Unplugged (38 page)

Time on the dance floor is the only way we can be alone together; even though this is a small wedding, everyone wants a piece of us and I’m exhausted. The love songs playing currently, no doubt hurt Liam’s ears; a world away from most of Blue Phoenix’s work, but we stay on the dance floor away from the guests. We decided that the band wouldn’t play; I didn’t want Liam away from me.

“
How long before we can leave?” Liam whispers, tugging my earlobe with his teeth.

“
A few hours yet.”

He groans and drags me closer.
“You’re driving me fucking crazy. I need to see what you’re wearing under there.”

“
All the best things in life are worth waiting for,” I say and giggle, heady with champagne and the emotion of the day.

“
I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,” he continues and as the music plays around us, he stops in the middle of the dance floor and proceeds to go into great detail about the night ahead of me. I squirm as his words pull vivid images into my head and a dampening heat between my legs. To shut him up I drag his mouth onto mine. Kisses shouldn’t feel any different to twenty-four hours ago but they do. The giddy feeling from the slide of his tongue and the taste of him rushes to my head, joining the constant dreamlike feeling of the day. This is different because I’ll never have to be without these kisses again.

The number of guests drop off as the evening gets later. An exhausted Ella kisses me goodbye and disappears with her new grandparents. Again the pang of disappointment that my parents didn
’t come edges in. But that was my choice, just as it was their choice not to acknowledge me or Ella for the last five years.

Sky and Dylan sit at
a white-clothed table we return to, half-hidden in the darkness. Sky hugs and kisses me which takes me by surprise, but she’s generally friendlier after a few glasses of wine. I sit on the chair next to her, and smooth my dress.

“
You look beautiful,” she says. “And thanks for not telling me what to wear.” She indicates her dress, dove-grey, fitted at the top and floating to above her knee.

“
Thanks. I think,” I say and look at Liam who shrugs.

Dylan pokes Sky who gig
gles again. “Too much champagne,” he says and pulls an apologetic face.

Sky makes a
‘pfft’ sound and puts a hand on his cheek. “You won’t be complaining later.”

“
Okay! Too much information!” says Liam and holds his hands up.

Dylan smirks, leaning back on his chair
, the action stretches the white shirt across and defines his muscular chest. He’s dispensed with his suit jacket and hung it on the chair behind.

Sky cranes her neck.
“Did the photographer finally leave?”

“
I think so,” says Liam.

“
Awesome! Dylan?” Sky excitedly climbs onto his lap and unbuttons the top button of his shirt.

Dylan catches her arm.
“Are you sure?”

I prepare to head off and quickly
, I didn’t realise she was
that
drunk. There’s PDAs and there’s completely inappropriate.

“
Yes!” says Sky, “Come on!”

“
We should go,” says Liam and I glance at his bemused face.

“
No, wait, you have to see this,” says Sky, dragging Dylan’s tie from around his neck.

“
I very much doubt I should see this,” replies Liam.

Dylan hooks his fingers through a chain on his neck and pulls it out from beneath his shirt. In the dim light, I can
’t make out what’s hanging on the chain. Sky unclasps the necklace and tips the attachments onto her hand.

Rings.

Dylan takes one of them and pushes it onto Sky’s finger and she does the same to his. Onto their wedding fingers. Then they put their heads together in a conspiratorial giggle.

“
Holy fuck!” says Liam. “Did you get married?”

Sky rests her head on Dylan
’s shoulder. “Yep.”

“
When?” I ask.

“
Last week. Everyone was so focused on your wedding, we thought we’d take advantage of the distraction,” says Dylan

“
Why the fuck didn’t you say anything? Where?” continues a stunned Liam.

“
We didn’t want to say anything until you’d got married. We agreed to keep this hidden until tomorrow.” He pulls a stern face at Sky. “We haven’t worn the rings since we got back to the UK in case someone spotted them.”

“
I know and it feels wrong not wearing your ring after the months of you whinging about setting a date,” says Sky. “Anyway, you’re usually the one who can’t keep his mouth shut!”

“
I’m keeping them close to my heart,” says Dylan and kisses her nose.

“
Nobody’s going to see now,” I say, “And I don’t care, I’m happy for you.” I lean down and encompass Sky in another hug.

I pick up a glass of champagne and toast Sky as an incredulous Liam grills Dylan.
“Who’d have thought? Two Blue Phoenix guys married, their image is shot! Now the fun really starts,” she whispers, “We have to keep them in line.”

I laugh, knowing full well Sky already does a good job of keeping Dylan in line
; this is the girl who tamed Dylan Morgan.

She tips her head.
“Jem’s still with the weird girl.”

I look over to where Jem and Ruby continue
an intent conversation, his hands over hers, faces close.

“
Looks that way.”

“
Does she speak to you much?” Sky asks.

“
I’ve only met her a couple of times.”

“
I hope he knows what he’s doing,” says Sky quietly, which surprises me because I didn’t think her and Jem got on well.

“
Come on, wife,” says Liam, pulling me up from the chair.

“
Excuse me?” I say and push his chest. “Wife?”

“
You are, aren’t you? Come on, I have wifely duties for you to perform.”

“
Just because I’m your wife, that doesn’t mean I’ll do what you want.”

Liam hoists me over one shoulder, and I find my head tipped down against his
back. “Yes it does.” He slaps my backside. “Time to go.”

I don
’t know whether to be embarrassed or amused and I fight against him, attempting to get off his shoulder. I already know how strong Liam is and how if he wants something, he usually gets it.

“
Only when I let you,” I remind him, as he carries me out into the quiet of the snow-covered grounds.

Liam sets me onto the snow and I shiver as the snowflakes drift onto my bare shoulders. He kisses away the flakes settling onto my face, the way he did almost a year ago and rubs my cold back.

“I found him,” I say.

“
Who did you find?”

“
The snowstorm of a man who showed me how to love myself by being passionate about everything I am. Remember?”

The memory catches up with Liam too and he kisses my cheeks, nose, eyebrows
, everywhere the snow lands. “I love you, Cerys Oliver.”

“
And I love you.”

With the snow flurrying around us, we stand with cool hands on each other
’s faces
.
The silent communication in this moment is that of two souls made for each other and with that connection, I trust Liam with my heart, my life, my everything. Some soul mates never meet, or their paths cross at the wrong time, and those people will always have an emptiness they’ll never understand. Liam came into my life years ago and left again. On the day he kissed me at Christmas, my life fused with his. With that kiss, our souls surrendered and our hearts aligned leading us to this moment and to our forever.

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Summer Sky

Falling Sky

Jem
and Ruby’s story releases late December 2014

Rising

Acknowledgements

My biggest thanks
again go to Lou of Seraphim Book Reviews for her continued support and love of the Blue Phoenix boys. Thank you for being there as a friend and listening on my bad days. I promise I’ll make Bryn’s story awesome!

Thank you to some lovely ladies who continue to support me with beta reading, getting the word out about my books and for generally being wonderful people: Leeann, Mikayla, Victoria, Dawn and Nicola.

Thanks go to my fabulous editors Peggy and Becky at Hot Tree Editing and Najla at Najla Qamber Designs for shaping the finished product into a well-edited, beautifully covered book.

Thank you to the bloggers who have supported my indie publishing journey - so many of you to mention so I won’t in case I leave someone out and offend! Without bloggers, the life of an indie author would be twice as hard. The amount of work you put into supporting and promoting authors is amazing. A special thank you to Rose for all your help through the last year.

An acknowledgement is due to Tonya Ridener who won the competition to name the new band in this book. Her suggestion, Ruby Riot, received the most votes from my Facebook page fans. You will see a lot more of Ruby Riot in the next book, Rising.

Thanks to my family for allowing me to spend so much time at my laptop in my Blue Phoenix t-shirt as I lose myself in their world (although I feel closer to the characters wearing the t-shirt, a trip to LA would help more, just saying). Apologies to Miranda for being spotted picking her up from school in what suspiciously looked like pyjamas under my hoodie. They weren’t. Honestly.

And thanks to everybody who has done any of the following: read my books, left a review, signed up to my mailing list, spoken to me on Facebook or emailed me. You make my dreams a reality. I’m overwhelmed by the support for the Blue Phoenix series and can’t wait to share more with you! I love chatting about my imaginary friends so please contact me if you want to, I always reply.

About The Author

Lisa is an author of new adult romance and writes both paranormal and contemporary.

In between running a business, looking after her family and writing, Lisa sometimes finds spare time to do other things. This often involves swapping her book worlds for gaming worlds. She even leaves the house occasionally.

Lisa is originally from the UK but moved to Australia in 2001 and now lives in Perth in Western Australia with her husband, three children and dog.

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