ALoveSoDeep (21 page)

“Then come with me.” I cup his scruffy cheeks and stand on tiptoe, bringing our faces closer together. “Let’s have that adventure we’ve been dreaming about forever.”

Before he can respond, I press my lips to his.

It’s our first kiss since Christmas, and my first kiss since my life started falling apart. I don’t expect to feel anything—I’m so desperate to get on the plane I’m certain there’s no room on my neural pathways for anything but panic—but the moment his warm lips brush mine, something deep inside me flutters.

Nearly forgotten wings beat, sending dust puffing into the air, reminding me that there is still life in the locked rooms of my heart. Parts of me have been covered with blankets and secreted away, but they haven’t been destroyed. With Danny’s help, there might be hope for me yet, and even the possibility of hope is enough to make me get down on my knees and beg him to run away with me if that’s the only way to convince him.

But thankfully, it seems a kiss—and hearing our names called over the loudspeaker again, this time accompanied by the warning that this would be our “final call”—is all it takes to win Danny over.

“Okay,” he says, threading his fingers through mine. “But I’ll probably have the world’s worst case of jet lag by the time we get there.”

“It’s okay.” My heart lifts as we hurry toward the gate. “I booked a room near the airport for our first night. We can crash as soon as we get there. Just draw the curtains and sleep for twenty-four hours straight if we need to.”

He groans. “That sounds like heaven. I didn’t sleep at all on the last flight. The guy next to me was snoring loud enough to shake the entire row of seats.”

“You can sleep in my lap if you want.” I hand our tickets to the agent at the gate, a sour-faced woman who looks out of place in the cheery Hawaiian Airlines uniform. “I’m too wired to sleep.”

“I don’t want to sleep yet,” Danny says. “We should talk first.”

“All the overhead bins are full,” the agent says, casting a pointed look at Danny’s giant weathered backpack, distracting from the anxious look I’m sure just flickered across my face. “You’re going to have to check that at the end of the Jetway.”

While Danny fills out the bright orange luggage tag and gets it strapped to his pack, I give myself a mental pep talk worthy of my toughest volleyball coach back in high school. It’s time to leave all the shit in the locker room and get out onto the court.

If I carry my misery and pain onto the plane, I’m going to ruin my new life before it gets started. There’s no room for that junk in my head anymore. I’m going to leave it right here, at the door to the Jetway, a pile of psychic waste I’m better off without. Regret isn’t going to change the past, and I can’t survive for much longer carrying the weight of two ruined lives on my shoulders.

It may make me a bad person or a sociopath or something worse, but I’m officially erasing the past five months—and anyone or anything that reminds me of them—from my timeline. From here on out, it’s Danny and me against the world and I will do whatever I have to do to protect our second chance.

Our
last
chance, because if this fails, I know there won’t be enough of me left to try again.

“Ready?” Danny shoulders his pack and turns to me with a smile.

“Ready.” I take his hand and follow him down the Jetway without a single look back over my shoulder.

I’m leaving the past behind and I swear on everything good in the world that I will never, ever look back.

RUN WITH ME

Is Available Now

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, thank you to my readers. Every email and post on my Facebook page have meant so much. I can’t express how deeply grateful I am for the chance to entertain you.

More big thanks to my Street Team, who I am convinced are the sweetest, funniest, kindest group of people around. You inspire me and keep me going and I’m not sure I’d be one-third as productive without you. Big tackle hugs to all.

Thanks to the Facebook groups who have welcomed me in, to the bloggers who have taken a chance on a newbie, and to everyone who has taken time out of their day to write and post a review.

And of course, many thanks to my husband, who not only loves me well but also supports me in everything I do. I don’t know how I got so lucky, man, but I am hanging on tight to you.

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About the Author

Lili Valente has slept under the stars in Greece, eaten dinner at midnight with French men who couldn’t be trusted to keep their mouths on their food, and walked alone through Munich’s red light district after dark and lived to tell the tale.

These days you can find her writing in a tent beside the sea, drinking coconut water and thinking delightfully dirty thoughts.

Lili loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her via email at
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You can also visit her website:
http://www.lilivalente.com/

Also By Lili Valente

Sexy Flirty Dirty Series:

Magnificent Bastard (A Sexy Standalone Romantic Comedy)

Spectacular Rascal (A Sexy Standalone Romantic Comedy)

The Under His Command Series:

Controlling Her Pleasure

Commanding Her Trust

Claiming Her Heart

The Bought by the Billionaire Series:

Dark Domination

Deep Domination

Desperate Domination

Divine Domination

The Kidnapped by the Billionaire Series:

Dirty Twisted Love

Filthy Wicked Love

Crazy Beautiful Love

One More Shameless Night

The Bedding the Bad Boy Series:

The Bad Boy’s Temptation

The Bad Boy’s Seduction

The Bad Boy’s Redemption

To The Bone Series:

A Love So Dangerous

A Love So Deadly

A Love So Deep

Fight for You Series:

Run With Me

Fight for You