Prologue
I stared at the overly large bags that lay by the front entrance with what must have been the world’s largest what the f**k look on my face.
“I can’t do this anymore,” she said. Her words tore me to shreds.
“What do you mean you can’t do this anymore? Julie, you haven’t been doing anything to fix this.”
“I’m done, Paxton.”
I ran my hands through my hair, pulling at the handful of tresses gripped between my rigid fingers. The prickle in my scalp did enough to keep my temper in check and diffuse some of my anger. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I couldn’t believe it but then again, I could. She was giving up on everything. My love, our life, our family; it had all disappeared in the blink of an eye.
I still loved her but in all honesty, I can also state that I haven’t been in love with her for quite some time.
We’ve been together for nearly five years. In that time, we had built a home; one that was graced with our beautiful three-year-old son, Jasper. My hand ran down my face. Chr**t, how am I going to explain this to Jasper?
I was willing to try and work things out. H*ll, I’d even mentioned marriage counseling on multiple occasions but like everything else, work came first and the sessions had never materialized.
I looked up at the woman who stood in the entrance to what I had considered our home, frustration, anger, bitterness and that subtle feeling of failure were all too overwhelming. “Fine,” I said, “but what about Jasper?”
“Can you keep him for this week? It’s just until I get situated. We can discuss custody later.”
“Where are you going?”
“Todd’s asked me to move in with him,” she said as if I had been in the know about her infidelity the entire time—no, not until a couple of months ago.
I huffed. “So he’s still in the picture.” I hadn’t asked as so much as accused her. She nodded. “How long have you two been…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. Bile rose from my stomach.
“Does it matter?”
“Never mind,” I said in a defeated tone and looked down at my feet when all I wanted to do is ask her what happened to can we try and work things out? I groaned at the memory and shook it out of my head in dismay. “Get out.”
“Pax,” she said and made to step toward me with an outstretched hand. I wasn’t about to seek comfort from the one who’d wounded me.
My blood pressure rose. “I said get out!” I pointed toward the door, my stomach contents churning further.
The woman took off like a bat out of h*ll.
I was tired of having a one-sided relationship and thus relieved at the woman’s departure. The news of her continued adultery had shocked me, especially when she had sworn to make an effort to sort things out between us. It explained why we had remained in our separate rooms all of this time, living our lives separately as though we were roommates. It more than proved that we were better off apart. This was really the end of my marriage.
When I married, I had intended it to be for life. Well, I guess life had a plan of its own, huh?
With each passing day, I picked up the broken pieces of me. I hadn’t realized that I had stifled so much of myself over the years to try and please a woman that seemed to never be sated with anything I said or did.
Fueled by my feelings of loss and neglect, I made a decision which led me to rediscover an old love. The proverbial flame was rekindled and I began to write again.
For what felt like an eternity, I wrote. When I was done, I read my piece over so many times that my words no longer made sense, forcing me to put it down and go back to it later.
I stared at my finished manuscript displayed on my screen. What am I going to do with this?
I had discovered a site, a few months before I found out about Julie’s adulterous tendencies. It had been recommended by a colleague. The venue allowed people from around the world to peruse and read various works written by amateurs. Some of the work on there I found horrid while others, despite their various grammatical and punctual flaws, you wished you could set your hands on an edited and printed copy, they were so great.
What the h*ll. I decided to chance it. With a bit of copy and paste, a little restructuring, I hit the publish button and there it was. My first written piece was out for the world to see.
It wasn’t until a few months after I had posted my work that I stumbled upon a comment that I couldn’t dismiss. I ached for constructive feedback but the lack of it was getting to me due to the site being overrun by teenagers. I debated getting rid of my profile altogether up until that fateful day.
That short message was where things began to change for me. With simple words of appreciation, intellectual and heartfelt thoughts, followed by a click of her mouse, she had made me smile.
I sought her profile out and found that she was a fellow amateur writer just like me.
She’s gorgeous, had been my first impression. Despite her evident beauty, something else could be seen in her profile photo; something that beckoned me further, begged my curiosity to look beyond the surface somehow. It was in her eyes—loneliness. Or was I reading into things too much since I was such a novice at these social media-like sites?
For a few weeks, I sat on her words alone as I read through some of her work. She was good, better than good.
I thought that I’d end up with one of those written numbers that didn’t make much sense or that glittered in the night featuring vampires and werewolves. Boy was I wrong!
The woman sure knew how to paint a vivid picture. She pulled off the hot and sexy but kept it real all at once by adding emotion, drama, even a bit of action and suspense to her mix. Her work was altogether something reminiscent of everyday life—the good, the bad, the ugly, the…well, you get the picture.
