Snapshot (43 page)

What others are saying about Love ‘em or Leave ‘em.

I loved every minute of this book…a delightful look into what happens when a woman is mistakenly cast on a matchmaking reality show…entertainingly fun read.

~Linda M. Schmalz

For all the fans of reality shows like “The Bachelor” you’re going to especially love this book!

~ Meg Valentine

I loved this book. It was like watching the Bachelor or Bachelorette! It was a good short romance!

~ Annie ~ Goodreads

Rock and a Hard Place
Excerpt

Peter and Libby sat atop the giant rock engulfed in the misty cool beauty of the glen. Peter reached over and held her hand. They relaxed, content in each other’s company. Peter ran his thumb over her fingers. Suddenly he paused and turned her hand over.

“What’s this?” He asked, innocently enough.

“Nothing.” She snatched her hand away, embarrassed.

“No, give it back.” He reached out and pulled her hand back into his two and examined the violent bumps. “What are all these marks?”

Her face heated at his question. “It’s nothing.” She tried to brush it off, but dread crept in.

“It’s not nothing, it looks like cuts.” He held tight to her hand as he examined it. “You’re not a cutter are you?” He looked her straight in the eye.

“No! Now let go.” She tried to pull her hand away, but he wouldn’t release her. Libby’s happiness spiraled down, the joy of the day gone. Too often the kids at school snickered ‘cutter’ to her back, just loud enough that she’d hear.

“Well, what happened?”
 

She understood why he asked. She might ask the same thing. Peter’s expression was honest concern, nothing more.

“They’re scars. From a car accident.” She bit her lip, not wanting to reveal another word.

“Oh God, that’s terrible.” He continued to study her permanently marred fingers and palm. “It must have been a really bad accident.”

“Yeah, it was,” she whispered as the image of the crumpled car and glow of ambulance lights flashed in her mind.

He peeked up at her past the heavy chunk of hair that covered his eyes. “You know, they look like little starbursts.”

“Whatever you say,” she replied, not seeing it.
 

“Give me the other one,” he commanded, as if her feelings weren’t involved. For some reason she obeyed and extended her other hand. He examined both palms, lightly trailing his thumb and fingers over the surface of her skin. Shivers ran up her arms.

“No, they’re not starbursts.” He continued to touch each mark. “They’re angel kisses. It’s like angels kissed your hands all over.” His eyes rose to meet hers. They were filled with kindness and compassion. Something she had felt little of the past year.

Only Peter could turn the violent scars from a devastating accident into something beautiful. He was the sweetest person she’d ever met. Without another word, he lifted first one hand and then the other and kissed each little mark on her tender, scarred hands.
 

Libby’s mouth opened in wonder. Peter bent over her damaged hands. His soft lips pressed to them. His warm breath tickled her skin as his lips gently moved. Goosebumps danced up her arms and her stomach flipped. Never in her life had she felt this way. His tender kisses were heaven. She never wanted this moment to end. For once she thanked God for the ugly scars.

Peter looked up, her hands cradled in his, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do. His eyes, a deep pool of liquid brown, melted into hers. Libby’s breath slowed. Today her world was perfect. This beautiful boy held her captive. His expression confirmed he felt the same. They leaned their heads closer, just inches apart.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye.

“Ouch! Crap.”

They looked up just in time to see Peter’s brother Adam slip down the side of the boulder, and drop his fancy camera in the process.

“What the?” Peter exclaimed. They jumped away from each other as if guilty of some terrible act. Adam, crouched at the bottom of the large boulder checking his camera for damage.

“Adam, what the hell are you doing?” Peter yelled, their moment shattered.

“Looking for you, nimrod. Dad’s really pissed. You were supposed to be back an hour ago.”

“Shit,” Peter said under his breath.

Adam resumed his picture taking, focusing on Libby and Peter.

“Stop it.” Peter reached for the camera. “Don’t make me break that thing.”

“Hey, I’ve got some great stuff here, this new lens is amazing. I’ve heard the paparazzi use this type too. I got it all, Peter, including your nose hairs. You should really trim them.” Adam ducked out of Peter’s reach before he could get smacked.

“Libby, please excuse my “little” brother. As you can see he is mentally challenged.”

“Hi.” Libby said, mortified to be discovered at such a vulnerable time.

Adam flashed her a huge grin.

“Adam here is going to hightail it back to the bus and tell them I’m on my way. That way I won’t have to break his fingers. Right?” Peter stood and glared at his brother.

“Dad would be pretty ticked if you did that. Plus, who’d play lead for you, so you don’t go off key all the time.”

“Libby, can you find me a rock? I need to throw it at Adam?”

“Geez, you really know how to spoil a party,” Adam complained.

Peter faked a throw.

“I’m going, I’m going.” Adam turned and hurried down the trail, occasionally jumping from one large rock to another, his camera held tightly.
 

Peter turned to her.

“I’m so sorry. My family is the worst. They drive me nuts.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” Libby smiled. She would give anything to have a family again. Especially one like his.

“We better get going. My dad hates to be kept waiting.”

They rushed back, covering the ground in a fraction of the time it took to get there. Peter took her hand often to help her over large boulders that blocked the path.

When they arrived at the break in the woods, the engine of the grand tour bus rumbled impatiently. Adam leaned against a tree, futzing with buttons on his camera.

“This was great,” Libby said. She hated to see it end. The day was glorious.

“Hey, we head back down to Chicago on Saturday. I can’t promise anything, but I bet I can talk my mom into a stop here. Any chance you could meet me? Can I call you?”

