Okay, okay. Sorry. I had to type in all caps. Because I am SO EXCITED to share SWEET NOTHING with you guys in T minus THREE DAYS! I'm so amped, I just had to post a little something each day this week. Today I have an excerpt and character interview with Elle. Happy reading!
xoxo
Mia
Excerpt
Luke
takes the lead, drawing me around the perimeter of the rooftop bar.
“Where
are we going?” I ask.
“Right
here.” Around the corner from the exit door is a tiny nook, too small for
lounge furniture. Beyond the wall is our own private view of Miami. The city
glints like an endless case of neon jewels.
I
lean over the ledge, watching crowds of people weave through each other on the
streets below. Groups of giggling girls hoping their eye makeup and asses will
help them pass for 21. Barbie and Ken: Miami Style. (She’s in an emerald
bodycon dress, with blonde hair almost to her waist. His hair is slicked back
like a plastic doll’s, and his “tan” is deeper than hers.) My gaze flits from
one group to the next. Then I feel Luke close behind me, and the streets go blurry,
like a watercolor that hasn’t yet dried.
“It’s
a beautiful view, don’t you think?” I say.
He
presses the length of his body against mine. “Yeah,” he murmurs into my ear. “I
do.” He rests his hands on my hips and turns me around to face him. “But this
is even better. I want to see you.”
I
let myself look up at him. Drink him in. There’s something so safe about him.
He’s solid. Stable. Everything my life hasn’t been in the past six months.
Fuck, everything my life hasn’t been for as long as I can remember.
“I’m
glad you asked me to come out tonight. I haven’t been able to stop thinking
about you since I got home,” he says.
“Same.”
Everything about him is distracting: the curve of his mouth, the color of his
eyes, the lines of his chest. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you, either.”
“Good.”
He cups the back of my neck with his hand; strokes my throat with his thumb.
Presses me into the wall. “So do you think, maybe, you’d want to go out again?”
He bends down and kisses my jaw, my cheek, my chin. Everywhere but my mouth. My
body burns with wanting.
”And
again,” I nod.
“And
again after that, and again after that.”
“Yes.”
“Good.
Because—” He pulls back, just enough to look into my eyes. “I like you.” His words are so simple. And yet, I don’t remember
the last time I’ve heard them. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard them. It’s
almost too much. I’m not sure I can handle this kind of close. How could he
possibly like me, when he doesn’t really know who I am?
“You’re
such a nerd.” I grab his shirt and pull him into me, then stop as his lips are
just inches from mine. I want him to take over. And he does, pressing me
against the wall as he lowers his mouth to mine. His hands travel to the base
of my skull. Then over the rest of me, sliding between my breasts to my waist.
Effortlessly, he lifts me to the ledge, and there is nothing between my body
and city streets below. My stomach bottoms out.
“Luke!”
My whisper is hoarse. “Wait.”
“Hey.”
His grip on me tightens. “I’ve got you, okay? Trust me.”
I
nod; drop my face to meet his. Kiss him urgently. So hard my lips are burning
like the rest of me.
“Elle,”
he says roughly.
Almost
in response, my legs part, and I draw him into me. He runs his palms over my
calves and thighs, and I shiver at his touch. Hungrily, I search him back,
feeling the heat of skin through his shirt. I clutch his belt buckle, and my
hand finds the space beneath it. He’s hard, and inhales sharply the second I
touch him.
“Fuck.
I want to take you home right now,” he murmurs.
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********
Character Interview with Elle Sloane
Q: Happy holidays,
Elle! Any big plans this year?
Elle: “I think
I’ll be in Manhattan for most of the holidays. There are some things I have to
take care of here. Family things. But for New Year’s Eve, I’ll head back to
Miami to spend it with Luke. At least… that’s the plan, anyway.”
Q: Jealous. J
I bet that man can pull together one hell of a New Year’s Eve party.
Elle: [Smiles]
“He’ll plan something for just the two of us, I think. Something low-key. And that’s just the way I want it. Things
have been insane with my family over the past few months. I’m looking forward
to a little less drama next year.”
Q: Can you tell us
what’s going on with your family?
Elle: [Shakes her
head] “I don’t… it’s not something I
want to talk about, really. They’re doing the best they can, considering what
my father’s done to us. We’re all just doing the best we can. I’m trying to
take care of everyone, but it’s hard.”
Q: And who takes care
of you?
Elle: [Pauses] I
don’t know. Luke, when I let him. I still don’t really feel like I can tell him
everything. I don’t want to burden him. He’s had enough tragedy in his life. He
doesn’t need mine, too.
Q: What would he say
if he heard you say that?
Elle: [laughs]
He’d say I was being ridiculous. Which I am.
Q: So… speaking of
Luke…. Take us back to the night you met. What was going through your head?
Elle: What went
through my head, or what went through my body?
Q: Both. Definitely
both.
Elle: Well,
physically, it felt like I’d been wound so tight, been so closed off before
Luke. And then I saw him, and I wanted to unravel. I knew I couldn’t, but I
wanted to. More than I’ve ever wanted anything. I wanted him to undo me. But I
knew that I couldn’t. I kept telling myself that getting too close to Luke
could be dangerous.
Q: Was it?
Elle: It’s always
a little dangerous when you let someone get close, isn’t it? But I think I
learned that I need that kind of danger in my life. Before Luke, I felt like I
was running away. I was running away.
But he’s given me someone to hold onto—he’s helped me feel more grounded. Like
I have a home in him.
Q: So what’s next for
the two of you?
Elle: If there’s
one thing I’ve learned, it’s never to guess what’s next. J You’ll always be
wrong.
