Book info:
Author: Anne Marie Citro
Genre: Contemporary romance
Date Published: June 21st, 2016
Wishing for death while living through hell, Gabriella is rescued off the rocks of a Scottish loch at the lowest moment of her life by the hot, humorous Edward and the sexy, staid Liam. The two men nurse the despondent woman back to health while teaching her how to pick up the pieces of her life. Both are captivated by her and vie for her attention.
Friendships are formed and secrets revealed. One man will become her lover, while the other becomes her best friend. Together, they have a past they cannot change, a present they must live through, and a future yet to be discovered. However, every time things appear to settle down for the trio, fate deals another blow, testing their trust and faith in each other and the love they have created.
Gabriella discovers the beauty of Scotland and life anew as she learns that trust is a two-way street that can either strengthen bonds or destroy relationships. Will she accept all that she learns or continue to believe she is betraying the memories she ran from?
Please Take Me
Gabriella stared out at
the stormy water of Loch Snizort, five minutes away from the town of Portree on
the Isle of Skye, Scotland. She sat on the edge of a cluster of boulders that
were half-submerged in the loch. The spray of the water mingled with the tears
streaming down her face. She was soaked, shivering, and
not even aware the daylight was escaping from the night.
“Goddammit! God, if I
believed in you—which I don’t—I would ask you why! Why!” She sobbed. “Why leave
me? Please take me. I have nothing.” Her stomach
muscles ached from the constant, racking sobs she couldn’t control.
She had contemplated
suicide, but the fear that God did exist had stopped her. If by any
chance an afterlife did exist, by killing herself, she would be denied the
privilege of entering Heaven, of holding her beloved boys
in her arms again. She would be stuck in the
hell that was her never-ending existence.
It had been years—three
to be exact—since her world had been turned from light to
dark. Everyone had said she needed to deal with her grief, and she had tried. Regardless,
it hadn’t worked.
Besides, who the fuck
were they to say what stage of grief she was dealing with? What if the next
stage never came, and she never recovered? Then what? Did people actually
believe it was a conscious choice not to move on? Was it depression?
Abso-fucking-lutely! Did seeing a shrink help? No. Did talking about it help?
No. Did medication help? No, because no one seemed to understand Gabriella’s
pain.
She had lost her world through no fault of her own. It was marred not just by loss,
but also because of the rumours surrounding her family’s
deaths …
***
Edward awoke to the
sound of haunting sobs. A chill went up his spine, thinking if ever there were
such things as ghosts, that would definitely be the sound they made. The sound
triggered déjà vu in the recesses of his mind, and he searched his memory for
something he couldn’t put his finger on.
The curiosity of the
lost memory and the wailing sound drove him up and outside to either help
whatever was making that noise or put the thing out of its misery. His mind was
so busy trying to place the sounds that were haunting him that he inadvertently
forgot to give Liam, his guard and best friend, a heads-up that he was leaving.
Night had descended
hours ago, and even with a shirt and heavy sweater on, the chill still seeped
into his bones. Combine that with the relentless sound, he was uneasy.
He cautiously walked
through the gardens connected to the side door of his suite, which were
stunning in the summer yet now looked lifeless and sad. He was on alert because
of who he was. People were forever trying to catch him in compromising
situations and always tried to take a piece of him, befriend him, and not
because of friendship, but for gain. However, late April wasn’t a popular time
to visit; the temperature could be downright nasty, and the sun rarely shone in
the summer, let alone spring.
The inn they had chosen
for its solitude was named McIntyre Country House, a beautiful, old estate that
looked lonely with its regal, black roof and white exterior walls. Phone
reception and Wi-Fi were on again, off again, tending to be more off.
The inn only had one
other guest, and the innkeeper had tried to cancel that reservation to accommodate
Edward’s privacy, but he had been unable to reach the guest in time. Instead,
the owner had asked Edward if it was okay to put them on the other side of the
building with the assurance they wouldn’t disturb the men. Edward had
hesitantly conceded.
Just as the moon moved
out from behind the clouds, the light allowed him to see.
“Good God,” he gasped.
There was a wee woman
crying—no, howling—on the boulders by the loch. She must have been hurt, maybe
had gotten her leg caught between the rocks, and was
now crying out for help.
Edward ran at top speed
then stopped just a few feet from the boulders so as not to alarm the woman
curled up and cradling herself.
“Are you okay?” he
asked. “Miss, are you all right?”
No answer, but her sobbing turned softer.
“I don’t want to
frighten you, but I am going to join you on the boulders. Miss, can you hear
me?”
Still no answer.
He approached her with caution, thinking she might have
been attacked, that a man or an animal had hurt her. However,
something about the sound of her agony led him
to believe it wasn’t a physical pain, but something much deeper.
When Edward got closer,
all sounds stopped from the woman. That frightened him more than the thought of
ghosts.
Did he dare touch her? What if
this was another setup to make him look bad in the eyes of the world?
Edward pushed all
negative thoughts aside. He had to help her.
He touched the woman’s
cheek. Holy Mother of Mary, she was either frozen, or she had died before his
eyes.
“Miss …? Please, are you
okay?”
