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Release Day Blitz
Worth It
by
Nicki DeStasi
 |
| Release Date: February 6, 2014 |
Synopsis
Anna lives every day the best she can while struggling against the
demons that threaten to consume her and drag her back into the darkness of her
troubled past. The last thing she needs right now is a guy, especially one as
sweet and sexy as Jed.
When the attraction becomes too strong to resist, she gives into
it. Even when she knows it’ll only end in disaster and leave her more her
scared and broken than she was before.
Jed wants to find the right woman and he’s drawn to Anna by carnal
magnetism, but she also brings out an alpha side of him that he’s never known.
When his alpha rears its head, it triggers memories in Anna and her carefully
crafted wall of protection begins to show cracks.
When fate and misunderstandings threaten their already delicate
relationship, can they survive? When Anna’s demons threaten to be unearthed and
Jed’s inner alpha only seem to make them worse, can they overcome?
Is it even worth
it?
Excerpt
Jed
It’s Wednesday
now, and I’m watching something stupid on TV. Well, I’m not really paying
attention to the TV. My focus is on Anna, who is curled up next to me, studying
some papers. It’s fascinating to watch her study. She chews on her thumb with a
pencil tucked behind her ear, and her beautiful blue eyes skim across the page.
Every so often, her eyes will narrow in concentration, and she’ll pull the
pencil out and jot something down or underline a sentence. Then, she’ll twirl
the end of the pencil in between her plump, lush pink lips. That’s when I
redirect my attention back to the TV, so I’m not tempted to rip the papers out
of her hands and replace the pencil with my tongue. I discreetly adjust myself
as I try and fail to rid myself of the image of her lips wrapped around the
pencil…or around my cock. Shit!
When I glance
back down, she’s out, and I inwardly chuckle. Here I am, imagining my cock in
her mouth, and she’s so tired that she passed out in the middle of studying
against me. I’m glad she’s getting a little rest though, and I take the
opportunity to drink her in. She’d probably be embarrassed that I’m studying
her right now. Her cheek is kind of squished, and her mouth is parted a little
more than normal. She’s beautiful. I take my finger and gently—so I don’t
wake her—trace the line of her jaw, the curve of her nose, and along her
eyebrows. My dick stirs when my finger travels across those pouty full lips.
Her brow furrows,
and she frowns.
My lips tip down,
too. Huh. I wonder what she’s dreaming about.
Her body tenses
into a rigid plank, and her face crumples. She looks like she’s in pain and
maybe embarrassed.
Jesus, what the fuck?
“Um…Anna,” I
whisper.
“Sthop! Wahda ya
doin?” she slurs, whispering.
What the hell needs to stop? What the hell is she dreaming about? I’m starting to panic. Should I try to wake her up? Isn’t there
an old wives tale that says not to wake people up, or they’ll go on a murdering
spree or something, right? Wait—no, that’s sleepwalking. I should try to wake her.
“Anna,” I say a
little louder, giving her shoulder a shake.
Her face
contorts. She whispers, “Ged offa me.”
My stomach drops,
and my jaw clenches. Get off of me? Christ,
I need to wake her up and get her out of whatever hell she’s in.
“Anna,” I say
louder, shaking her shoulder a little harder.
“Plleeaasse
sllopp,” She starts trembling.
Oh fuck. I’m freaking the fuck out because
I’m almost positive she’s dreaming about rape or something just as shitty. I
want to jump in her head and bash the shit out of her dream attacker. I feel
helpless, and I hate it.
“Anna!” I yell
and shake her hard.
Her frantic eyes
pop open, and she sits up so fast that she almost knocks me off the couch. Her
wild eyes search the room.
“Are you okay,
baby?” I ask. I’m sure the horror and concern are all over my face.
She finally stops
her wild searching, and when her eyes meet mine, her face falls, and she ducks
her head, squeezing her eyes closed. That’s the moment I know. I know this
wasn’t just a dream. It was a memory, and it was exactly what I thought it was.
I swallow thickly, and I try not to show an ounce of my rising anger because I
don’t want to scare her. I need to comfort her and make sure she knows that
she’s safe.
“Hey,” I start
softly, “you’re okay. I’m right here.”
“I should go.”
Wait—what?
