Tuesday is Tease Day! Today we’re going to check out a little of The First One, Book 2 in The One Trilogy.
The One Trilogy is very near and dear to my heart. These characters have wormed their way into my heart, so that I think we may be visiting the small Georgia town of Burton more in the future.
In The Last One, we met Sam’s little sister Ali, who’s worked side-by-side with him to keep their family farm afloat. She and Meghan become friends, and Ali confides that the father of her little girl Bridget is not the guy she married suddenly seven years before; it was actually her high school boyfriend, Flynn Evans, who left town never knowing he was going to be a father. He broke Ali’s heart, and although Sam has no idea that Flynn is Bridget’s father, Ali confides in her brother that she never got over her very first boyfriend.
When Flynn returns to Burton in The First One, he’s in for quite a few surprises. It’s not smooth sailing by any means; both Ali and Flynn have years of hurt to overcome. But one day Flynn and Bridget surprise Ali with a picnic. . .
Flynn lay back on the blanket with groan. “I don’t think I can move again for at least a week. You’ll have to stand guard over me until I can get up.”
I laughed. “You’re on your own, buddy. I happen to know the mosquitos’ve started coming out, and down here they bite like a son-of-a-bitch.”
He feigned shock. “Why, Miss Reynolds, such language. And in front of your child.” He shook his head, tsk-tsking the whole time.
“She can’t hear anything from down at the water, and she’s not paying any attention to us at all. She’s playing water sprite.”
“Well, in that case. . .” Flynn reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “I’ve been waiting all evening to hold your hand.”
I couldn’t help my smile. “Oh, really? Well, you’ve shown great restraint, then.”
“I’d say so.” He tugged a little, throwing me off balance so that I landed on his chest, my boobs pressed against him and my hand pinned between us. “Now, this is even better.”
“What’re you doing, Flynn?” I swallowed, wondering if he could feel my heart pounding against him.
“I’m holding you. I’m enjoying feeling you against me. You might even say I’m canoodling with you. Isn’t that what people do on picnics, after they eat? They canoodle?”
I shifted, bringing my head back just far enough that I could see him better. “I don’t know. Is that what’s traditional?”
He rubbed his hand in slow circles, up and down my back. “I remember being on a picnic with you, at another spot on this very river. Just the two of us. And after we ate, I undressed you. And kissed you. And touched you here.” He slid his hand to cover one of my breasts. “And touched you here.” The same hand shimmied lower, to cup me between my legs. “And I made you come for the first time. Do you remember that?”
My breath was coming in shallow gasps. “Of course I do.”
Flynn lifted his head to whisper in my ear. “If we were alone right now, I’d do it again. I’d make you come, over and over, until all you could remember was my name and all you could feel were my fingers and my lips.”
“Mommy? What’re you doing?”
I jerked away from Flynn, trying to sit up, but he had a grip on my arm. “Mommy’s fine, honeybunch. She’s just canoodling with me.” He grinned, and I was pretty sure my whole body was about to burst into flames.
“What’s canoodling?” Bridget crossed her arms over her chest, one eyebrow raised in skepticism.
“It’s what two people—two grown-up people—do when they like each other very much. And I like your mother very much.”
My daughter shifted her stare to me. “Do you like Daddy very much, too?”
I licked my lips, and Flynn rubbed his hand on my hip. Like I needed another distraction. “I—yes, Bridget. I like your daddy very much.”
She nodded. “Okay, I guess that’s all right. Is it time for cookies yet?”
Flynn pushed himself to sit up, holding onto my hand all the while. “I think we can make that happen.” As he reached for the basket, he lowered his voice so that only I could hear him. “Funny, I was just wishing for the taste of something. . .sweet.”
I swatted his arm. “Flynn Evans, you’re incorrigible.”
Laughing, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “Oh, I try, sweetheart. I do try.”
The Only One releases on April 7th, but you can preorder it here! Don’t wait. . .
Mason Wallace left his hometown to live his dream: he had the perfect career, a gorgeous wife and a beautiful baby girl. He was on top of the world, until it all shattered with the sudden death of his wife. Now he’s back in Georgia, running his bar and trying to take care of his family. And he needs all the help he can get.
Rilla Grant’s never been farther than twenty miles from her family’s farm. Her overprotective father wants her to marry their church’s youth pastor and settle down into the life he’s chosen for her, but she’s not sure that’s what she wants anymore. Rilla’s chafing to make her own choices, and that includes starting her own PR business and maybe even moving off the farm, no matter how much her dad hates it.
When Mason asks Rilla to work on some promotion for his bar, she’s both excited and terrified. Excited, because it’s just the opportunity she’s wanted, and terrified because Mason, with his electric blue eyes and drool-worthy body, is the kind of guy who makes her knees weak and her heart pound. He’s the only one who’s ever tempted Rilla to defy her family, and when she does just that by moving in to help take care of his daughter, they’re both forced to make a decision that’ll change their lives forever.
Sometimes love isn’t the easy choice. Sometimes it’s the only one.