Release Blitz + Excerpt: One Special Love by Abby Gale and Sienna Grant

What the fuck is he doing here?

Taking a deep, shaky breath, I open the door to a tall, brooding, figure of a man. His look is smouldering as he takes me in. He doesn’t say anything just looks, his eyes flit all across my face, from my mouth to my eyes as he did the night before, then steps forward cautiously.

“Acacia,” Ashton breathes my name, all the emotion I’ve been feeling comes bubbling up to the surface, like a volcano ready to erupt.

He reaches out his hand, I watch as his fingers reach my face, he cups my cheek and strokes my cheek with the pad of his thumb tenderly, I lean into his big hand as the feelings I have overcome me and the tears start to well in my eyes, he’s so confusing. “I had to come, I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. I needed to see you.” His words are slurry, I know he is drunk.

“Ashton, you’re drunk,” I murmur even though all I want is to kiss him.

“Yes, because of you!” he snaps.

His body is flushed to mine. Our lips are only inches apart as he looks at me with lust and anger.

“What are you doing to me?” he hisses.

“Nothing,” I whisper.

“You complicate my life. You mess with my mind,” he growls. “You’re making me forget her!” He hits his fist onto the wall right next to my head, making me jump.

“Then let me go,” I whisper again.

“But I don’t want you to go. You’re doing something to me, something I can’t explain, but you’re making me feel alive like I didn’t die with her that day… I want you in my life.” His voice was soft and intense. I know he is talking with his heart and soul.

A feeling in my stomach like butterflies starts to flutter around as he leans toward me. He uses his other hand to cup my neck and his thumb goes under my chin as he tips my head back a little, his fingers tangle into my hair at the back of my neck as his he inches his mouth closer to mine. He stops merely millimeters from me until I can feel his breath on my face. “But I hate you for making everything so hard for me!” he hisses.

“And I hate you because of this back and forth!” I snap at him. Before I can take a breathe or think this could be wrong, Ashton crashes his lips to mine. I moan loudly with the mixed sensations of shock and lust. He roughly increases the pressure against my lips until I push back against him, my hands go to his hair and I roughly pull him closer, making him groan with pain. His tongue seeks entrance to my mouth, licking, biting, and sucking till I open up a little for him. His tongue finds mine, owning me and tangling in desperation I match him, giving him back just as much. Every feeling I’ve had for him over the last couple of days, wow how has it only been days, I feel like I met him so much longer than a few days ago. Sadness, anger, confusion, lust, it all goes into this one kiss, I may never get this chance again. I place my one hand on his face, feeling through his beard remembering how it felt on my finger tips the last time I got this close to him.

He pulls his lips from mine, moving his mouth to my neck and continues his rough kisses. I know he will stop any second in regret, if not now he will regret it in the morning. The thought pains me, “I hate you,” I whisper even though it’s total opposite of my feelings.

Ashton lifts his head and smiles at me before catching my lips for another intense kiss. His tongue almost fights with mine for domination desperately and I surrender to him. Finally, he stops to look at me. A tear makes its way steadily down my cheek until it hits his thumb and he wipes it away.

“I hate you,” he whispers with a smile on his face. Pushing the hair from my face he leans down to kiss my forehead. I melt into his arms as he holds me close and realise in that moment that I need him more than my next breath and I’m irrevocably in love with Ashton Kennedy, but instead I whisper, “I hate you, too.”