Out From Under You (Smart Girls Finish First #1) by Sophie Swift
Genre: New Adult, Romance
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“Love is an earthquake. It comes when you least expect it. It rips the ground clear away. Right out from under you.”
The day Lia Smart met Grayson Walker, eight years ago, was the day she fell helplessly in love with him. Coincidentally, it was the same day Grayson fell in love with someone else: Lia’s smarter, sexier, superior-in-every-way older sister, Alex.
Now, nearly a decade later, Alex and Grayson are long over and twenty-two-year-old Lia has finally managed to forget all those lonely nights she spent pining after her sister’s boyfriend. But when Grayson unexpectedly arrives back in town with Alex for Labor Day weekend and the two announce that they’re not only back together but engaged, all the feelings that Lia buried suddenly come bubbling back to the surface.
But Lia is no longer the awkward, gangly tomboy she was at fourteen. Far from it. And Grayson is conflicted by the lustful thoughts he’s now having for her. He knows he could never act on those thoughts, however. Grayson has always prided himself on being one of the “good guys.” But as the weekend wears on, he’s finding this new grown-up version of Lia more and more impossible to resist...
Heartbreaking and sexy with a dash of humor, Sophie Swift crafts a passionate, unforgettable tale about desire, growing up, and the kind of love that shakes us to the core.
Contains adult situations and explicit content. Recommended for ages 17+
Excerpts from Out From Under You
Lia
“Thanks,” Grayson says, setting the bag of ice against his hand, cringing as the cold settles into his skin. “It’s been a long time since I punched someone in the face. I forgot how much it hurt."
Huh?
Is that what happened last night? Did he get in a fight?
Over me?
No. That’s not possible. No one has ever fought over me.
Alex. Alex gets fought over. She has the face that launched a thousand punches, or whatever.
I’m just...
I’m not worth fighting over.
He must read the confusion on his face. “You don’t remember that part, do you?”
I shake my head.
“How much do you remember?”
“I...” I start to say.
But I can’t do this. I can’t talk about this. Not here. Not while he’s dressed like that. Or shall I say, not dressed like that. I was kind of hoping we could just move on like it never happened and forget about it. But it’s pretty obvious he wants to hash it out. Right here. Right now.
So I take a deep breath and, battling to keep my voice steady, say, “Look, I’m really embarrassed about what happened last night and I kind of want to just forget about it and move on. I realize this may not be the mature thing to do but to be honest, at this point, I’m not sure I can handle the mature thing.”
His eyebrows furrow as he takes in what I just said. Or more like just rambled.
“You’re embarrassed,” he verifies, “because you got drunk and called me to come pick you up?”
“Because it seems like every time you’re around I somehow always need to be rescued!” My soft, tentative whispers have turned into throaty, breathy cries. “Because I’m like some perpetual damsel in distress who always needs saving.”
When I finish, he just stares at me, his gaze intense and searching. Then a reticent smile makes its way to his lips.
“I like saving you,” he admits quietly.
Of all the things I was expecting him to say in response to my tirade, this was certainly not one of them.
“What?”
He takes another step toward me. His proximity is intoxicating. Stronger proof than any alcohol. More debilitating than any drug.
“I said,” he replies, his voice deliberate. Determined. “I like saving you.”
* * *
Grayson
My chest hitches when I see her, barely visible in the porch light, lumbering down the walkway to the beach, the blackness of the night swallowing her up with each step.
I eye the door to the hallway.
The door to everything that happens after this moment.
I suddenly feel like my entire life will be decided by which side of it I’m on.
This side—right here where I stand—is the side I’ve always known. The one I have all the answers to. This is the side on which I marry Alex and she bears my children and we buy a town house in Brooklyn together. This is the side I always thought I wanted to be on.
And that side, over there—through that doorway, down those stairs, onto that beach—that is the side I know nothing about. A foreign land. With no certainties and no answers. The side that terrifies me.
My gaze drills into the wooden door. My skin feels hot. My mouth is dry. My fingers twitch.
And then suddenly, there is no more choice.
My body moves without permission from my mind.
In three paces I’m in the hallway. In ten juddered heartbeats I’m down the stairs. In a dizzying montage of choppy, breathless still frames, my bare feet stagger down the walkway, sinking into the cool sand.
Lia stands motionless at the edge of the water, staring out into the darkened horizon, as though she might find answers there. As though the world beyond this shore might make more sense. The full moon casts a faint light on the side of her face, causing her skin to glow.
The sand hides the sound of my heavy footfalls as I stride toward her.
When my hand tightens around her arm, she is startled but doesn’t scream. When I pull her around to face me, she opens her mouth to protest. To continue the tirade she began in the parking lot of the bar. But when my lips crush decisively against hers, claiming her with a consuming, covetous kiss, everything falls silent.
Only the waves dare to breathe.
Giveaway!
About the Author
Sophie Swift is an east coast girl who recently transplanted to Southern California. She writes about sexy boys by day, and dates them by night. Her sizzling, new adult romance, Out From Under You, the first in a new contemporary series, will be released in August of 2013. She loves books that quicken her pace, music sung by adolescent boys, and cupcakes with too much frosting. Visit her online at: www.SophieSwift.com.
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