The Test Excerpt

So if you're a follower of my sporadic ramblings (though I've been better about posting...right? :), you know that the final book in Chance and Cass' story is coming out this week, 2/15/13!

In celebratory excitement, I'm sharing a snippet. Hope you guys enjoy and stay tuned for more tidbits and posts throughout the week leading up to the release on Friday. <3

Excerpt from The Test (His Dark Lessons, Part Three):

"Pull the car over," I said through gritted teeth. "NOW."
For once, Chance Crawford obeyed me.
I always thought that going to Mayor's Glen, the rich suburb tucked outside of the city limits where Alicia lived, was like stepping into another world and tonight was no different. Lush green trees stretched their arms to the dimly lit night sky, like they were trying to catch a star with their wooden fingers. The road stretched dark and abandoned in front and behind us, isolated except for emerald and bark.
Any other night, driving on this road would have been relaxing; windows down, wind combing through my hair, the sweet musk filling my nostrils. The night sounds of owls and crickets would have been the music that flooded my ears until I hit civilization and decided to crank up the radio. But tonight, the green landscape was alien--along with the guy who was kowtowing to the whims of everyone except the person that mattered.
He put the car in park and in one swift, mad as hell move, I unclicked my seatbelt and threw open the door. I stepped out into the darkness, ready to pace until I wore lines into the asphalt, but instead, my flats sunk into the soggy dirt like quicksand. I let out an angry groan as I wrenched my feet from the muck and stepped onto solid ground, walking in the opposite direction.
"Just where the hell do you think you're going, Cassandra?" Chance yelled after me.
"Back to Alicia's. Apparently, I owe them a huge apology for standing up for my boyfriend."
Boyfriend. This dark, intensely handsome guy didn't really fit the cutesy sounding descriptor. Words like 'mate’ and ‘lover’ seemed closer to the truth; words that evoked passion and trembling knees instead of valentines and first loves. It was easy to forget that once upon a time I’d called him that without hesitation, giving my whole heart and committing myself to him. And then the bottom fell out, spilling my hopes and dreams. Ruining that word. Runing me.
I shied away from the ‘b’ word even when I dated other guys that called me girlfriend and made it official on Facebook. But I never said it out loud after I broke up with Chance. Boyfriend meant being attached. It meant being vulnerable. But I’d called him that at dinner tonight without even thinking about it.
My heart hitched in my chest and without seeing it with my own eyes, I knew that Chance had stopped advancing toward me. The word caught him off guard too.
“Boyfriend?” he repeated.
I shivered. As his deep voice rushed over the syllables, I was thinking of anything but candy hearts. I thought about how his lips would feel pressed against my heated flesh. I thought about the simmering pull in my lower abdomen that overwhelmed my will to hoof it back to Alicia’s. Instead, I was entertaining the thought of turning around and telling him to take me right there in the middle of the road.
"Does that mean we're official?" he probed, words like warm honey as they went down. Even with the insects call I could hear him rock back to motion, each step matching my heartbeat.
The nearness of him sent goosebumps up and down my arms. The blush that started in my cheeks spread outward, the current of warmth extending to my toes. How did he do it? Chance Crawford made everything else fade to nothing except the stomp of my heart. I was so rapt, so freaking sensitive, that even the slightest touch would send me spiraling into bliss.
I let out a tiny gasp as his fingers combed through my windswept hair and all of the dark strands spilt over one shoulder. The goosebumps along my exposed neck stood at attention, waiting with bated breath for what came next. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed for strength that evaporated as soon as his lips pressed against the nape of my neck.
"You smell delicious," he breathed into the sensitive flesh, sinking right to my bones. His fingertips were rough and possessive as they drug across my abdomen and pulled me back until I met a solid wall of muscle and the hardened length of his arousal.
My lips parted slightly and ‘you too’ was left unsaid as I felt his cock raging for freedom against the contrast of his steady breathing. I was dialed to a hundred, dangerously close to begging and I knew speaking was no longer an option. Only moaning, groaning, and the erotic language of our bodies would be possible. The earthy notes of the woods mixed with his warm, exotic scent, creating a heady mixture that was as hypnotic as the breaths that went right to my core.
His fingers wrapped around the last button on my blouse, freeing it, then a second, and a third. It wasn't until there was only one button holding the fabric together that I finally spoke.
"W-what are you doing?"
"Do you know what hearing you say that word does to me?"
A moan rose in my throat at the urgency in his voice. The white hot need. "Chance-"
The button slid through the sliver of a hole and I glanced down, watching his hand spread across my pale flesh like caramel. His fingers were trembling, like it was a battle just to keep it together.
"Don't tell me to stop." Those forceful fingers were pulling the two sides of my blouse outward, over my shoulders. "I don't think I can. Not with how beautiful you look tonight."
****