AUTHOR
BIO:
Since childhood, Kaitlyn Stone has gravitated toward fairy tales
and happily-ever-after's, forever chasing the first love dragon. She is a
self-professed adventure junkie, constantly talking her husband and family
into some new life adventure, where they’ve learned to
just buckle up for the exciting ride. When they do stay home, it’s in
sunny Southern California located along the Pacific Ocean.
BOOK
BLURB:
What
dictates the path in life we take and who we choose to walk with?
After escaping her abusive parents, nineteen-year-old Kenna Sloane is
determined to create an independent life, free of emotional distraction. The
last thing this focused college student wants is a relationship, especially
with a hot rookie cop popular with the badge bunnies.
When Kenna reluctantly agrees to a double date with Santa Monica cop Donovan
Alexander, she’s launched on an exciting and dangerous journey. With time, she
discovers some souls are instinctively drawn together to quiet the pain of
their traumatic pasts. But even after the revelation of Donovan’s own secret
burden, Kenna continues to battle the fear she may be too broken for her modern
day knight in blue.
Can
Kenna open her heart to the healing light of true love before peril strikes?
Title
of book: Walk with Me
Series
name: The Thin Blue Thread Series
Author:
Kaitlyn Stone
Publisher:
Bookstrand Romance
Total
number of computer word count: Approximately - 80,000
Genre:
Contemporary New Adult (Steamy)
EXCERPTS:
It’s midnight, the day after my
eighteenth birthday, and I’m escaping from my life of oppression and pain. With
only the fear of being caught and dragged back to my cell of a life, I’m shortening
the gap between what I know and the undiscovered world ahead.
The August air whips across my face and
through the loose strands of my pulled-back hair. My internal will to survive,
fueled by adrenaline, propels me forward into the night with no feeling of cold
or discomfort. The wind stings my eyes and they begin to tear, blurring my
vision as I sprint along the walking path between the condos and boat slips in
the Marina, one foot in front of the other pounding the pavement. Thump, thump,
thump. The same beat of my excited heart.
After two blocks I realize they’re not
chasing after me. I slow to a fast walk, scanning the area ahead and behind me.
My chest is heaving as I try to catch my breath and regain my thoughts, but I’m
not tired. I could run for miles if I need to, and I will fight tonight to
protect myself and my freedom.
I sweep the area one more time before
ducking into the shadows of the next condo complex. Catching my breath, I lean
against the wall of the entrance, pull out my pay-as-you-go cell phone, and
call Danielle and her mom—my lifeline, my ride to freedom. This is it. I pace
nervously under the cover of night, still on high alert, and wait for the
transportation to my new life. Pumped from the adrenaline surge, my thoughts
are spinning and making me dizzy, but assuredly I won’t be coming back here
anytime soon, if ever.
#
He clutches my hand and pulls me into
the dining room and onto the dance floor. A slow song is now playing and
couples are clinging to one another. My heart flutters with nerves. The first
dance between a couple can be as intimate as the first kiss.
With confidence driving his actions,
Donovan takes me in his arms and pulls me by the waist close to his body. The
instant closeness changes my heart from a flutter to a steady drumming. Like
I’m wrapped in a cocoon of Donovan, the rest of the dancers fade away and the
loud music is subdued to my ears. My hands rest on his chest as we sway to the
music in our secluded world. I’m reminded of our first meeting at the
coffeehouse and how he made me feel the same way, like I was the only one in
the room.
Donovan reaches up and tucks a strand of
hair behind my ear before grazing his finger around my bare earlobe and down my
neck. The touch sends electricity right to the ends of my fingertips. He lowers
his lips to my ear. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
I blush at his words. The other guys I
go out with never compliment me, at least like Donovan. I never expect the
compliments and they never offer. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend and they
weren’t looking for a girlfriend, so there was no need to court me or try to
win me over.
