A good friend, a good soldier, a good everything.
The problem is, good hasn’t gotten him anything but a crushed heart.
So after licking his wounds, he decides to move on. And moving on doesn’t include being good anymore.
Bad sounds so much better.
Jaded and detached, Brand is determined to never open himself up to anyone again. It’s not worth the pain. Instead, he becomes closed, hardened, aloof.
But then he’s called back home for a family emergency… a family that he is estranged from. A family that he put out of his mind a long time ago for very good reasons…reasons that involve secrets and pain. Reasons he tried hard to forget.
But home is where the heart is, and it just might be where Brand finds his again.
Why? Because home is where Nora Greene is. A fiery, red-headed spitfire, Nora is a thing from his past. A beautiful, feisty thing. When Brand left, she was away at boarding school.
But she’s back now.
And she wants Brand, scars and all.
And don’t miss the other Beautifully Broken, now available:
Praise for the Beautifully Broken Series:
"I loved If You Stay. Like, really really loved it. The kind of love that kept me reading until 2:40 am and left me crying, smiling, devastated, and elated. The best kind of book love." - Andrea, The Bookish Babe
"Beautiful, raw, gritty, emotional and breath-taking are just a few of the words I can find to describe this book...reading this book was one of the best experiences I have had." -Amanda, Globug and Hootie Need a Book
"In If You Leave, we continue the wild ride Courtney Cole started us on in If You Stay. This raw story of heartbreak and hope solidifies Cole's standing as a rising star in hot contemporary romance." --- New York Times Bestselling author of Down to You, M. Leighton
"Another raw, gritty masterpiece with a sexy-as-hell Army Ranger to swoon over." --- K.A. Tucker, author of Ten Tiny Breaths
Author Spotlight:
Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Links:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Newsletter SignUp * Pinterest
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review.
It was nice to see some old friends make an appearance and to get some answers for a lot of my questions left over from the previous books. Brand is my fav of all the guys in the series.
“Being brave doesn’t mean not being afraid, Nora,” Brand tells me, lifting his ocean blue eyes to meet mine. “It means being afraid and doing it anyway.”
“Doing it?” I ask.
Brand shrugs. “It can be anything. Whatever it is that you’re doing, whatever it is that you’re afraid of.”
I’m doing this. Right now.
Because I want him. I want him this summer and he’s not getting it. He’s not making any moves even though I’m here and I’m available, and I want him. There’s only one way to make him see… I have to be as blunt as a man.
I can do this.
Because I’m brave.
I’m brave.
I’m brave.
I’m f**king brave.
I re-wet my cloth and without a word of warning, I pull the corner of his towel back, then pull it entirely off.
Brand’s eyes fly open, then fix on my face. He doesn’t say a word, but I can see him holding his breath. His flat abdomen isn’t moving.
I dip the cloth down his side, over the rippled muscle. I can feel him through the cloth, his warmth soaking into my fingers.
I pass his hip, his delicious, sexy hip. In my head, I envision it flexing as he straddles me. I flush, and gulp.
I’m brave.
I’m f**king brave.
I take a breath, and my fingers keep moving. Another breath and the cloth glides downward.
Then Brand’s hand covers my own, stopping me.
“I think I can get that part.”
I look down at him, and he’s staring at me in apprehension….because he doesn’t know what I’m doing… or what I want. I don’t know either. All I know is….I’m doing it now. Before it’s too late and he’s out of my life and I never have another chance.
“Brand, I have a proposition to make.”
My words cut the slice through the tension.
He levels a gaze at me, his eyes so f**king blue. “I’m listening.”
His hand is still covering mine. It’s warm and strong and I can hear the pulse rushing through my ears in a roar.
“I’ve wanted you since I was twelve years old. You’re here for the summer and so am I. I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again and I don’t want to look up from my desk at Greene Corp when I’m seventy and have regrets because I didn’t do this.”
I pause and Brand doesn’t say anything.
He simply waits.
The silence between us is charged and I rush my next words…I let them tumble from my mouth before I lose the nerve.
“I want you. Without any strings at all. At the end of the summer, we’ll probably never see each other again…but I want this summer. With you.”
I have to know what’s its like.
I stand on a wall and protect what is mine.
I need to know, even if it’s just an illusion, what it’s like to be his.
To be safe.
To be good.
Please.
Brand stares at me, stunned.
I’m stunned too.
I did it.
I did it.
I’m f**king brave.
I watch his lips slowly part as he breathes out in a rush.
I watch his tongue dart out and lick his lower lip.
I feel the heat from his hand as he slightly moves it.
Then I watch the word form on his mouth…right before he says it.
“No.”
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