EASTON’S EVERYTHING
by Amy Gregory
In this addition to Amy Gregory's FINDING PERFECT
series, Easton Montgomery meets his match in Jessica Pierce. Fans of Fix You by Mari Carr and Carly Phillip’s Karma, will love
this funny and romantic addition to the Finding Perfect series.
Easton Montgomery demands control and order. He’s purposely kept
to himself, no strings and no nonsense. Preferring to be in charge of his
destiny, keeping his life neat and tidy, all wrapped up. Life is perfect, until
the bow comes undone and his world completely unravels.
Jessica Pierce left Denver years ago with nothing more than her
clothes and a need for a brand new beginning. After planting roots where her
car broke down, life was good for a while. Then the ranch owner who helped her
rebuild her life threw her a curve ball. Now she’s the new girl in Renlend,
Kansas on the Montgomery’s ranch, and their son Easton is a constant source of
frustration and distraction. Getting her hands around the veterinarian’s neck
and squeezing, looks better by the day.
After a week of stepping around each other, dodging barbed
comments, and Jessica’s smart mouth, Easton realizes she’s got more fire than
any other woman he’s met. Suddenly Easton wonders if this curvy, blonde
spitfire might just be the challenge he’s been waiting for.
Direct link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b050ef29153/?
Amy Gregory leads an incredibly active lifestyle in Kansas
City with her husband and their three fantastic kids who keep them running in
three very different directions. When she's not rushing her oldest daughter to
tumbling, her youngest daughter to music lessons, or sitting track-side
watching her son practice motocross, she's taking the few minutes in between to
scribble the next pages in her Racing to Love series.
When asked, "When do you have time to write?" Amy Gregory giggles. "In bits and pieces," she says.
Amy is known for her snarky, off the cuff sense of humor, which you'll find shining through in the characters she's created.
When asked, "When do you have time to write?" Amy Gregory giggles. "In bits and pieces," she says.
Amy is known for her snarky, off the cuff sense of humor, which you'll find shining through in the characters she's created.
Excerpts:
Easton’s Everything – excerpt # 1
Easton closed in on her, effectively
trapping her between the truck and the open door. He’d meant to intimidate her
into speaking, instead he was encircled by the scents of her shampoo and soap,
both floral and light. Very feminine, despite the hard work of being a farm
hand. Her eyes dilated rapidly before she glanced toward the dessert and away
from him.
“Can you please back the hell up?”
“I want to know what you’re not telling
me.”
“If you’re so damned concerned, why don’t
you ask your father? Better yet, go ask your mother. It’s not my place to say a
fucking word, Easton Montgomery. Now stop putting me in the middle, get the
hell out of my personal space and quit acting like some macho tough ass who
thinks I’m some little lady he can boss around. Never gonna happen.”
“What’s never gonna happen?” He tipped his
head. She sucked in a quick rush of air, loud enough for him to read her mind.
English was his first language obviously. Sign language, though he was
learning, he was far from fluent. But body language—he was a self-professed
expert. She hadn’t meant for the last three words to slip from her mouth.
Easton leaned in, “For the record, you’re
as gorgeous as you think you are.” She attempted to spin away, but the confined
space kept her facing him.
“Unlike you…I don’t think I’m gorgeous, Mr.
God’s Gift to Women.”
“Are you saying, you think I’m an
egotistical, arrogant ass with a black book for late night booty calls?”
Jessica grinned, her mouth tipped up in a
pursed, cute little bow, her hands went to her shapely hips. “I didn’t say it.
You did.”
“What are you, ten?”
“I thought I’d better dumb down my
vocabulary and sentiments for you to comprehend.”
Easton folded his arms across his chest
before he laid them on her. For the first time he found himself surrounded by
people and not caring he had an audience. He wanted nothing more than to shut
her contrite pink lips up by hauling her up against him and taking control of
the situation before she got too out of hand.
“What’s Mom doing?” He tried to pull his
thoughts away from the erotic pictures building in his head.
“She’s sitting at the kitchen table writing
recipes down for me. Ones she says are in her head. There, are you satisfied,
yet?”
The little head jerk she gave to accentuate
her point nearly did him in. Easton smirked, holding onto every fiber of not
only his temper, but his desire. “Not nearly, darling.”
“I’m not your darling. I’m not your honey, sweetheart, doll face—your
nothing. Not now, not ever. I’m here for your mom, your dad and more
importantly, Roscoe. If it wasn’t for the fact that in a very short time, I’ve
grown to really like your parents and I need a place for my horse—you’d be
eating gravel about now.”