“I think you may have said something
like that earlier.” I focus on his lapel, stroking the smooth material between
my fingers with a smile blooming on my lips like a flower that’s been deprived
of the sun for years.
Donovan lifts my chin with his index
finger to meet his eyes. “A girl as beautiful as you deserves to hear it
again.”
I drink in his words, trying to quench
my thirst, and lay my head against his strong chest. I exhale with pure
contentment as Donovan enfolds me once again in a protective embrace and we
sway rhythmically to the music.
“Pine is good to get the fire started or
for short periods of time because it catches and burns quickly. It burns hot
and fast. Oak is a denser wood—a more complex wood. You choose oak when you
want a fire that lasts longer. It’s a little harder to get oak started. It
takes patience and care in the beginning. But once it gets started, it just
takes a little oxygen to ignite it and it can burn into the night.” He answers
in a reticent tone, but somehow I think he may be talking about more than wood.
I’m staring at the flames and the
multitude of colors when Donovan reaches his hand up to my face and brushes my
hair back behind my shoulder. The warmth of his fingers burns into my skin and
instinctively my face turns toward him. When I look into his eyes humor is
absent, only passion remains. “You are so beautiful.” Without breaking eye
contact he leans toward me for a kiss.
I close my eyes when his soft, warm lips
touch mine and I exhale with a slight whimper. This sound fuels his momentum
and he quickly deepens the kiss. With Donovan’s support, I lay down to the
floor and he moves closer to my side, stretching out next to me with his torso
over mine. He pulls his face back. “You keep surprising me, Kenna. Tonight has
been fun. It’s not easy to find someone so sexy, so smart, and so funny. I
think we’re connecting on so many levels and I’m developing very strong
feelings for you already. Plus, you looked really good in your ‘bikini.’”
I say nothing in return, but he doesn’t
wait for a response because he leans back down and covers my smile with his
mouth and we begin kissing again. I don’t respond with words but my lips and
body speak for me. My breath becomes ragged, matching his, and my hands wander
over his chest, arms and back.
When I can’t take the heat building
within me any longer, I sit up, pulling Donovan with me, rip my sweatshirt off,
throw it to the side, then start for the hem of his. Understanding my intent,
Donovan helps my shaking hands do their job dragging his shirt off. I drop my
gaze to his hard muscles and reach up with one hand trailing my trembling
fingers along his smattering of chest hair. I kneel up and straddle his lap,
now using both hands, tracing his shoulders and arms. Donovan leans back with
his hands and arms extended behind him, giving me full access to his upper
body. So open and vulnerable.
My eyes catch the ripple from his six-pack
and I skim my fingers quickly down to my new target. Using both hands, I let my
index fingers cascade slowly down his stomach from his chest to the waistband
of his pajama bottoms. I can feel him growing harder under me and I look up
into his half-hooded eyes.
That’s it—game on.
Dropping his hands from my arms, Donovan
gestures his hand around the room. “This is where I come to get away and lose
myself or to just think. I can work out here for hours. There’s something about
working with your hands” - he flashes me a devilish grin, grabbing at my waist
and pulling me into him - “that clears the mind.”
I yelp at his manhandling and giggle
trying to squirm out of his hold. Donovan at first tightens his grip on me,
smiling salaciously, but then with a wicked glint in his eyes his posture
changes and he starts tickling me on the sides. “No! Stop it!” I screech. But
he continues his pleasurable torment, working one hand down to the back of my
thigh. “Donovan! Please stop. I can’t take it. I’m going to pee my pants.” With
my final plea he drops his hands.
We stand quietly facing each other,
chests heaving from the short burst of excitement. With a wild gleam in his
eyes, Donovan leans down and throws me over his shoulder like a sack of
potatoes. “Donovan Alexander!” I scream in protest. “You put me down!” He
ignores my demand and carries me out of the workshop and over next door.
