Title: Something Worth Saving
Author: Chelsea Landon
Release Date: Feb 3, 2014
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It was one night,
one fate and something tragic destroying something
beautiful.
Heavy sheets of
smoke curling and rolling together constricting my visions of this life I had.
You see that
there?
That wrenching pain
in your gut knowing not everything as it
seems?
Look closer. That
nervous energy you now have, stumbling over words you can’t say, a
voice muffled under a mask, a moaning plea to be saved, slurred words on the
tip of your tongue, there’s the something
tragic.
When I have nothing
left to give, nothing left to say, it’s him that brings me back to
the moment, in the arms of my firefighter, the warmth of his heart and body,
struggling to save his family.
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This image of us right now, the one you have of two people
frantically trying to get in the few moments of privacy they are allowed as
parents, is one you’ll see in most bedrooms where children are raised
and both parents work. Alone time is something that is never scheduled but
stolen when the crazy little bundles of energy were
asleep.
“Stop thinking,” he whispered, sensing my
distraction. He came to rest against my chest as he entered me, both of us
groaning as he filled me. “That’s it. No
more...thinking.”
It was right then that I tried to stop and be there in the moment,
but it was hard when our overly curious and insane black lab started scratching
and barking at the bathroom door where Jace had barricaded him so we could have
sex. If he wasn’t locked in another room, he stared at us the entire
time. It was unnerving.
Gripping Jace’s shoulders, I looked over his right one at
the door to the bathroom to make sure that asshole of a dog stayed put. Just
when I thought maybe we might make it before he started in with the barking, he
began to howl, and then bark.
Little bastard had the worst timing.
“Damn it,” I muttered, shaking my head and
turning into Jace’s chest. The warmth of his body, the smell of his
deodorant, consumed me, bringing me back to our moment. We were alone, one of
the very few alone times we got, and my boy was moving above
me.
Perfection.
The thing was, Jace knew my body like no one else, which meant he
knew when I was getting frustrated,
too.
My legs fell from around his waist when Smokey’s howling
reached an all-time high and he began his obsessive jumping as though he was
going to come through the door at any minute...or destroy the bathroom. Both of
which he’s done before. Many times.
“Don’t you dare stop, Aubrey. Don’t
you fucking stop right now.” Jace’s breath caught in his
throat as he continued to move in and out of me. His eyes fluttered closed as
his hands held me in place. “We need
this.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” I
sighed, and my hands went from his shoulders to his chest, pushing back, only
to have him rock against me. He wasn’t having it, though, and shifted
his weight, pushing my arms against the mattress, his pace picking up, and
goddamn if it didn’t feel so right, so
complete.
It was the kind of sex that made you feel all warm and tingling. You
know — the kind where even the slightest movement can make you come
because it’s literally been so fucking long since you’ve
had any stimulation down there. All that aside, I heard Gracie padding down the
hallway. Thank goodness Jace had locked the bedroom
door.
“The kids are
up.”
As much as I wanted him to continue, there were so many problems
with this situation.
“I don’t care.” And I was sure he
didn’t.
As in most situations, when Jace Kenneth Ryan had something in his
head — a mission like this — there was no stopping
him.
It wasn’t like I wanted to stop him. It had been just as
long for me since we last had sex. I wanted nothing more than to ride this shit
out of him, but reality was weighing in on that
decision.
That damn dog started in with his howling, waking up Jayden, and
then we had both kids at the door, crying and wondering why their parents
weren’t around.
Who was next, Child Protective
Services?
Don’t even think that,
Aubrey!
“Come on baby...stay in the moment,” Jace
grunted, moving the hand that was at the side down my body, over my ribs and
lower until it was at my knee. Gripping my leg tightly, he angled my legs
farther apart, his hips moving at a steady
pace.
He was determined to finish. “You like that,
don’t you?” he asked when he saw my eyes close, the
sensations overwhelming me. “You feel so
good.”
I did like that. In fact, I loved
it.
Just as I was beginning to relax and finally be in the moment, I
heard the sounds I hated in times like
this.
“Mommy!” our daughter Gracie yelled, pounding
her tiny fists against the door. “Open the
door!”
Jace didn’t stop
— no, instead he sped up his movements as a growl emerged from deep
in his throat.
That was until the dog burst through the wooden door of the bathroom
and into our room, and began to hump the bedpost, and the kids continued to
beat against the door. It wasn’t looking like we were going to be
able to finish. At least, it didn’t seem right to
me.
“I want to play Candy Crush!” Gracie shouted
again.
“Use my phone. It’s on the table,”
Jace yelled back, his mouth only parting from mine for a moment before he went
back to work.
At that point, I just laid there. My concentration and desire seemed
lost – if not from the kids screaming and yelling – but
from the dog humping the bedpost by my head.
Who can relax like this?
Most mothers have been here before, and I know you have. Don’t
lie. It doesn’t make you any less of a mother to wish for some alone
time for yourself.
Yes, we love our children, but when they start impinging on our sex
life, it becomes a problem.
That’s a shitty thing for me to say,
isn’t it?
It was quiet for about a half a second when Gracie, still outside
our door, asked, “What’s that
noise?”
Jace stopped for about a half a second and then continued despite
the squeaking bed springs. “Nothing. Go play your game.” By
the irritation in his voice and his tightened grip, I knew how this was going
to end.