Her skin was tinged with the most beautiful
shade of pink. Her blue eyes had darkened and her pulse had spiked. Easton knew
she was bluffing with every bold-faced lie she spoke. He lifted his chin,
daring her to continue. She opened her mouth, he lifted his brow…waiting. She
narrowed her eyes at him and clamped her mouth shut.
EXCERPT
# 2
She was fuming and stopped talking. She
wanted to smack the hell out of him, instead she started pacing. Her second
pass away toward the fire place was stopped. One strong palm around her upper
arm pulled and she not-so-gracefully twirled back into his space, up against
his chest with a hard thud.
His green eyes were darker than normal, his
breathing was labored and Easton held her captive not only by his hands her
arms, but by his gaze.
“You drive me crazy, Jessie. You think you
know everything.”
She rolled her eyes. “I do. So stop
questioning everything damn thing I do. I’m done with it.” Even in her own ears
the comeback sounded pathetic.
“I hate it when you sass me and do that eye
roll thing. You’re not a teenager.”
His voice was a low rumble. If her insides
weren’t suddenly turned to goo by the deep threat lurking in his emerald green
eyes she’d push away and show him some real sass—upside the head.
“That’s what I thought.” he answered.
“What? I didn’t say anything.” she
whispered.
“Exactly. And you didn’t roll your eyes
again. You followed directions. My directions.”
“You didn’t give me any directions, and you
sure as hell didn’t tell me not to do something.”
“It. Was. Implied.” he said slow and
deliberately.
Jessica swallowed hard, practically choking
with the sudden dry mouth she’d developed. “You don’t tell me what to do.”
His brow rose and her knees went weak.
Easton held her upright. “Your body says otherwise.”
“You.” She licked her lips. “You need to go
back to your apartment, your town, your job, away from here. And you can’t just
look at me like…like—like that, and forget what you did in there.” She waved a
hand at the kitchen. “Go home.”
“Not happening.”
“You can’t commute an hour each way every
morning and night. Your dad needs help, stuff I could do that Neil can’t, or
his lazy ass won’t, but I’m not leaving this house. And—you can’t quit
your…job.” Jessica’s head was swimming. She was left void of all retorts and
fire in his presence.
“The couple I worked for knows my family,
they know where I’m needed most now, that our plan for the future has changed.
If I hadn’t have told them I should be here from now on, they’d have fired me
just to force my hand. They’re good people. Didn’t you notice once we got Mom
moved from the hospital to the rehab wing at the nursing home I was only able
to be there at night? You never left her side, you didn’t notice when I’d come
in? You didn’t notice in the last week since she’s been home, I haven’t left at
all? So in three weeks’ time you’re telling me you didn’t pay any attention as
to who was around Mom?”
She gritted her teeth. She’d noticed every
freaking second he was around and it was exhausting her. She could stay up for
days on end if she needed to for Erica’s sake, but Easton was wearing Jessica
thin. He was too close all the time. His cologne smelled of the woods mixed
with a hint of danger.
He was danger all right. She couldn’t think
straight when he was around. He jumbled her nerves up and she was the one not
speaking clearly. His mother’s speech on the other hand was definitely more
understandable. Now he wasn’t ever going to leave? She needed to take her
savings and get an apartment. But how? She needed to be with Erica
twenty-four-seven. Jessica rolled her eyes feeling stuck between heaven and
hell—it was the man who was both.
“Don’t do that, I already told you.” He
pinned her with his laser sharp focus.
Those were the looks he scorched her with,
though the war inside her was raging, and part of her wanted to take a swing at
him and knock his block off, the other part was held captive by his command.
“I just worry about her.” he softly admitted.
“Me too. But you fight me
twenty-four-seven, Easton. I’m drained. I would never ask her to do something
not on the list of activities and exercises the OT gave me. I know how far and
how long, I know when to make her rest. I’m not—”
“Don’t finish that statement.”
“Quit bossing me, damn it. I’ll say it
anyway, I’m not stup—”
Before she could finish her sentence hot
lips were on hers, tasting, touching, taking what he wanted from her. Every
nerve ending in her body ignited in sheer fire. She needed to push back, walk
away but his arms wrapped around her, hauling her closer to him and holding on
tight to her. Her senses melded together and she was left with no ability to
think, only feel. The last two months of fighting the attraction to the one man
in Kansas who had the ability to hurt her worse than the one in Colorado ever could,
had left her weak. She was unable to resist Easton any longer.
“You are the smartest woman I’ve ever met.”
He said between kisses. “Don’t ever discount yourself or think that I don’t
know what you’ve done for our family.”
His tongue touched her lips and Jessica
parted, hearing his words but felt suspended in the place where reality and
want mingled. Her dreams at night had been very close to what was happening.
Every kiss she’d imagined came from a place of hot anger and heat. She should
have known this was inevitably going to happen and just as she’d pictured. The
man was raw, was dominating, and in charge.
“You’ve allowed Dad and I to keep the farm
running as it should…because we can count on you to not leave Mom’s side. We’re
grateful, we really are. It just hurts so much to see her struggle, Jessie.
It’s killing me.”
He punished her with his lips, his tongue
and his hands roamed up and down her back, pressing her into him so tightly she
depended on him for air. Jessica moved her face to the side seeking space.
“Easton.” she panted.
His hand moved her chin back in line with
his and once again he dove in taking, but also giving her every desire she’d
longed for.
“No. Listen, please.” Jessica leaned her
head backward. “Easton, are you doing this because you are angry, you need some
sort of release? Because…”
Hot tears welled in her eyes at the
thought.
“God no, Jessie.” He grasped both her
cheeks between his palms. “No. I have been trying everything I can to keep you
in this place, somewhere you can’t touch me, can’t reach me. Everything that
has happened, nothing makes sense right now. I’m tired, you’re exhausted, but
no, I just can’t fight this”—he kissed her forehead then laid his against
hers—“between you and me anymore. I knew the night we met you were different. I
knew you were special. I knew when I saw you care for a horse you didn’t know,
despite what risks it could have meant to your employment. I knew when you were
trying to go the extra mile for Mom before any of us knew what was wrong. Jessie,
you’re special. I…I have always been jealous and longed to find what my parents
have. I didn’t know how hard that was to find.” He paused, dipping to kiss her
again, more softly this time.
“You’ve been in my space, my head, my home
and I can’t hide from you anymore. I can’t hide from us anymore. And don’t even
try and tell me you don’t feel the same way. I have watched your body react to
me several dozen times. You don’t like to be controlled, but I see it in your
blue eyes. You need rest, you need someone to take over and let you breathe
without worry.”
The tears she’d felt before spilled over.
“Oh my God, how could you ever know…that?” she whispered.
“I have studied you, watched your face when
we speak, I know how you carry yourself, how the weight of the world is on your
shoulders, or you think it is. But it’s not, it doesn’t have to be. I am not
the easiest person to be around. And I’m entering territory I’ve never
maneuvered before.”
She coughed, covering up a nervous chuckle.
“You’re cute. Yes, I can admit I’m not easy
to like or... and well, I know I’ve been especially hard on you. But, I was
trying to avoid this, to avoid you. But damn it, you make it impossible.”
“Avoid me?” she asked, her feelings raw and
stepped on.
“You’re the kind of woman a man falls in
love with Jessica. Not a fling, not a one night thing, you’re the type who
scares men like me. I’ve wanted what my parents have, but it scares the hell
out of me. I’ve never done the love thing. I’ve never even gotten close.”
Jessica blinked. “God I’m so confused.
You’ve got me thinking in circles and I don’t even know what you’re saying
now.”
“I’m saying, I can’t fight what we have
between us anymore. We both know the chemistry is off the charts, we both know
we have sparked something in the other, which we both come at it with anger and
fight to avoid. I boss you, you roll your eyes. We’ve danced around it for
weeks now. I’m putting a stop to it and calling uncle.”
“You admit defeat?”
He tipped his chin at her timid joke. His
green eyes were nearly black. “Never. So learn that now. I always have the
upper hand.” She started to say something, but he covered her lips with his
fingertips. “Don’t even try to argue, get those thoughts out of your head. I
know what you need—you’re what I need. It’s time.”
Easton bent and kissed her again, soft at
first, then more heated. Not the same angry need as before, but he was leading
the way. All she had to do was follow. Could she though? Easton did things to
her, knew things about her she hadn’t let herself even discover. He’d put
pieces of the puzzle together about her grandfather she’d never told anyone.
Yet, her heart, part of it was left in Colorado in a cold cemetery with her
grandparents. A huge chunk was torn to smithereens by a prick who’d shattered
her confidence, the same one her grandfather had told her was a worthless ass.
No comments:
Post a Comment