Forever Branded
Jessa Eden
May 23, 2015
Blurb
Marla was my first.
For everything.
I’d loved her so hard, I’d come apart at the seams
when she left me.
I’ve never been the same
since.
Now, I just wanted to punish
her.
~Beau Shepard, ex-hockey player, turned real estate
billionaire
Beau was the love of my
life.
We met at eighteen and thought we would be together
always.
Then we were ripped
apart.
It didn’t matter.
There are no statute of limitations on
love.
He was branded on my
soul.
Forever.
~Marla Matthews, salon owner and kick-ass single
mom
Excerpt
The Ache of Beau
Shepard
Geesh, it seems like time flies when a
story is pouring out
of me! I am in awe of how this story came
together and am very excited to
invite you into the world of Marla Matthews
and Beau Shepard.
They have been chomping at the bit, ready
for me to tell their story, which
is a weave of past and present. Forever
Branded is a tale of love enduring when
all hope is lost. Told from Marla and
Beau’s perspective, this story will suck
you in and let you dive into all the juicy
details and secrets revealed! Check out
the excerpt below!
Happy Reading!
~Jessa Eden
Enjoy this morsel of Marla and Beau’s story
and check out Forever Branded
available May 23rd or pre-order now.
Beau:
Life had offered me a pretty sweet ride. I
had money, status and privilege.
It bought me whatever I wanted, excused any
indiscretion and included me in a
VIP world.
But I didn’t give a shit.
None of it really mattered.
I’d lived for years in a fog after Marla
broke up with me only to resurface
when I had a car accident. It cost me my
hockey career, my leg shattering as I
wrapped my Ferrari F50 around a tree.
I was lucky to walk after that.
Having a near death experience scared me
enough to straighten out my life.
I cut out the heavy partying and channeled
my energy into becoming a
workaholic and a fuckaholic. When I wasn’t
at the office or working out, I was
screwing every hot woman in Baltimore,
trying to get Marla out of my head.
I could still remember how her soft skin
tasted, the breathy, pitched moans
she made as we went at it. It haunted me at
times, even in the middle of a
great fuck.
Marla was my first.
For everything.
I’d loved her so hard, I’d come apart at
the seams when she left me.
I’d never been the same since.
Now, I just wanted to punish her.
Especially after seeing her at that
party.
After all these years, she still took my
breath away as she stood there
wide-eyed. My blood ran hot and I wanted to
make her squeal like the naughty
girl she was hiding under that modest black
dress she wore.
A rush of dirty flashbacks ran through my
mind, mostly of her opening wide
and welcoming me in. I had to control my
first instinct to run over, scoop her
up and lay a hard kiss on her sweet, lush
mouth.
I had never gotten over her.
I knew it. I lived with it.
I should have been able to let her go and
move on.
But she became ground zero for me when she
blasted a hole the size of Texas
in my heart. For now, I would settle for
fucking her up, the way she had so
easily done to me.
After I left the party and dumped the
disappointed red-head back at her apartment,
I sped off in my bright blue Bugatti Veyron
as I high-tailed it across town. I
had better things to do than waste my time
dealing with her shit anyway. She
was starting to look at me like we were
more than fuck buddies.
We weren’t ever going to be more than
that.
I would never trust a woman, again.
Not worth it.
I headed back to the Gators headquarters,
where I conducted most of my
business. Located in a high-rise, I keyed
in my code and made my way up to the
fifty-second floor in my private
elevator.
As I set foot into the Gators office,
everybody perked up.
The boss was in.
I passed a couple of women smiling in my
direction, while men nodded in
respect, through the glass plated walls of
their offices.
Power was good.
Walking into my spacious office that
overlooked the scenic ocean front, I
was determined to dig up dirt on Marla. I
had a million other projects that
demanded my attention, but I didn’t
care.
“Get Mitch on the phone for me, Donna,” I
said to my secretary, taking off
my jacket and throwing it on one of the
leather high back chairs in front of my
desk.
“You got it. Want some coffee?” she asked
as I paced back and forth, trying
to get ahold of myself.
Marla had me all whipped up. I could barely
think straight.
“Sure.” I ran my hand through my hair,
trying to settle my jets, wondering
why that girl always got under my
skin.
Donna brought me a cup of Joe, moseying in
like she had all the time in the
world. She was in her mid-fifties, with her
red hair in a French twist, dressed
like she was Peggy on the show Mad Men. She
wasn’t crazy about technology, but
she was the best damn secretary I could ask
for —sharp as a tack, didn’t miss
much, and she kept things running smoothly.
Just what I liked.
“What’s got you all worked up?” she asked
as she watched me pace.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, studying me with her
perceptive light blue gaze “I bet
it’s a woman.”
“It might be…but you’ll never know.”
“Smart ass.”
I grinned. “You always keep it real, Donna.”
“Someone has to,” she shot back with a
grin, turning around and heading
toward the front of the office. A couple of
seconds later, she shouted, “Mitch
on line one,” as I grabbed the phone and
sat down behind my big mahogany desk.
“What do you need?” my head of security
asked as soon as he heard my voice.
“I need you to do some research for
me.”
“On who?”
“Marla Matthews. I want everything on her.
Leave no stone unturned.”
“Got it boss.”
I slammed down the phone and sat back in my
black leather office chair. I
lit a cigar, put my feet on my desk and
thought about what had just happened.
God-damn Marla Matthews.
Still the most beautiful woman I had ever
seen.
Curvy, sensuous, and hot.
She still had it, after all these
years.
Twenty-two god-damn years.
I figured she’d be married with two kids by
now.
But she’d been at the party all by
herself.
Why?
It didn’t make sense.
I needed to know why she wasn’t married and
being taken care of by another
man. My gut clenched as I thought about the
last time I saw her. She said some
horrible things that I would never forgive
her for.
I had been completely fooled by her
innocent do-gooder act. But underneath
her sweet veneer was a heartless woman who
didn’t give a shit about anyone.
Least of all, me.
When I’d lived in Toronto, it been easier
to put her into the back of my
mind. Granted, I had been fucked up for
many years, but still, I couldn’t see
her because she was thousands of miles
away.
But, here in Baltimore, it was hard to
resist the temptation of knowing her
every move. I could almost breathe her in
here. No matter where I went.
I knew I would run into her sooner or
later. Still, it had been a shock to
my system, seeing her stare at me, like she
was seeing a ghost.
FUCK! I couldn’t believe I still wanted to
know what was going on in her
life. It tore me up and I hated that she
brought out so much emotion in me.
It hadn’t always been like that.
My first impression of Marla, when I saw
her in the library all those years
ago was that she was pretty, but a stick in
the mud. She was a little frumpy in
her overalls and plaid shirt.
Then she got all feisty with me when I
showed no interest in that stupid
paper on Jane Eyre for that damn Honors
English class my dad pushed me into.
Her big, brown doe eyes had flashed with
anger when I called her boring.
Most girls would have twirled their hair
and tried to win me over with a
giggle and a smile.
Not Marla.
With tears in her eyes, she told me off
without a second thought. So much
passion in each word as she angrily picked
up her notebook off the library
table.
Whoa. She had all of my attention as she stalked
off, while I sat back,
wondering who she was.
How had I not noticed her before?
The sweet, brown eyes?
The long lashes that gave her an innocent,
come-hither stare?
And that backside.
Heart-shaped.
Generous.
Hips for days.
Damn, I got a woody just watching her walk
away.
No Reverse and Fast Forward Box Set
Marion Croslydon
Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance
