Title: Exclusive Bound by
Duty alternate POV - and a SALE!
It's October 9, which means today is all about
Bound by Duty!
To kick this off, I'll
tell you that I couldn't be more proud of this little gem. It took me a year
from start to finish and it was worth every second. Bound by Duty is clean new
adult fantasy, with some paranormal thrown in for good measure. It's a coming
of age story laced with romance, friendship and choices. It's been consistently
ranked in the top ten of Kindle's fantasy/new adult category and I have more
than 55 5-star reviews since July 24.
The synopsis is: Amelia
grew up in a world of half-truths. She knows she's an Elder, but has no idea
what that means. Her father reminds her daily that she must maintain control,
but he refuses to explain why. Even worse, she's betrothed to the prince of the
Immortals and doesn't even know his name.
Finally breaking free to
live a few normal years at a community college, the last thing Amelia expects
is to find her best friend in a cheeky southern girl, or fall for a
self-assured human who sees her for who she is, not what she will become.
As she learns more about
herself, Amelia realizes the line between love and duty is a thin one. As her
power continues to increase exponentially and her questions are slowly
answered, Amelia must make the ultimate choice. The question is, will her head
win the battle, or her heart?
Today, I've got an
exclusive for you. I've written an alternate point of view scene that is going
to introduce you to Aidan - my swoon-worthy leading man. Bound by Duty is
written from Amelia's point of view but this is his take on the first time they
meet.
Here's a visual of the lovely Aidan, just so
you're mentally ready before this goes down.
Bound by Duty - The first
meeting from Aidan's POV
What in the hell am I doing here? The
thought raced through my head for the hundredth time. I scrubbed both hands
over my face and back through my hair, yanking on it a little and trying to
reason with myself.
You’re going to freak her out.
She doesn’t even know you.
‘Oh, hi, Amelia. I know you don’t know me but
I’ve been watching you the last few weeks and I think we’d get along great. No,
I’m not a creeper. Trust me.’
I groaned and dropped my head down. I was sitting
under some kind of beach pergola on a picnic table that had seen better days.
If I even took a deep breath it might crumple under me. I was hiding and I knew
it. It’s bad enough I heard Amelia and her friend talking about this party and
then psyched myself into showing up, but now I have totally chickened out. I
wasn’t interested in the party or the drunk chicks upstairs. Just her.
I don’t normally get worked up like this but she
has me all turned around. I’d been watching Amelia Bradbury since the first day
of class. I was the charmer. I knew from years of experience with foster
families how to make sure people liked me, but she never even gave me a chance.
She wanted to hide and never once even looked my way. I could see it in the way
her eyes darted all over the room without making eye contact with anyone. And
in the way she wore her hair down, trying to hide behind the long, dark
strands. She sat in the back, forcing me to the outer edges of the room so that
I could keep watching without making it obvious. When she got up she would
often run into things, but never people, clutching her backpack before hustling
to the next place.
The first time I saw her relax was by accident. I
was in the commons eating and suddenly, there she was. Her eyes lit up and her
posture straightened. She yanked the band from her wrist and flipped her head
down, coming back up with it in a ponytail. It was the first time I’d been able
to truly see her and I was captivated. Her eyes couldn’t decide what color they
wanted to be and floated between brown and green. Some people would call it
hazel but they didn’t mix so much as shift as the light hit them. She was thin
but curved. I wanted to run my hands from her shoulders to her hips just to
feel the dip and flare. I turned, anxiety flooding my system, and found the
source of her joy…another girl. I let go of a breath I hadn’t known I was
holding and couldn’t stop the laugh the erupted from my chest. Amelia strode
up, gave the blond a hug, and they immediately started talking. Then the blond
spoke and Amelia laughed. It was music to my deaf ears and something inside me
came alive. I wanted to be the one to do that. I wanted to make her laugh. For
the first time in my life I was jealous of a girl.
I was ready to call it. Being here on this picnic
bench was ridiculous and there was no way I was going to have the balls to walk
up to her now. I had completely psyched myself out of having any kind of shot
at this. I was ready to get up and head for my car when I heard someone
bouncing down the stairs. I worried first that something was wrong. Their feet
pattered down so quickly I thought they might be running. I stayed in my spot
in the shadows, but tensed my body in case I had to move quickly. Lately I had
had way too much excess energy and I’d been spending a lot of time in the gym.
