In anticipation of the
January 25th release of
Hallowed Ground, the newest stand alone to the
Flight
and Glory Series, Rebecca Yarros has
placed
Full Measures (Book One) ON SALE.
She knew. That’s why
Mom hadn’t opened the door. She knew he was dead.
Twenty years as an army brat and Ember Howard knew, too.
The soldiers at the door meant her dad was never coming home. What she didn’t
know was how she would find the strength to singlehandedly care for her
crumbling family when her mom falls apart.
Then Josh Walker enters her life. Hockey star, her new
next-door neighbor, and not to mention the most delicious hands that insist on
saving her over and over again. He has a way of erasing the pain with a single
look, a single touch. As much as she wants to turn off her feelings and endure
the heartache on her own, she can’t deny their intense attraction.
Until Josh’s secret shatters their world.
And Ember must decide if he’s worth the risk that comes with loving a man who
could strip her bare.
Full Measures Hallway
Scene - Josh POV
The
tile floor was cold under my bare feet as I leaned back against the kitchen
counter, eating even colder ice cream. Muffled voices came from the entry hall,
which probably meant Jagger had another girl over. Not that I cared, but it was
a harsh reminder that the only girl I wanted was literally a wall away and
wanted nothing to do with me.
Then
again, after watching her set that shirt on fire yesterday, I was beginning to
think it was less me she was angry at and more the entire world. I got it,
really. She’d lost her dad, her mom wasn’t functioning, and she couldn’t get a
moment peaceful enough to get her feet under her. She was frustrating as hell,
and I couldn’t even blame her for it. Stronger women would have crumbled under
what she’d been handed. So I flipped Jagger off when he’d asked me if we needed
to call Oprah about my “manpain,” ate ice cream like a heartbroken girl, and
tried not to fantasize about licking it off Ember. Looks like I failed that
one, too.
“Barbies?” Ember’s voice came through clear as a bell, and I
nearly dropped my spoon. Chills ran
down my arms, and it wasn’t because of the ice cream currently melting on my
tongue. Nope, just my skin reacting to her nearness. I licked off the back of
the spoon, abandoned the bowl on the counter, and moved to straighten my shirt,
but I wasn’t wearing one. I didn’t
give it a second thought before I quietly rounded the corner, leaning back
against the wall to get a better look at her.
“Walker! You got company!” Jagger called out,
not realizing I was right behind him. Then again, neither did Ember, which gave
me a coveted minute to soak her in, adorable bare feet and all. “Just in case
he isn’t what you’re looking for… My name’s Jagger.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jagger.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure.”
Oh,
hell no. I knew that voice on Jagger, the one that sought any good-looking
woman in a five-mile radius, and couldn’t stay quiet. “Jagger, back the fuck up
off Ember.”
His head dropped a fraction of an
inch, just enough to let me know he’d heard me stake the claim. I’d pulled some
kindergarten shit and basically licked her like a snack I didn’t want to share
— I didn’t give a fuck if it was immature.
“And another one bites the dust,”
Jagger said as he passed by me. He shot up his eyebrows in question, and I
answered with an almost indistinguishable nod. Yes, this is the girl I’ve been talking about.
He
laughed so quietly I almost missed it. Almost. Laugh it up. One day it will be you.
I locked my gaze on Ember and waited
to see what she would do. She was like a wounded animal, and every time I
reached my hand out, she’d bite, so this time I’d let her move first. It took
every ounce of willpower I had not to move toward her.
She walked inside the entry hall,
stopping close enough for me to kiss. Damn, she was beautiful. I would have
killed for even a hint of what was going on behind those blue eyes. She
blinked, but stayed silent.
I reached out before I could stop
myself and palmed her cheek. “December?” Damn if she didn’t lean into my touch.
It was there, the crackle of energy, the invisible tie that kept me tethered to
her no matter how hard or far she pushed me away.
Her breath hitched as she turned into
my hand, her lips parting as she skimmed over my skin, inhaling. Want slammed
through me, and I forced it back on the bench. I wasn’t sure why she was here,
or what she needed, but it wasn’t me pouncing on her.
Or
maybe it is. I barely finished the thought before her mouth was on mine,
hard and insistent. I was all too willing.