“You’re so cute when you get all
indignant. You want down?” he says and slowly lowers me to the floor inside his
bachelor pad. I’m standing facing him with my body pressed against his. His
eyes are searing into mine and his hands are securing me in place at the waist.
My chest is rising and falling with deep, steady breaths and moisture and heat are
building between my thighs. I’m so turned on by his caveman gesture of dragging
me back to his den against my will. At this moment I want him to take me. A
primal need exists deep within my body for Donovan to bury himself inside me and
quite the dull ache that’s been building in my groin since the first day I’ve
laid eyes on him.
There is no denying the raw sexual
attraction to Donovan. And this is one area I can tell he isn’t passive about—sex.
In public he is the perfect gentleman, so polite and respectful. But behind
closed doors I bet an alter ego exists. He is commanding, passionate, and
insatiable. I don’t know what makes me think this with my limited experience,
but something tells me he is going to be the same in bed and I don’t know if I
can wait any longer to test my theory. My self-control is waning after a
delicious dinner with this perfect man and his perfect TV family. If he wanted
to take me right here and now, it would be the dream ending to the evening.
I shift my body to face Donovan
squarely. My eyes soften in sadness. He scans my face with tightness in his
troubled eyes and a turned-down mouth. “I was worried you would lose respect
for me once you learned of my secret and maybe even decide to move on,” Donovan
admits.
How could he think I would move on
because of this secret? If anyone should be running, it’s him. I’m damaged goods.
I’ve built walls around me so high I’m starting to wither from the constant
shadow cast on my being. But Donovan has already helped me break through some
of my walls and I’m being drawn toward the sliver of steady light streaming in
that is him. We are both injured souls from our pasts. Maybe together we can
help heal each other and walk hand in hand toward the happiness that we both
deserve.
“Donovan, I’m falling for you, too,” I
declare with certainty. “And it scares me, but your honesty and trust with your
secret make me feel like we are both starting at an equally vulnerable place
and only good things can come from this point forward.”
Donovan gives me a half smile, zeroing
in on his target of my lips. We lean toward each other with electrifying passion,
pouring our unrestricted feelings into a kiss that never ends. He guides our
bodies down to his bed and adjusts his torso over mine. The intensity of the
kiss increases and we are all lips and tongue and teeth everywhere.
He drops his mouth to my neck and grazes
his teeth on my ear. “I have needed this, I have needed you and I didn’t even
know it until you came in to my life.” Donovan crushes his mouth to mine,
forcing a moan deep from my throat. He teases my tongue with his and lets out a
guttural growl as his hands start to wander down my shoulder to my waist and
slowly back up to my breast. I arch my breast into his palm, begging for more
of his touch. I hitch my leg over his, digging my hip into his side, feeling
his hardened length against my thigh. I whimper from the tightening and pulling
in my groin and begin grabbing at fistfuls of his shirt, trying to pull him
closer to my body.
Donovan responds to my need for him to
be closer by dropping his chest on mine with the support of one elbow and
moving his hand from my breast to my hip and thigh hitched over his leg. He
cups my ass and pulls it closer to his side, grinding me on his leg. The
sensation from the friction of my jeans over my underwear is building and I
moan and whimper louder and more frequently into his mouth. Donovan releases
his grip on my ass and pulls me by the waist flat on top of him.
I betray my body, reaching behind me,
taking a hold of Donovan’s hands, pulling them off me and up next to our heads,
interlacing our fingers. I slow the kissing and steady the rocking. I pull my
face back slightly and we smile at each other, basking in the afterglow of such
passion. I think we both know how amazing it’s going to be when I completely
surrender to him. But after hearing his confession I now want to wait—to make
it special. This is different than with any of the other guys I’ve ever been
with, and I want my first time with Donovan to be magical. This is going to be
more than amazing sex. I can see that now. This is going to be the merging of
our bodies, our minds, and our souls.