I could do some damage if it came down to it. The last thing I expected was to
see shoes flipping off and long legs soaring through the air as Amelia leapt
from the last step and landed softly out into the sand. For just a moment she
was suspended mid-air and I could have sworn she was flying. When she hit the
beach she didn’t miss a beat, her feet moving her swiftly toward the water.
Her body was long and lean. A ballerina but with
curves. She was so focused on the water that it wasn’t until she was ankle deep
and had dropped her head back, a small, satisfied smile pulling at her lips,
that she realized she wasn’t alone. I had barely moved, a low groan coming from
the bench underneath me. Her whole body stiffened in what I assumed was fear. I
felt like an intruder. This was going to be a great way for us to meet, surely.
But, you shouldn’t blow opportunities when they come. Or so said my last
caseworker before I turned eighteen and had been accepted into Brighton’s
community college. No sense in turning back now.
“So, you’re hiding from them, too, huh?” I was
going for charming. Like I had some kind of game. But the words felt like
peanut butter in my mouth and I was glad she couldn’t see my reddened face from
where she was standing. Amelia slowly turned toward me, her voice small as she
squinted and tried to see me better. “Do I know you?”
I felt like even more of a tool. She had no idea
who I was. She stared my way for a few more seconds and then whipped around,
facing back out into the water. I watched her chest moving quickly, her breaths
coming too fast. I slowly started to move toward her, worried she might be
getting a little too freaked out and wanting to reassure her that I wasn’t
actually a sociopath.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” I said,
trying to keep my voice steady but soft. She turned to face me slowly and the
full moon sliced its light just perfectly to illuminate me but keep her face
mostly shadowed. She was close enough that I could see her eyes widen and roam
from my nose to my knees, without ever meeting my own. I stood up a little
taller and couldn’t stop the smirk as I realized I might have some of the same
effect on her that she had on me. She raked her gaze up and down and it wasn’t
until I tried to get her attention that her eyes finally snapped back to mine.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I waved a hand in
front of her face and said, “Hello?” Then the Amelia I knew came back in a mad
rush. She fumbled over her words, looking anywhere but at me. She tugged at the
ends of her hair and a tried to walk away, but I couldn’t let her. I wasn’t
ready to let her go yet and I needed to know her. I couldn’t stop myself from
reaching out and taking her arm. It was our first contact and I don’t know what
I had expected, but it wasn’t heat blooming under my fingertips or her
heartbeat inside my head. In milliseconds of my skin on hers she was inside me,
and I knew I’d never get her out.
“Wait. Just wait.” More quiet, controlled words.
I couldn’t let her leave. I had to keep her there. I had to keep touching her.
“I’ve seen you before. You’re Amelia, right?” Normal, Aidan. Act normal.
“Yeah,” she whispered. I had forced her to look
at me and I would swear to any judge that we wore the same expression. She felt
something. I knew she did.
“We have a couple classes together, but you
always sit in the back and never say anything.” Dammit. So suave. So
charming. You’re an idiot, Montgomery.
I was instantly ashamed. I watched her reaction
and I knew it too well. She squeezed her eyes shut and her lips smashed
together, holding in the pain of not fitting in. I might be a charmer now, but
I’d been sent away by enough families to know what I had just done.
“Oh, that was dumb. I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m Aidan.
Aidan Montgomery.” I took advantage of the opportunity to trail my fingertips
from her bicep down to her wrist and then folded her hand into mine, shaking it
softly. I felt fire the whole way and judging by the widening of her eyes and
the swift intake of breath, so did she. For a second, she gripped my hand, but
as our eyes connected again and I couldn’t stop my grin, she dropped it and
without a word took off running. I couldn’t move, my hand still in front of me
and my jaw hanging open, as I watched her bound up the stairs and disappear. I
dropped onto the hard-packed sand and didn’t bother to move as the tide rose
and the salty water surrounded me.
Well, that couldn’t have gone better.
--
So, what do you guys
think? Would you want to find Aidan waiting for you on the beach one night? I
sure would!
If you want to learn more about Aidan and Amelia's adventure,
you're in luck. Through 10/11/14, Bound by Duty is ON SALE! You can snatch it
up for just 99 pennies.
Just head out to Amazon
and it's all yours. And, if you've got time, stop by my Facebook or Twitter pages to stay connected. I'd love to hear what you think once
you finish!
I'll be checking back in
all month, so leave me a comment. Tell me what you thought of Aidan's POV, ask
me questions about the book or my process, or just give me your random thought
for the day. Bring it on!
-- Stormy
you are doing great! Love it from he's prospective. :)
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