This wasn’t a gentle kiss, or even an
apologetic one. It was open, carnal, and I sank into her, desperate to give her
what we both craved. A growl ripped from my throat when she sucked my tongue
into her mouth. God, she was warm.
I took control, stroking down her
curves until her perfect ass filled my hands. With a squeeze, I brought her
with me as I flipped to press her against the wall. Then I kissed her like I
needed to, stroking her mouth with my tongue the way I’d used my fingers on her
body back in Breckenridge—relentlessly and to every advantage.
Her
fingers sank into my hair, and she moaned into my mouth, pushing me one step
closer to losing what little control I had left. But when she rocked her hips
against me, all thoughts of restraint fled. I licked down her neck, savoring
her pulse against my tongue and the way she gasped when I gently kissed the
patch of skin at the base.
Zip!
Holy shit. She unzipped her hoodie,
exposing miles of soft skin above her tank top. I picked her up, using the wall
as leverage as I set my mouth to the delicate lines of her collarbone. Her
taste, her scent, all of her surrounded me, blurring the outside world until
there was only Ember.
I met her gaze, her eyes soft and
hazed with the same lust streaking through my veins. “Josh,” she whispered,
holding my face like I was something precious. I’d been a lot of things to a
lot of different girls, but precious wasn’t really one of them, and she was
infinitely more precious to me for it.
I set her down but didn’t back away,
feeling every curve and hollow against my bare skin, and barely biting back a
groan. I wish I’d had a shirt on. Oh, who the fuck was I kidding? Ten shirts
couldn’t have protected me from Ember.
I
kissed her again, using every ounce of skill I had to make her lose herself in
the same way I had. I kept her guessing, never allowing her to settle into the
kiss, changing the tempo, the pressure, anything to keep her as off-balance as
she had me. She skimmed her fingers down my chest, along the lines of my
stomach, and tensed. She dipped her fingers under the band of my flannel pants,
and I was ready to rip every piece of clothing off her body so I could get to
her skin. Another inch and she’d feel exactly how badly I wanted her.
Damn
it. This was way too much, and not anything of what she actually needed. I’d be
her whatever, but I had to draw the line when she was doing more harm than
good. “December,” I whispered against her mouth, her lips swollen from mine,
and pulled back just far enough to rest my forehead against hers. I closed my
eyes until I had my body back under control. “I’m fucking desperate to carry
you to my bedroom, but I don’t think this is what you want.”
Her
eyes flew wide, and her skin stained pink before she hid behind her hands.
“What am I doing?”
I got
my shit under control, taking two deep breaths before I pulled her hands away.
“What are you doing?”
“I came
to say I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you. Sorry for the mixed
signals.” She laughed. “But apparently I jumped you instead, and now I’m sorry
for that, too.”
“Sorry for jumping me?” Hell no. I smiled. She could be sorry
for pushing me away, for going from hot to cold faster than the kitchen faucet
she used to put that fire out yesterday. But I wouldn’t let her apologize for
giving me a few minutes to glimpse heaven.
“No. I’m not sorry for jumping you.
I’m sorry about my god-awful timing.”
My smile slipped as I ran my thumb
across the lips I was becoming obsessed with. “I told you I’m here for whatever
you need, Ember. Jumping, apologies, whatever.”
“I’d better get back to studying.”
Boom.
She may as well have slammed the door on me, and I retreated a step. “I’d
better get in the shower.”
“Didn’t you just…?”
I let my mind wander to the shower, to
what I could do to her body, pressed up against mine, water making her slick
under my hands – how easy it would be to slide inside her. Stop. “Yeah, but I think I need another one at a different
temperature.”
She flushed brighter pink. “Oh. I’m sorry about that, too.”
I
couldn’t stop a grin from overtaking me. “I’m not.” I stepped forward until her
back hit the wall, then bent down, a breath away from her lips, from what I
knew we both wanted but wouldn’t push for. “If you apologize like that, feel
free to treat me like shit any time you want. I will be your personal doormat.”
ON SALE NOW!
**Limited Time Only - Each book can be read as a stand alone**
New Military Romance from Rebecca Yarros in
Hallowed Ground (Book Four) of the
Flight &
Glory Series releases January 25th!
** View Hallowed Ground
Trailer HERE**
About Rebecca Yarros
When she's not writing, she's tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years. They finally can call Colorado home along with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog.
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