First excitement, then panic, hit. Visions of Aunt Marge answering the phone filled her mind. “No, you can’t call. I’m sorry.” She softened. “But I can be here. I’ll wait for you.”

“No phone either, huh?” He winked. “It’ll probably be around lunchtime, I’m sorry I can’t give you an exact time.” He spoke fast, looking to the bus every few seconds. “I’ll meet you at that flat rock outcropping where I found you today.”

“I’ll be there.” She would wait all day if need be. Anything for another chance to see Peter. His gaze gave her such hope.
 

“I’ve gotta run. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Peter jogged easily across the field toward the bus, Adam at his side.

“Sorry to interrupt back there. Looks like you were about to get some.”

Peter shoved him away. “Shut it.”

3/24/12

And now, an excerpt from Dream Chaser. Enjoy.

Saturday night. Talk about awkward. I knew we both want to get to that magic place our director, Tyson, keeps lecturing about. It’s just really hard to let your guard down when so much hurt has been passed back and forth. But we bit the bullet, and here we were in Eli’s mom’s spacious Cadillac.

“Okay, so this is insane, right?” I tucked my hands between my legs for warmth.

“Yup.” Eli drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and looked out over the landing strip before us.

I followed his gaze. Eli had driven us to Messerschmidt Road. I’d never been here before, but I knew a bunch of kids who had. It was a pretty spot on a hill that overlooked the airport. The runways were lit up with yellow, blue and green lights. Their reflection on the icy snow gave a festive air to the night. I shivered despite the fact I wore my wool peacoat, a thick scarf, and warm gloves.

“You cold? I can turn up the heat.”
 

He adjusted the controls and turned on the radio, but I doubted it would help. I’d been a wreck since he set up this date. Okay, not a real date, a make-out date. No dinner, no movie, just a lip-locking, body-groping romp. Eli was determined we make our performance perfect, and we had to figure out how to sell it on stage.
 

I couldn’t agree more. I hate to do anything halfway when other people are involved. I don’t like to let them down. I’d grown to trust and admire Tyson and I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure it was a success.
 

But that’s easier in concept than reality. I looked out the windows. Somehow the confines of the car made sitting near Eli more intimidating. At rehearsal, a huge stage and auditorium gave us space, and even though we danced close and touched, it wasn’t so dang personal.
 

Silence hung over us like the lowering of a casket at a burial.
 

Eli gripped the steering wheel with both hands as if bracing for a root canal. “This is insane,” he said. “It’s not that big a deal, we can do this.”

“Yeah, totally.” I wished I had his confidence.

“It would help if you didn’t look so scared.”

“I’m not scared, I’m just nervous,” I said. ‘This whole ‘perform on command’ is a little warped. I’m just trying to get my head around it.

“Actors do it all the time. We can too.”

“I know, and we will. We just have to figure out how.”

“Okay, enough talking. Let’s get this thing started.” He turned off the engine but left the heat and the radio on. “I don’t want us to asphyxiate ourselves.” Eli unbuckled his seatbelt and pushed his seat back.

Oh boy! So this was it. My palms turned sweaty. Relax, I told myself. Deep breath, let the tensions go. Find your Zen place.

Eli turned toward me so serious and determined. I couldn’t help but look at his mouth. His very sexy mouth. But this was Eli, and my feelings about him were so jumbled. The last time he kissed me was before freshman year outside of Miss Ginny’s while waiting for my dad.
 

It had been a warm fall night and we’d finished a full schedule of classes. I still remembered the full moon and the fireflies floating in the air. We’d been totally relaxed, sharing a bag of cheetos.
 

Suddenly, he’d leaned over, wiped some crumbs from my cheek, and kissed me. I’d been so shocked, especially when our eyes met and his were filled with so much more than friendship. I’d panicked. There was no other way to say it. My best friend for practically my whole life had suddenly changed the rules.
 

Thank God my dad chose that moment to arrive, so I had a quick getaway. Now, more than three years later, here we were again, only this time locked in his mom’s car, watching planes land, and getting ready for a repeat kiss. This time there was no running away. I chose to be here.

“All right,” I answered and licked my lips. Oh, was that wrong? I shouldn’t kiss him with a wet mouth. I swiped my mitten across my mouth.
 

We leaned forward and touched lips. It felt strange.
 

So this was me kissing Eli. His mouth was firm and warm. It was sort of an out-of-body experience. He leaned forward, and our noses bumped. We repositioned, and I ended up kissing the side of his mouth in a tight closed-mouth kiss. Eli reached for me, but grabbed only my thick coat and scarf. We pulled apart.

“This isn’t working.” He pushed at his hair, which made it tousled in a cute sort of way.

“Nope. Felt like kissing a brother, if I had one, or a best friend.” Deep down I thought his kisses would be great. I guess it was better this way.

“Well, I thought we were friends again,” he said with an honesty I hadn’t seen in a while.

“Are we?” It sure was hard to tell with his standoffish behavior.

“Yeah, I think so.” He appeared to have just made that decision.

“Good,” I said. Maybe we were finally making progress. It would be a lot easier to try to kiss now that I knew he wasn’t mad.

“I think I know the problem. You’ve got too many clothes on. I can’t even get to you.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You’re wrapped up like an Eskimo. Could you lose the coat and scarf?”

“Sure.” I removed my outer layer and stuffed it on the floor.

We faced each other over the front seat console and leaned in.

“Wait a minute, this thing is screwing us up.” He slapped the console.