Read Online Between Then and Now by Rebecca Young - Free Book Online Page A

connected with his jaw. Kyle stifled a groan and
eased her legs down to the ground, freeing his arm to press between
their bodies.
    “ Laney,
sweetheart, that’s not a good idea.” It’s brilliant, asshole, shut up. He
could barely grind out the words. His body was not on board with
being noble.
    “ Probably not.” She pressed
against his hand, flat against her upper chest, stretching her body
to reconnect with his face, and the upper swell of her breast
filled his palm. This time the groan was louder. “Tell me to
stop.”
    “ We’re going to regret
this.” Freud would have a field day with what was going in his
head. Baser instincts were definitely gaining traction.
    “ Probably. Tell me to stop.” Her lips found the corner of his
mouth, at an angle, and then her face turned again and they were
sharing the barest of open mouth kisses, her bottom lip resting on
his, pressing it down. Her eyes were wide, pupils dark and full of
want. He didn’t see any hesitation, only heat, and his resolve
slipped. One
kiss . He let her breath slip into his
mouth, hot and moist, and he was lost, disoriented in a mixed fog
of memories and unfulfilled fantasies.
    With a slight jerk, his extended arm
relaxed, allowing Laney to crawl back on his lap, straddling his
hips this time, and she looked down at his erection with a smirk.
“I knew you didn’t want me to stop.”
    “ Wanting you to stop and
knowing you should are two different things. Hell no, I don’t want
you to stop.” He dragged a ragged breath into his chest and ran his
hands down the sides of her body, squeezing her hips, tracing over
her thighs and then up again, harder this time, sliding his palms
under her sweater and over the thin cotton tank top hiding
underneath. “But I don’t want you to hate me, either.”
    “ I’m not an innocent
college kid anymore, Kyle.” She wiggled her hips, trying to slide
closer to the bulge in his jeans. “I like sex. You make me think of
sex. I’m all fired up from fighting. Let’s go.”
    It should have been an ardour-dousing
wakeup call, the casual offer of something that was once so special
to her, to them. The higher-thinking part of his brain was
protesting that something was wrong, that Laney couldn’t possibly
want a booty call, but all Kyle could focus on was the easy
confidence that she had gained, how she must have gained it, and
his primal need to re-possess that which he had lost took over. He
could hear raspy need in his voice and he didn’t care. “Now it’s
your turn to tell me to stop, sweetheart.”
     
    Buy What Once Was
Perfect now – retailer links at
ZoeYork.com!

 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    aka The People Who Make Me Smile in a Crazy Big Way
     
    This book was written in a
week and a half, and edited in about the same length of time, so
not that many people knew about it. Those that did blew me away
with their support. Those that didn’t were thrilled when they heard
about it after the fact. I’m grateful to and humbled by both
groups.
    Special notes of love and appreciation
for:
    My husband, who continues
to smile and nod and love me unconditionally.
    Molly, who read this first,
in pieces, and told me when it was awesome and when it was not.
Chapter Four is better because of her. Way better.
    Bonnie and Ingrid, who
turned on their retired teacher eyes (best eyes ever!) and hunted
for typos.
    Jennifer, who fixed an embarrassing
number of tense slips and errant commas.
    Mandie, Lori, Hannah,
Rachel, Natalie and Andraena, who make it really easy to hit send
on the email saying, “here’s the latest book, what do you
think?”
    Book bloggers who embraced
me as a totally unknown first time author and shared What Once Was
Perfect: Nadine and Tamara from Hook Me Up Book Blog, Beth at Read
Your Writes, Hootie and Globug from their eponymous blog (best
nicknames ever!), Kim at Sugar and Spice Book Reviews, Eirene at
Sleepless Nights Reviews, Caitlyn at Made For You Book Review,
Savannah Mae, RomReader, Best