Delicate (Sublime Series Book 1) Read online

  Delicate

  Michelle Everett

  Copyright 2019 by Michelle Everett

  All rights reserved. The people, places and situations contained in the book are figments of the author’s imagination and in no way reflect real or true events.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, storied in retrieval systems, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the author.

  Cover Design

  Karleigh Jackson

  Author Contact

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  Michelle Everett

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Chapter Thirty Five

  Chapter Thirty Six

  Chapter Thirty Seven

  Epilogue

  Title Page

  Prologue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Dearest Reader,

  I feel it is important to introduce myself to you and provide a bit of insight about my motivations for writing these stories. You see, I am proud to profess my Catholic faith (you’ll understand why this is important in a moment) and I also love to read steamy romance novels. But no matter which ones I’ve read (and there have been a lot), I always found something missing. Sex was often viewed as something trivial. Something that people just do without strings attached. Oftentimes marriage was never considered or only thought of after all of the physical intimacy had played out. Something about this really struck a nerve with me and the expression “putting the cart before the horse” kept popping into my mind.

  So, with the nudging of my wonderful husband, I began to write my own stories. And here’s where my Catholic faith comes in to play: I wanted to put the sanctity of sex back into relationships but I also wanted to keep them real. I wanted stories that everyday women could relate to. Stories that celebrated the complexity of emotions and desires that accompany a new relationship but also stood on some sort of moral ground.

  I wanted to not only tell stories about people who loved and cared about each other enough to wait until marriage to unite themselves completely, but also stories about redemption. About how God is always ready to give us a second chance. How our mistakes don’t define us and our futures aren’t written in stone.

  So with that, I thank you for taking a chance on me. I hope that these stories will inspire you to stand up for what you believe in (and heat things up between the sheets with your hubs, too!). Because it does matter.

  With love and blessings,

  M.E.

  “A kiss is a lovely trick to stop speech when words become superfluous.”

  -Ingrid Bergman

  Prologue

  I thought the world had ended when my mom left. I had felt my heart splinter into a thousand pieces. But that was nothing compared to this. There is no pain greater than holding the woman you love in your arms while her world crumbles apart. Watching her heart shatter. I would have given anything to make her pain stop. Anything. I held her tight.

  I kissed the top of her head. I smoothed her hair. I rocked her against me. I whispered that it was going to be ok. That I was going to fix this. I was going to make things right.

  We stayed like that, just the two of us, sitting on the kitchen floor. Her delicate body curled against mine. It felt like an eternity before she spoke. Before the tears had stopped and the sobbing ended.

  “I can’t do this,” she whispered.

  “Shh. Amber, no. Don’t say that.” I held her tight. “It’s going to be ok. We’re going to be ok.”

  “No, Tobie.” She sniffed and wiped her face. She lifted her head to look at me. “We can’t do this. It isn’t going to work.”

  Her eyes were full of pain. The brilliant blue had dulled into a muted grey. Her hand lifted up to cup my cheek. I leaned into her palm. Closed my eyes to savor the comfort it gave me.

  “Please don’t do this, Amber. Please.”

  “It can’t work, Tobie. It just can’t.” She caressed my cheek with her thumb. “There’s too much wrong to make it right.”

  I felt the burning in my eyes again. I felt the tears well up and push their way out. I felt them slide down my cheeks and into her hand. I felt my chest cave in and my throat tighten. No.

  “No, love. You’re wrong. This can work. We can work. Let me fix this.”

  “Oh, babe.” A bittersweet smile appeared on her lips. Her head tilted to the side, her eyes closed and she placed a soft kiss to my lips. “How can it?”

  Chapter One

  Amber

  ** May **

  It’s so freakin’ hot outside, I thought as I was vacuuming out my car. Georgia summers were relentless when it came to heat and humidity, and this summer was no different. We had a bit of a cold snap at the beginning of March that helped kill off all the mosquito larva, but since then it’s just been hot hot hot with no end in sight.

  It was only eleven o’clock in the morning and the temps were already pushing ninety-five degrees with eighty percent humidity. That’s how it is around here. Winter ends, we get about a week or two of spring weather riddled with nasty pine pollen, and then bam. Heat. And it would stick around until at least the end of September.

  But the fall? The fall here couldn’t have be any more beautiful. Highs in the seventies and lows in the fifties for a solid two months. Most Thanksgivings were spent wearing tee shirts and jeans because it was still so gorgeous outside.

  My daydream about shades of golden leaves was shattered when a large bead of sweat rolled down the front of my neck. This was a bad day to decide to clean out my car. I had tried to get up early before it got too hot but really I don’t think there’s ever a time during the summer here when it isn’t too hot.

