Excerpt
On Monday morning, I find myself
ripping off my clothes and jumping in the shower like I’m going for the gold at
an Olympic race. I crank the nozzle as far right as it’ll go—the hotter the
better, for the steam to build quickly.
A
prelude.
More than I want a cleansing, I want
the hidden message—our secret exchange of thoughts, belonging to only us—to
appear.
But as the shower glass fogs, no words
emerge. And the depth of my disappointment is irrational; there should not be the sting of tears in my eyes
right now.
Kingston is forbidden fruit in so many
ways: he’s our exchange student, my father has already warned him against
me…and his departure date is set and inevitable. So my anticipation of these
messages is not only foolish, but self-destructive. Because the more attached I
get, the worse it will hurt when they’re no longer even a possibility.
I hurry through my now-mundane shower
with a heavy lump of disenchanted sensibility in my gut.
But when I turn off the water and step
out, every thought I’d just told myself made sense is replaced with a swell of
immeasurable bliss.
Guess what else fogs up in a steamy
bathroom?
The mirror.
And on it is his message to me—the best
one yet.
There
was something in her movements that made you think she never walked but always
danced.
I’m instantly aware—this is bad, because once you think something’s
gone and it comes back better than ever, your craving for it reaches a whole
new, dangerous level.
You only fully realize the depth of
want and need immediately after experiencing loss.
Too many emotions to name surge inside
of me, my head a good kind of hazy while the muscles around my heart cinch
tighter. I know Kingston and I are merely friends, albeit becoming better ones
with every effortless interaction. We’re just housemates who’ve found a clever,
entertaining way to match wits.
But if
it was, if it could be, more…he’d
be damn good at it.
I now understand how he’s able to
bewitch girls by the droves. It’s not just his strikingly good looks, or
enticing accent…it’s him. Those girls
are such simpletons, so spellbound by the outside package that they don’t even
realize the entirety of his allure.
But I do. I see his invisible, inherent
charm; the sheer seductiveness that emits from his every smile and move; and
his keen mind.
Shaking off the silly, romantic musings
that have no place in my life, I hustle to get ready for school.
But once I’m in the parking lot,
ignoring the bell warning me I’m about to be late, I throw caution—and my
better judgment—to the wind, and type out a text.
Me:
You’ve read Anne of Green Gables?
The second bell rings as I wait for a
response, but for some inexplicable reason, I simply don’t care. Then a
different ding sounds—and with it, my heart thrums an anxious beat.
Kingston:
No, should I have?
Me:
Yes, great books. But I asked bc the quote you left me this morning, which I
really liked btw… it’s from one of the books.
Kingston:
Ah, well they stole your story then, Love.
I’ve definitely unfairly judged the
girls caught under his spell. The choice was never theirs. He’s that good.
Me:
How do you figure?
Kingston:
I searched “quotes for Echo Kelly” and that came up. As it should. Said it
perfectly.
This—he—could get addictive. And lines clearly drawn in my head and
heart could easily become blurry, if not completely obliterated, should I sit
here any longer.
So I force myself back into friend mode
and reply accordingly.
Me:
You’re on a roll this morning. Better save some of those savvy lines for the
tarts.
I hesitate before sending one last
message.
Me:
I’m late. Have a good day playboy!
I run into school, out of breath for
two reasons but satisfied with myself for taking back control of the situation
that was headed in a direction I dare not explore.
First, you don’t leap from shy
introvert who doesn’t date to Kingston Hawthorne: a smooth-talker with a face
made for dreams, a body of unworldly men, and the entourage of a celebrity.
He’s not the type of guy to get your
feet wet with, or you’re sure to drown on your first swim. And secondly, the
detour I threw worked, because the texts that continue the rest of the day are
back on the track they need to be.
Temptation is ONLY a
room away….
Filthy Foreign Exchange
Releases April 24th!
Pre-order Exclusively on iBooks here:
http://apple.co/1R8c0wM
Add to your TBR at: http://bit.ly/223U4VV
Blurb
New York
Times bestselling authors Angela Graham and S.E. Hall have teamed up again to
bring you a full-length, steamy new romance.
Echo
Kelly is loyal to her studies, family, and aerial artistry. She has no time for
or interest in anything else, and is heartbroken when her oldest brother,
Sebastian, gets accepted to a study-abroad program— exchanging places with
cocky, not-at-all-shy foreign exchange student Kingston Hawthorne.
Kingston
Hawthorne had the life every twenty-year-old guy dreams of— endless cash, easy
women, and fast cars— until his father ripped it all away, shipping him off to
the States and placing him temptingly close to the underage virgin who
fascinates him in the most challenging of ways.
With
Kingston’s bedroom just a connecting bathroom away from Echo’s, the chemistry
between them is even more enticing than the notes he leaves for her on the
shower door.
How long
can you pretend you’re just friends?
About the Authors:
S.E. Hall
S.E.Hall, lover of all things anticipation and romance, is
the author of The Evolve Series: Emerge, Embrace, Entangled, Entice, Endure and
companion novellas Baby Mama Drama and Guide for Tools Looking to Date My
Daughter by character Sawyer Beckett. S.E. also wrote the stand-alone Finally
Found novels Pretty Instinct and Pretty Remedy. Her co-written works include
The Provocative Professions Collection: Stirred Up, Packaged and Handled
1&2, One Naughty Night and full-length, standalone novel Matched with
Angela Graham as well as Conspire, a romantic suspense, written with Erin
Noelle.
S.E. resides in Arkansas with her husband of 18 years and
3 daughters of the home. When not writing or reading, she can be found
"enthusiastically cheering" on one of her girls' softball games.
Angela Graham is a New York Times & USA Today
bestselling author of the Harmony Series. She spent a lot of her childhood
hidden away in the aisles at her local public library where she fell in love
with reading. It was a home away from home through her youth to her adulthood.
In 2012 she knew she found her calling in the world of
fiction the moment she began pounding away at the keys for her first short
story. With a baby on her shoulder, she wrote about a year before deciding to
try her hand at a novel. It was the best decision she ever made and one that
changed her life in ways she never imagined.
Together with S.E. Hall, she has released five novels and
one short story together.
Angela resides in Northwest Arkansas with her three
beautiful children and a rowdy dog.
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