I look in to his half-hooded eyes and
drop my lips to just a fraction above his. He opens his lips slightly and I
mimic the action of kissing him but don’t actually touch his lips. The magnetic
or electric pull between us is palpable. The further I pull back it wanes, but
hovering my lips just over his builds in sensation. It’s like two magnets
coming close together. I love this feeling—the building in intensity with each
swipe of my lips close to his but not actually touching.
Donovan pulls his hands from mine and
grabs the sides of my head, pulling me into him, crashing his mouth on mine,
and detonating an explosive kiss that sends me reeling into outer space.
Without breaking our kiss, he rolls me over on to my back, taking back control.
I submit to him because I trust him. He must sense this because he slows the
kiss and eventually stops by laying his forehead to mine as we catch our
breath. He pulls his lips back from mine and swipes away the hair from my face,
planting gentle kisses all over my lips, jaw, and neck. I feel like we have just shared in something
liberating for both our souls and we can now walk hand in hand toward that
healing light.
“Now, that’s not fair. How can someone
look so unbelievably hot in just my T-shirt and boxer briefs?” He makes me
blush, which is not easy to do. He saunters over to me and wraps his arms
around my waist, letting his hands slowly wander down the back of the boxers.
Grazing my backside with both hands, Donovan gently grabs a handful. “These
look so damn sexy on you. Forget about Victoria’s Secret.”
“I may have to steal these to wear at
home,” I say. “I like the way the shirt smells of you.” I lift the collar,
taking a whiff.
“Really? They’re clean.”
“I know I can smell the laundry soap,
but I can also smell your scent on it.”
“Hmm. Something about that is sexy, too.
Okay, you can take the shirt home, but we’ll keep these boxers here for you
when you sleep over. Deal?” Donovan says, squeezing my bottom. “Now let’s get
this cute little ass of yours into my bed.”
I giggle and pause at the foot of the
bed. “Wait. What side do you sleep on?”
He points to the right side, furthest
from the door. “I sleep on that side.” Which makes sense since the alarm clock
is over there. So I walk over to the left side and slide in under the covers.
Donovan takes a quick trip to the bathroom and when he comes out he turns the
lights off, checks the locks on the door, and comes over to his side of the
bed, slipping under the covers.
“Can I kiss you good night?” he asks,
shifting on his side to face me.
“I would love that. Please do,” I purr
at him.
The room is almost pitch black except
for the faint blue glow of the clock radio, but I can make out Donovan is
leaning in for a kiss. When our lips connect a warm glow begins to spread from
my face to my neck and down my body. So slowly and gently we move our lips
together. The contact awakens all the sexual feelings suppressed throughout the
night, during our no-touching ride-along. Donovan lifts his hand to stroke the
side of my face and cradles my head, deepening the kiss. His tongue is cool and
tastes of toothpaste and Diet Coke. Our breaths begin to mingle and come at a
more rapid rate. With every exhale Donovan absorbs the earlier tension allowing
me to relax and succumb to him. We continue to kiss—lips, tongue, lips and
tongue, making love with our mouths.
Donovan’s hand leaves my face and,
starting at my waist, inches up to my right breast. Skimming the pad of his
thumb along my erect nipple, he sends a shockwave of passion right between my
thighs and I arc into his hand. His kissing becomes more urgent and our breaths
come in quick short bursts forcing us to break. Moving his lips along my
jawline to my neck and over to the sensitive spot below my ear, he continues
kissing, licking and sucking on my neck and fondling my right breast over the
T-shirt.
Moving his hand back down to my waist,
he slips his hand under the shirt, stroking my bare skin and making me shudder.
A small whimper seeps from my mouth, and like a beacon, the sound brings
Donovan’s lips back to mine. With each stroke he moves his hand higher up my
shirt. The anticipation of his hand touching my breast is almost agonizing, and
I begin sucking and biting at his lower lip and teasing his mouth with my
tongue. I want him to touch me so badly, but he’s taking his time.