  Being Saturday, I had thrown on some yoga capris and a tank top with my favorite baseball hat to cover my messy bedhead. Dad always thought his girls looked cute in baseball hats. You would think that after seven years, the random moments of sadness would have ended but they never do. I know that I’ll never stop missing my parents. I have learned to allow myself to feel these little moments when they happen or I’d go crazy, so I shift my focus to moments that make me smile instead.

  Dad had told me once that I always looked my best when I thought I looked my worst. A memory of his telling me that I was beautiful when I was having a freak-out moment before school picture day made me smile. I knew that even if my dad were here today he wo
uld tell me the same thing right now.

  The yoga pants might be something that a lot of women my age might be self-conscious about wearing but I’ll be damned if I don’t still enjoy having a feminine figure - even at thirty-two. I’ve never been one to spend much time putting on makeup or getting all fancied up. I think that’s why my skin has kept its youthful appearance. I may have a few small “smile lines” beginning to appear, but they are something I’ve decided to embrace rather than be ashamed of. I have no interest in becoming that woman who can’t come to grips that her body is aging. But I’m lucky.

  I’ve been blessed with a strong metabolism that allows me to work out minimally. I have soft curves that keep me looking like a woman without letting myself go. I’m happy with myself. I like what I see when I look in the mirror and I think that men can sense that. There’s something they find attractive about a woman who doesn’t feel like she needs to hide her body.

  Refocusing myself, I leaned into my Jeep and grabbed all the empty water bottles that had trapped themselves under the passenger seat. It had been a while since I gave Stella a good cleaning and boy, did she need it. Road dust and grime were covering her chassis and my poor organizational skills had left her in need of some serious TLC. The radio was playing one of my favorite songs and I almost didn’t hear the voice behind me when he said my name.

  “Amber?”

  It was more of a question than a greeting coming from a deep, velvety voice behind me, one that I didn’t recognize, but certainly caught my attention. Turning to address the voice behind me I had to tilt my head to see the face of a young man who was looking at me as if he wasn't sure I’d recognize him. I studied his face for a moment. His deep brown eyes were framed with dark eyebrows pulled together in thought. His head was tipped slightly to the left, allowing me to clearly see a masculine face with definite cheekbones, a strong, straight nose and a full bottom lip that was pressed tightly against the slightly thinner top one.

  His face sported an incredibly sexy five o’clock shadow and his dark thick waves of his hair rested easily on his head. He looked like he needed a haircut, but I hoped to heaven that he wouldn’t. That hair is perfect for running your fingers through.

  I couldn’t help but notice a feeling of warmth spreading through my body. The skin on my arms began to tingle from the rush of blood all over me and I could feel my cheeks turning pink. Something about him was familiar to me but it took a moment for it to register. My face blushed with embarrassment the second I realized who he was.

  “Tobie?” I questioned. I continued to stare at him wondering how in the world this insanely handsome man could possibly be my little sister’s best friend from high school. He chuckled a deep rumble and his eyes lit up, relaxing his face before he answered.

  “Yes, ma’am,” he stated proudly as a smile spread across his face, revealing the dimple on his right cheek and those beautiful squared teeth that spent all four years of high school trapped in braces.

  Ten years separated Hannah and me. I was a surprise honeymoon baby, but our parents had decided to have another baby when I was older and they felt like they had a little more stability in their lives. But I liked to think it was because I was such an amazing child they couldn’t stand to have only one. Hence, Hannah.

  I was twenty-five when our parents were killed by a drunk driver, but Hannah was only fifteen. I had already moved back home after college and our Aunt Cathy came to live with us, mostly to take care of Hannah after it happened. She had never married or had kids and had always treated us as her own. It was as easy [of] a transition as you could have hoped for, but still. No one is ever prepared to lose a parent. Especially both at the same time.

  I coped with the loss it as best I could, with the help of some serious counseling, but poor Hannah. That was a pivotal moment in her life and she took it especially hard. Aunt Cathy and I had taken a dual role of “mother” to her but her best friend, Tobie, had been the biggest support for her. He never left her side. He seemed to have a sixth sense about how to handle her even in her most fragile states.

  “Oh, please, don’t call me ma’am!” I exclaimed, grabbing his broad shoulders for a quick hug and then stepping back to view him. I wished I hadn’t. I was never going to get this image out of my head.