A few days after reading her last novel, a dream influenced by her work prompted me to finally write out an acknowledgment to her comment. From there, we began to chat through private messages on a near daily basis. We never stopped…
Chapter 1
Waiting in the airport terminal, I remembered the last time I had felt like this. The anxiety that consumed me was reminiscent of my first date with Julie, what felt like, what was, ages ago.
I looked up at the screen and saw that US Airways flight 2583 to Jacksonville, North Carolina had landed and knew that in a matter of minutes she would be standing before me in the flesh. My thoughts flittered to that first day, nearly a year ago when we first made contact.
The conveyer belt that carried the luggage snapped me out of my reverie when it ceased moving and the area around me had become deserted. Had something gone wrong, had she stood me up?
I lowered myself to the bench behind me and let my head drop into my hands. I sighed. “Serves you right for thinking she’d show,” I mumbled.
I was trying to convince myself that I should leave when I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. “Paxton?” a soft-spoken woman said at my side, her voice all too familiar.
She’s here.
My heart thumped out of my chest. I felt foolish for thinking the worse and excited that I was proven wrong. I got up to face Alissa who had a beaming smile splayed on her face. Boy was that smile contagious! My lips tugged upward instantly.
She let out a giggle and after dropping her bag, she jumped me with a hug. Without hesitation, my arms found their way around her waist to return her enthusiastic greeting.
“You looked like a man deep in thought.”
I set her back but held on to the sides of her arms. “Can I be honest?”
I breathed easier when she nodded. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
“I thought you weren’t coming.” I shrugged my shoulders sheepishly and averted my gaze from her.
“Are you kidding me?” My head snapped up. She looked as if I’d slapped her. “I would have called or emailed. H*ll, I would have messaged you if anything had come up. We’ve talked about meeting for months, Pax. I wouldn’t-”
Call it insanity or whatever you will, I did the only thing my brain could process at the time and took the one step toward her. Standing toe-to-toe, I let go of her arms, grabbed her face and crashed my lips to hers in an effort to shut her up.
Her hand flew to her mouth when I pulled back, realizing what I had done. Her eyes were wide as I found myself surprised just as much as she was. Where had this sudden forwardness come from? I was just so relieved that she was standing before me in the flesh, evidence that I hadn’t been the only one looking forward to us meeting. And that nervous and flustered rambling of hers…
Yes, things had gotten personal with our countless chats. But despite the numerous times we had flirted, exchanged photos, talked dirty, and even discussed how she had come up with some of the steamy scenes from her stories, I worried that I had crossed a line.
“Alissa, I’m-”
She shook her head and lifted her hand. “I knew that was coming at one point or another, I just didn’t expect…” she said but ended up brushing off what she was going to say next with a small upward quirk of her lips. “Never mind, it was nice.”
I breathed easier and grabbed her carry-on luggage. “Let’s get out of here,” I said, “assuming you’re still up for it after my mauling you and all.” She giggled nervously but took my hand in hers and I walked us toward the parking structure with an added sense of relief for not screwing things up so quick out of the gate but still wary nonetheless.
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About The Author
Born and raised in small town Northern Ontario, Canada, Carey Decevito has always had a penchant for reading and writing.
More than a decade later, with weeks of sleepless nights, where exhaustion settled into her everyday existence, she finally gave and put pen to paper (more like fingers to keyboard). She submitted to the dreams that plagued her. And the rest, as they say, is history!
Carey Decevito enjoys spending time with family and friends, the outdoors, travelling, and playing tourist in Canada’s National Capital region. When life gets crazy, she seeks respite through her writing and reading. If all else fails, she knows there’s never a dull moment with her prolific story-teller of a four-year-old daughter, her goofy husband and their two cats who she swears are out to get her.
With two published works under her belt, Once Written, Twice Shy is her second and the first book which is part of a five-book series entitled The Broken Men Chronicles.
[hr]
About the Book
After a bitter marriage, Paxton seeks respite from his loss. Rediscovering his writing, he never expected creating a piece worthy of reading nor for two unsuspecting paths to cross in the most unconventional of ways.
Thousands of miles separated them, yet he’d never felt closer to anyone. Finding out that happiness and love was attainable again, was one thing. Having Alissa, was another.
When the two meet, sparks fly, chemistry is beyond explosive, and emotions reach a boiling point. Their brief love affair ignited the fuse but what Paxton neglected to anticipate was that his son would fall for the sweet, meek demurred woman in Alissa or the fact the woman would be their salvation; in more ways than one.
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