“I have school in
the morning, and you have work. It’s getting late. I’m sorry I passed out,” she
says, getting off the couch. She moves to the chair where her coat and
schoolbag are, and she starts shoving everything in.
It takes me a
moment to recover from the shock. This is not the reaction I was expecting.
“Don’t go right
now. Talk to me.” I stand up and approach her carefully.
She plasters a
fake smile on her face, but I can see the panic behind it. It’s rising, and I
can see her hands shaking as she puts on her coat.
Ah shit. I’m trying to tamp down the urge to
physically keep her here. I can’t have her take off in the state she’s in right
now.
She smiles a
wobbly smile, and I can see tears forming in her eyes.
“Nothing to talk
about, but I should get going.”
I can’t let her
run from me—not like this, not right now. “You’re staying. Talk to me.”
She clenches her
jaw. She won’t look at me as gathers her things. As she pulls her purse over
her shoulder, she turns her back to me.
“You talk in your
sleep.”
She freezes and
turns slowly to look at me. Her face is full of pain, embarrassment, and
regret. She opens her mouth to say something, but then she quickly closes it. I
see the tears well up again. She swallows thickly, and I can tell that she’s
trying with everything she has not to cry.
“Talk to me. What
happened?”
She shakes her
heads with a tiny jerk. “I’ve got to go.”
Before I can stop
her, she flies out the door.
Shit. I throw on my shoes and grab my
keys, and then I rush out the door. She’s sprinting toward her car, but I’m
close behind her.
Fuck, it’s cold out here. I forgot my jacket.
I reach her car a
few seconds after she closes the door, and I knock on the window.
Her head is
buried in her hands, and when she finally looks up at me, her face is
tearstained. She looks so tortured, and the thought of something happening to
her is tearing me up. I’m fighting against my conflicting emotions—my need to
comfort her and the rage I feel toward whoever did this to her.
I open the door
and kneel down in front of her. I reach out to wipe away a falling tear. “Let
me in.”
She squeezes her
eyes closed, and then she gives a jerky shake of her head. “I can’t.”
I take her face
in my hands and lean in close. She needs to open up. I need her to open up.
“Did someone hurt
you?” I ask.
I can feel her
jaw clench under my hands. She looks scared and hurt. I can also see the
shutters slam down like a steel door.
“I’m sorry, Jed,
but I need to go,” she says in a quiet, even voice.
She reaches for
the door handle, but I grab her hand a little too hard.
“You—” I start to
say, but when her eyes widen in terror, the words die in my throat. I drop her
hand quickly, and my mind starts spinning.
Her face turns
blank. “I need to go.”
I’m so shocked
that I stand up and step back. She closes the door, starts the engine, and
drives off. The whole time, I just stand and stare. I know it’s fucking
freezing out here, but I don’t feel a thing. As her taillights disappear, I
come out of my daze, and I want to punch something.
What the fuck just happened? And why is this girl trying to drive
out of my life?
I thought we were
finally getting somewhere. She said on Saturday that she’d open up to me one
day, and tonight was a perfect opportunity. Instead, she ran. I’m trying to
understand that she’s scared and she panicked, but I’m pissed that she wouldn’t
unload on me when I’ve been telling her and showing her that I’m here for her,
that she can come to me.
God-fucking-damn it.
My patience is
wearing thin. I know she cares about me, and God help me, I’m not letting her
go. She might be broken, but I’ll help her put herself back together if it’s
the last thing I do.
Links to Buy
Amazon
About the Author
Nicki DeStasi was
raised in a small town in Massachusetts. She attended Fitchburg State College
and studied Early Childhood Education. As a child, she enjoyed reading, but
only recently began doing it again. She has always had an inventive imagination
and finally decided to put those ideas on paper for others to enjoy. Worth
It will be Nicki’s first
self-published book. A few personal facts: Sloth from The Goonies is her third
cousin, she acted and stared in several plays throughout high school and
college, and she can play four different instruments. Nicki’s philosophy is to
appreciate the good things in life. If we didn’t make mistakes and have bad
things happen then we wouldn’t know how truly wonderful the good things are. No
matter how difficult life is sometimes, if we look to the people that love us,
then we can get through them and on to the good stuff.
Connect with Nicki
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