  I dragged my eyes from his face to survey the rest of him. My hands were still resting on his strong shoulders while I scanned his tanned body- all six feet and three inches of solid muscle. He was wearing a thin red cotton t-shirt with a logo I recognized as one of those obstacle races that are so popular. One that I would personally love to do, but am so afraid that I’d fall on my face trying to complete it. His muscled chest stretched the material across his body in a way that announced that he goes to the gym. A lot. Maybe I should start going to the gym.

  His athletic shorts fit perfectly against his trim hips and were taut below his waist, making me think they wouldn’t do much to hide a certain situation should it arise. That warm feeling began to spread through my body again and settled between my legs. What the hell is happening to me?!

  I felt him let out another deep chuckle before I noticed that my hands had developed a mind of their own and were sliding down his shoulders onto his swollen biceps. Mortified, I jumped back, snapping my hands off his arms and immediately realized that I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with them now.

  “Wow. Uh… It’s super hot out today, huh?” I stumbled through my sentence as I pulled my hat off with my right hand while my left hand combed through my messy, sweat soaked hair. Shit! I look like shit! I screamed inside my head. Quick, Amber, recover. Recover!

  He didn’t do much to help me with that, though. He stood directly in front of me, smiling that adorable grin and burrowed his dark brown eyes right through to my brain. I wasn’t sure what to do at this point. I’d clearly embarrassed myself and made a mental note to kick myself in the face once he was gone. I needed to get my head out of the gutter. But damn, if that primal part of me didn’t want to drag him into it with me. Stop it! He’s ten years younger than you!

  “I just stopped in to give my truck a quick rinse when I noticed you.” He was so confident. When did he become so confident? He was always such a nerdy kid back then. Quiet, with a nervous laugh. “I took a minute to be sure it was you before I came over to say hi.”

  Wait. How long had he been watching me dig all the trash out of my Jeep? I’m sure that was entertaining. Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I was able to compose myself just enough to attempt a normal conversation.

  “I’m so glad you did! Did you graduate already? Hannah just graduated last weekend and is moving back this week.” Ok, we got this. Normal conversation. Nothing weird about talking to Tobie.

  “I graduated earlier last week and just got to town yesterday.” He answered calmly, running his hand through his hair and resting it on the back of his neck. “I’m going to be working for my dad’s construction company as a project manager. I’m pretty excited about being out with the guys again.”

  “Wow, that’s really nice of your dad. I’m sure it will be nice to work for a company you’re familiar with.” I remembered that Tobie had worked for his dad’s company most summers. He’d be a shoe-in.

  “Yeah, it’ll be good. I’m just not really looking forward to spending all my days out in this heat again.”

  “Oh! Well… that certainly will be a downside.” I stopped there. I wasn’t sure what else to say. All I could think about now was Tobie shirtless. Just with jeans and work boots… and a hard hat… sweat glistening off his body. Good one Amber, you just pictured Tobie as a stripper. I pulled myself out of my head to noticed that he’s still beaming at me. It looked like he was enjoying some sort of private joke with himself.

  “You said Hannah is moving home next week, right?” Thank God Tobie knew how to keep the conversation going, because apparently I was completely unable to handle my raging hormones in the moment. He seemed like he’d gotten some practice talking to flustered
girls while he’d been away at school.

  “Yeah, she’s coming home for a while until she’s able to find a job. She’s got some good prospects lined up so I don’t doubt she’ll find something soon.” Hannah. My sister. Good. This is a safe topic that will keep me focused.

  “Excellent. I was planning to give her a call so we can catch up. We talked pretty regularly during the school, but it will be really nice to hang out in person like we used to. You said she was going to be moving back home?” He asked. I couldn’t help but notice a bit of suspicion in his voice. What was he getting at?

  “Yup!” I let out an awkward laugh, “Just until she finds a job and figures out where she wants to live.” I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m excited to have my Hannah back in the house - even if it’s only for a little while. When she left for college, Aunt Cathy moved back to Texas and it had gotten pretty lonely over the last few years. Aside from my dog, there really hasn’t been much to keep me company in the evenings.

  Before I could even react, Tobie closed the space between us and wrapped his strong arms around me and pulled me in for a hug. But this wasn’t like a regular hug. This was an embrace. I gasped at the sheer size of him enveloping me and the deep scent of his chest against my face. It was like soap and warmth and testosterone all mixed together. I closed my eyes and heard my heart pound in my ears at the same time that I felt a small explosion of heat burst in my stomach. It only lasted a brief moment before he pulled me away from him and looked me directly in the eyes while still holding me by the arms.

  “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you again soon, Amber,” he said with a mischievous grin and that damn dimple. He winked at me as he lowered his hands from my body, allowing his fingertips to brush lightly against my skin as he did. I was speechless. I had no idea what had come over me. Did he just wink at me?