with all of her things…it was closing in on me.”
“I’m sorry. Would you like to
get out of the rain? We could go somewhere and get a cup of coffee,
and talk,” he suggested hopefully.
“I’m not really to being
around a lot of people, Dane. The funeral will be hard enough.”
“Would you like to come home
with me for a while? At least you won’t be alone.” He made the
offer, but from the look on her face, he already guessed her answer.
“No. Thank you for offering,
though.”
Her refusal made it sound as
though she’d said no to a business associate, not someone she’d
once loved.
After a few minutes of silence,
she spoke again.
“So anyway, here is what I came
to give you.” She produced a small, familiar-looking box, from the
front packet of her jeans.
He licked his lips. “I hope
that’s not what I think it is.”
She lifted the lid, and as he
feared, it was the engagement ring he’d given her, when he thought
of her as his princess. The round diamond twinkled proudly under the
harshness of the street lights.
“I don’t want it back,” he
stated firmly. He didn’t ever want to see it again. The ring was a
harsh reminder of what might have been.
“Well, I don’t want it either,
Dane. It belongs to you. I thought my mother returned it to you
after…after we broke up. It was wrong for her to keep it.”
She was trying to push the box
into his hand, but he refused to open his hand and stepped back from
her.
“Throw it into the garbage,
Bethany.” He pointed to the public trash receptacle.
“I can’t throw it away; it’s
too expensive!” she exclaimed.
“Then give it away, donate it,
sell it! I don’t care!”
When she shrank back, he realized
his tone was harsher than he’d intended. Immediately, he stepped
forward and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,”
he repeated over and over again.
He wasn’t sure exactly, how it
happened, but his lips found their way to hers. He closed his eyes
and basked in her familiarity, her taste, and his tongue gently
parted her lips. As their kiss deepened, he became keenly aware of
the contrast of the intense heat coming from her skin, and the icy
coldness of her hand on his neck. In that one moment, he was ready to
beg Bethany to escape with him forever.
“Hey, Mr. Brennan.”
The voice jolted him back to
reality. A teenage boy held the hand of a teenage girl as they
passed by. They looked vaguely familiar; most likely they were from
the neighborhood.
“Hey,” he answered back.
“Hear that? If I’m Mr.
Brennan, what does that make my father?” he whispered into
Bethany’s ear.
Without a word, she tilted her
head back and connected her beautiful espresso brown eyes―the eyes
he’d fallen in love with―to his, and held him captive.
There was so much he wanted to say
to her, but the words wouldn’t come. He touched a hand to her
cheek, and found that her skin burned beneath his fingertips.
He then spoke the obvious.
“Bethany, you’re burning up
with fever. You can’t be alone tonight. Come home, and let me take
care of you,” he implored.
She blinked a few times, and he
held a tiny hope she would agree to leave with him, but she reached
up and ran her fingers through his beard, and said, “You know I
can’t do that.”
“Well, at least, let’s go to
the apartment upstairs at BFC. I lived there for a few years. It’s
really nice.”
Her eyes grew huge. “I never
want to go to that apartment again!”
Then she darted away from him, and
hurried off in the opposite direction.
For a moment, he simply watched
her leave, perplexed at her final words. Why was she so upset at the
mention of the apartment? It wasn’t as though she ever stayed
there. It was mostly for interns from the mortuary college, who were
on-call during the night.
He slowly crossed the street and
walked to his car. Reaching his hand into the pocket of his jacket to
get his keys, he found the box with the engagement ring. A caustic
laugh escaped his throat. While he was lost in their kiss, she’d
found a way to return the ring.
Author Bio –
Natalie-Nicole Bates is a book reviewer
and author.
Her passions in life include books and
hockey along with Victorian and Edwardian era photography and antique
poison bottles. Natalie contributes her uncharacteristic love of
hockey to being born in Russia.
She currently resides in the UK where
she is working on her next book and adding to her collection of 19th
century post-mortem photos.
Visit Natalie online at
www.natalienicolebates.com
Author Links –
Social media links for
Natalie-Nicole Bates
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BatesNatalie
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thank you for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting Come Full Circle at your fabulous blog!!
ReplyDeletethank you for the giveaway!
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