Bloody hell, I have to
get her warm, he thought.
Edward bent down and
checked for a pulse, breathing with a sense of relief when he realized she had
one. Next, he checked her body for
wounds, running his hand around her skull and
down her neck then checking his hands
continuously for blood. Nothing. Next, he ran his hands down each arm, her torso, and finally down each of her legs. She appeared not to be bleeding
or, by quick assessment, didn’t have any broken bones. His military training
had its rewards, one being he was efficient in field combat first-aid.
He gently lifted the
woman into his arms, which wasn’t an easy task since she was soaked to the
bone. He had a dilemma. His arms were full, and if he made any sound or someone
spotted him carrying a hurt woman, the press would explode and crucify him in
the tabloids.
Shaking off those
thoughts, he progressed carefully across the boulders; carried her quickly through the gardens; and, in
mere moments, was back at the inn.
He gently laid her down on the ground and searched for
his key.
Damn it to hell! He had forgotten to grab it.
He felt it before he
heard the words, a gun pressed against the back of his skull. Fuck, could this night get any
worse?
“Take your hand off the
door and back away from the woman.”
Edward released a
thankful breath.
“Liam, man, it’s me,
Edward,” he whispered.
“Jesus fucking Christ,”
Liam cursed. “I could have blown your fucking head off. What in God’s green
earth are you doing out here? And where the bloody hell did that woman come
from?”
“There is something
wrong, very wrong, with her,” Edward answered. “I think she’s hurt.”
Liam secured his weapon
in his chest holster, gave Edward the key to both suites, and then gently
lifted the woman into his arms. He had to wonder if Edward had dragged her body up from Loch Snizort. Had she
almost drowned, or had she been trying to commit suicide?
Whatever had happened to
this woman, Liam couldn’t even fathom. She was soaked and frozen. They needed
to get herinside,
and Edward out of sight.
Liam walked through
Edward’s suite and told him to unlock the connecting door into his own. Once
there, Liam laid the woman on the chesterfield. Even in an emergency, he had
enough sense to do his job and protect Edward first. He also had to consider
any gossip that could surround Edward, especially if anyone knew there was an
unconscious woman in their lodgings.
After re-establishing
she had a pulse, first-aid 101 stated she needed to be warmed up as quickly as
possible. Therefore, Liam instructed Edward to go into his closet and grab his
workout clothes, consisting of sweat pants, a T-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt.
Liam also wanted towels.
Liam looked down at the
girl and assessed her age to be mid- to late-twenties. She
looked like a drowned rat with herlong, dark hair hanging in wet clumps around her delicate, tiny face. Her bone structure was fine and reminded
him of a bird. Her skin was a grey colour, wrinkled, wet,
and goose bumps covered every inch. Her lips were
purple, and she had dark circles under her eyes that
made her look even younger. Liam noticed all
this as he started to remove her clothing.
He tried to give her as much dignity as he could, which
wasn’t an easy task when the jeans were so wet they clung toher like a second skin. Regardless, he finally
managed to peel the pants off along with a turquoise lace thong. The woman’s
lady bits were hairless, much like the slags from porn movies.
Liam, feeling a little
guilt and shame for noticing, and quickly averted his eyes, moving on to pull her coat and sweater off. As he did, he
couldn’t help noticing she had on a matching turquoise bra that he removed to
reveal her shapely breasts. What really knocked
the breath out of his lungs were the stretch marks and scars that lay all over her lower belly. This young woman was
someone’s mum, and it was his responsibility now to make sure she was reunited
with her loved ones.
Why was she alone, wet,
and nearly frozen to death? Where was her family?
Edward approached with
the items Liam had requested, but before he reached the girl, Liam stopped him.
“Throw the clothes and
wait until I cover her.”
“Really, Liam? Sod the
fuck off. She isn’t the first female I have seen naked.”
“But she is someone’s
mum, and if it were Raven, she would have been devastated by one strange man
seeing hernaked,
let alone two.”
At the mention of Raven,
Edward stopped dead in his tracks, tossed the clothing, and turned his back.
Liam very rarely mentioned Raven, so this meant something to him.
Liam worked quickly and
efficiently to warm and dress the mysterious woman. Now all tucked in the
chesterfield with his clothing swimming on her tiny frame
and blankets wrapped around her, she appeared to be resting peacefully.
Liam turned to Edward.
“Where did the lass come from? Who is she? And why did you not call me to give
assistance?”
Edward painstakingly
retold the tale of the last forty-five minutes, wondering why things always
happened to him.
Liam wouldn’t call the
authorities or Scotland Yard yet, not until they were certain the young woman
wanted or needed police help. He wanted Edward far away from whatever was going
on. Nevertheless, they would have to wait to get answers when she awoke.
Purchase Links:Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Under-Her-Wings-Sistas-Book-ebook/dp/B01GP453MY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1481036988&sr=8-4
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/under-her-wings-anne-marie-citro/1123892404?ean=9781533628183
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/under-her-wings-1
About the Author:
Contact Information:
Website: annemariecitro.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012775572222
Twitter: @AnneMarieCitro
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/amcitro/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30369363-under-her-wings?from_search=true