“Jace...maybe—”
His hands twisted gently in my hair, pulling me into every
strong-minded thrust. “Hold on honey...please...” he
whispered. “I’m so close.”
If only I was that close.
Like I said, I knew how this was going to end. It was going to end
with the kids screaming and Jace getting frustrated and storming off. Same shit
every day. I could already feel the mood
changing.
“I can’t, Daddy!” she pouted. I could
almost hear her bottom lip coming out. “I’m stuck on this
level.”
Somehow the phone ended up under
the locked door with both Jayden and Gracie screaming and both beating against
the door.
And there was the moment it changed. He got
frustrated.
“Fuck...” Jace sighed, rolling to the side, and
I knew the moment was gone. With his arms resting over his stomach, he moved
them to his face as he breathed heavily. Scrubbing his hands over his tired
eyes, he kicked at the dog, pushing him away from the bedpost. “Knock
it off, Smoke.”
I laughed. It was all I could do. This had happened to us so often
that now it was hard not to be frustrated.
Jace got up after that. Barely lifting my head from the pillow, I
watched his naked ass.
Such a
shame.
Perfect. Muscular.
Amazing.
When he reached the bathroom door he looked back at me, his hand on
the knob, and then sighed. Turning away, he slammed the bathroom door shut
behind him as he mumbled something about it being four weeks soon. The door,
being broken, sprung open again so he used the laundry hamper to keep it
closed.
“You’re not going to
win this fight. Know why? Because I have something you want.
Her.”
____________________________
“You’re
not for her. I am. I was made for her. To love her, to protect her. To save
her. So if you think you can take her, you’re wrong again. You can
try, and maybe you will hurt me in the process like you want. But you can be
goddamn sure that I will make you pay for it.”
____________________________
“Death doesn’t take you
away from someone. They’re there everywhere we look. It
doesn’t take away your memories, either — they’re
there, too. Love is stronger than death. I believe that.”
____________________________
When would it stop? When would be able to
talk? Or would it always be like
this?
We used to be one person, one heart and one
soul fighting fire together. Now we’re struggling to find our own
way, our safety line cut, lost in clouds of smoke with no
visibility.
We’re
trapped.
____________________________
“I’m serious, Jace. Go!
I’ll be right behind you.”
____________________________
“Stay with me, honey.”
His voice was muffled by his mask, a harsh gravelly sound, followed by the hiss
of each breath he took. “Please. Please just stay with
me.”
____________________________
“Breathe, baby...please, just
breathe...” Removing his breathing mask, he placed it against my face,
urging me to take a breath. I didn’t want to. I didn’t feel
I should be able to. “Breathe for me! Please just fucking
breathe...” His voice faded.
____________________________
“Well...if he sets you on fire,
then let me know. I know a guy who could probably put it
out.”
1. A Beautiful War –
Kings of Leon
2. Breathe Me –
Sia
3. Grey Blue Eyes – Dave
Matthews
4. Closer – Nine Inch
Nails
5. This Moment – Katy
Perry
6. As I’m Leaving – David
Gray
7. In My Veins – Andrew
Belle
8. Be Still – The
Fray
9. Darling Nikki – Prince
10. Stroke Me – Mickey
Avalon
11. The One I Love – David
Gray
12. Say Something – A Great Big
World
13. Syrup & Honey – Duffy
14. Simple Man – Lynyrd
Skynyrd
15. You Found Me – The
Fray
Come Sundown –
Released May 27
Erin Evans is the kind of girl no guy wants
to be in a relationship with. She’s controlling and never backs down
when she thinks she’s right. Knowing this, and rightfully fearing her
last few years in her twenties will be like the last five, she looks for some
adventure.
That’s when her best friend
convinces her to go on vacation with her to the
Bahamas.
On the land of white sand, coconut rum, and
a cloudless sky, what she never expects is to meet Tyler Weston, a local bar
tender with a sweet tongue for the pretty girls. He’s tattooed,
entertaining, and living the dream in paradise as he sets her drinks and world
on fire.
As the moon lights the city, Erin
unexpectedly becomes infatuated with Tyler and his bartending skills when he
offers her a challenge to try his Black Magic
drink.
With a mission to now try every drink on
the menu, one night she can barely remember turns into two weeks of exciting
possibilities she never saw
coming.
Can Erin put aside her cynical side and let
the dirty mouthed bartender show her what island life is really
like?
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Just
Enough - Releasing Aug 2014
I want out of this
town.
I want to leave and never look
back.
He doesn’t knock when he comes
in, he never needs to. He knows, as well as I do, my door is always open,
waiting.
I crave him. I do. He knows this, I think,
I know, and I believe he craves me too. Why else would he come
back?
It’s his determination and his
will that gets me. That determination keeps me waiting for him in a dreary bay.
I’ve always heard my friends say they wanted the rich guy to take
them out of this small town that seems to hold us all
captive.
Lincoln wasn’t that guy. At first
look, he’s a fisherman, married to the sea and weighted by her
waves.
Who is he to
me?
He’s someone who gives just
enough.
He shows me a different way of thinking. A
way to give more than just enough.
A stay-at-home mom, Chelsea Landon spends
her days drinking entirely too much caffeine, baking sugar-sweet treats she
never eats, and jotting down notes for her novels. A dreamer at heart,
she’s creating happily ever afters. She’s a lover, a
writer, a dreamer, would rather type than speak, wants to remember everything,
loves lots of ice in her drinks, and is slightly
introverted.
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