Which only made me laugh harder.
In fact, I was laughing as he slid the engagement ring on my finger, which made him laugh. Maybe it wasn’t the most romantic response, but I thought it a good sign. If we entered marriage laughing, maybe it meant our lives together would be filled with it.
Killian kissed the ring on my finger, gave me one last hard kiss, and then handed my Taylor to me. “Now, go get them.”
He followed me out, disappearing through the door that would take him into the crowd offstage. Hearing the loud murmurs of talk as they waited for me, I took a deep breath.
I couldn’t hear the floorboards creak under my feet since the conversation of a hundred people was so loud, but I felt them solid beneath me, holding my shaking legs upright.
Feeling a hundred stares beyond the stage lights, I didn’t look at them as a hush fell over the room. I plugged my Taylor into the amp, slid onto the stool, and adjusted my mic.
Finally, I looked up.
Everyone was a dark shadow against the lights and it was a familiar and yet unfamiliar sight. It had been a long time since I was so physically close to my audience, and I’d never been on stage alone before.
The silence seemed to boom around the room as I stared out at them, wondering what they were thinking. I knew they wanted to be here because the tickets sold out in the first ten minutes, but I was still nervous. I didn’t want to let them down.
“Woohoo, Skylar!” I heard Autumn catcall from the crowd.
It made me smile and reminded me she was out there. That Killian, my fiancé and best friend in the world, was out there. “Hey, guys,” I greeted.
That was all it took. The room erupted into applause and whistles and a wave of nostalgia hit me with so much force, tears pricked my eyes.
“Wow, thank you,” I said as they quieted down, my voice echoing through the mic. “I really appreciate the welcome. I don’t know if you know this, but my old band and I never got to play King Tut’s. The offer to play here was too great to turn down and I’m really grateful you guys came out tonight to let me tick this one off my bucket list.”
“King Tut’s!” someone shouted, and the applause started up again.
I laughed into the mic, feeling myself relax more and more.
“Well, let’s do this. I’m going to kick off tonight with a song called ‘Ghost.’” I strummed the guitar to the applause, noise that died down as soon as I opened my mouth to sing.
They were with me. Right there with me as I retold my story through music. I sang it all, feeling my pain and my anger, owning it, because it no longer owned me. And they sang it with me, singing those lyrics back to me like they felt it too.
I sang “In the Wind,” my biggest hit off the album, and felt a rush of love and support from that audience like I’d never felt in my life.
As the set drew to a close, I cut through the wolf whistles. “I’m sad to say this is my final song tonight, guys. This was the last song on the album but it’s definitely not a song about an ending. It’s a song about the best beginning I could’ve ever asked for. Killian, this one’s yours, babe, just like me.”
“I was concrete standing still,
Cemented heart, bricked-over soul.
But there were cracks I couldn’t see,
Through them my song called out.
“The river heard me and it came for me.
“I was cold there, forged in stone,
And you were colder on your throne
Of freezing waves that flooded me out,
To free my song upon you.
“The river heard me and it came for me.
It rushed me on toward a waterfall.
“I feel the wind on my skin breathing,
My heart is beating to the feeling.
I catch my soul as I free-fall,
Then your arms close tight around me
Right before we land.
“I’m alive and it’s all your fault,
Blood is pumping, burning hot.
Worse, I’m growing addicted to
Being awake, being with you.
“The river heard me and it came for me.
It rushed me on toward a waterfall.
“I feel the wind on my skin breathing,
My heart is beating to the feeling.
I catch my soul as I free-fall,
Then your arms close tight around me
Right before we land.
“You’re in my heart, you’re like a beat.
You’re the air I drink in breaths.
You’re the flood that set me free.
The waterfall I’d gladly drown in.
“I feel the wind on my skin breathing,
My heart is beating to the feeling.
I catch my soul as I free-fall,
Then your arms close tight around me
Right before we land.
“The river heard me and it came for me.
Now my song belongs to it.”
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Samantha Young . . .
Autumn O'Dea has always tried to see the best in people while her big brother, Killian, has always tried to protect her from the worst. While their lonely upbringing made Killian a cynic, it isn't in Autumn's nature to be anything but warm and open. However, after a series of relationship disasters and the unsettling realization that she's drifting aimlessly through life, Autumn wonders if she's left herself too vulnerable to the world. Deciding some distance from the security blanket of her brother and an unmotivated life in Glasgow is exactly what she needs to find herself, Autumn takes up her friend's offer to stay at a ski resort in the snowy hills of Montana. Some guy-free alone time on Whitetail Mountain sounds just the thing to get to know herself better.
However, she wasn't counting on colliding into sexy Grayson King on the slopes. Autumn has never met anyone like Gray. Confident, smart, with a wicked sense of humor, he makes the men she dated seem like boys. Her attraction to him immediately puts her on the defense because being open-hearted in the past has only gotten it broken. Yet it becomes increasingly difficult to resist a man who is not only determined to seduce her, but adamant about helping her find her purpose in life and embrace the person she is. Autumn knows she shouldn't fall for Gray. It can only end badly. After all their lives are divided by an ocean and their inevitable separation is just another heart break away . . .
The Kristen Proby Crossover Collection features a new novel by Kristen Proby and six by some of her favorite writers:
Kristen Proby—Soaring with Fallon
Sawyer Bennett—Wicked Force
KL Grayson—Crazy Imperfect Love
Laura Kaye—Worth Fighting For
Monica Murphy—Nothing Without You
Rachel Van Dyken—All Stars Fall
Samantha Young—Hold On
Out March 2019
Preorder Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AU
A series of chance encounters leads to a sizzling new romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series.
The universe is conspiring against Ava Breevort. As if flying back to Phoenix to bury a childhood friend wasn’t hell enough, a cloud of volcanic ash traveling from overseas delayed her flight back home to Boston. Her last ditch attempt to salvage the trip was thwarted by an arrogant Scotsman, Caleb Scott, who steals a first class seat out from under her. Then over the course of their journey home, their antagonism somehow lands them in bed for the steamiest layover Ava’s ever had. And that’s all it was–until Caleb shows up on her doorstep.
When pure chance pulls Ava back into Caleb’s orbit, he proposes they enjoy their physical connection while he’s stranded in Boston. Ava agrees, knowing her heart’s in no danger since a) she barely likes Caleb and b) his existence in her life is temporary. Not long thereafter Ava realizes she’s made a terrible error because as it turns out Caleb Scott isn’t quite so unlikeable a
fter all. When his stay in Boston becomes permanent, Ava must decide whether to fight her feelings for him or give into them. But even if she does decide to risk her heart on Caleb, there is no guarantee her stubborn Scot will want to risk his heart on her. . . .
Read the first chapter over at Hypable.com
Out October 9th 2018
Preorder Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Samantha Young, As Dust Dances
(Series: Play On # 2)
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