Blog Tour: Excerpt from SHAME by Rachel Van Dyken
Everything done in darkness, will eventually be brought into the light.
I ran, but all it did was keep me one step ahead of my past. I tried to start over; new name, new identity. But you can't change your soul.
A fresh start at college was just what I needed. For a while, it worked. I was the party girl, the one that seemed confident, but it was a lie.
When guys kissed me--I felt only pain.
When they touched me--Nothing but fear.
Deep inside, every girl wants to be the beauty in the story, to find someone that will see you as their world.
But the truth? I was the beast. And as much as I wanted redemption, I wasn't fool enough to think I'd ever get it.
Until he walked into my life.
I wasn't prepared to fall for someone. My scars were too deep, the wounds too raw. But he offered me peace, he offered me security. I should have known it was just another lie--I should have known that falling in love with my professor was a bad idea. But I was powerless to stop myself from falling. And he was powerless to catch me.
Because the darkness finally caught up to me, and as fate would have it, a cruel twist almost bled me dry. But I'm stronger than I knew. I'm stronger than you think.
You think you know my story, but you don't....after all everyone has Shame in their lives-- and I'm no longer afraid to show you mine.
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It was hard to explain the way he spoke to me; at times he
was flirtatious and well… happy. Other times? It seemed like he was fighting
another side of himself, one that was more reserved, uptight, controlled. And
if you were to ask me which side scared me the most? I’d say both. Because both
sides were dangerous to me — both pushed a person like me past the point of no
return. His seriousness made me curious; his flirtation made me want more.
“Just dinner?” I asked. “Isn’t that against the rules?”
“Yeah, well…” He glanced down briefly before flashing a
sensual smile, his eyes dilating. “…it seems to be an impulse I can’t really
control around you.”
“Control’s overrated, you label-making fool.”
At that he laughed, a rich chuckle that had my entire body
relaxing and heating at the same time. I took a step toward him and smiled.
“So, rule-breaker, where are we going?”
He grabbed his messenger bag and keys. “You’ll see.”
“Cryptic.” My eyebrows arched as I crossed my arms over my
chest. “This isn’t going to turn into one of those six o‘clock news things
where the crazy professor takes the girl out then buries her in the woods, is
it?” I tried to sound like I was joking, but the minute the words left my
mouth, it was no longer funny. Suddenly, I realized how stupid it would be to
go with him. I knew nothing about him, nothing at all!
He smiled, tilting his head toward me. “Why am I getting the
sudden urge to pull out a list of character references?”
“Because I just scared myself,” I admitted out loud.
“You want my social security number?” He winked. “Credit
score? First grade class photo? Oh, and by the way, in first grade I was
nominated most likely to own a pet store… so, if you aren’t okay with that, we
probably shouldn’t continue this.”
“This?”
“Dinner.”
“Because you liked pets?”
“I wanted to own a lizard farm.”
I covered my mouth with my hands and nodded solemnly. “All
little boys have dreams.”
“A bully crushed mine when he told me lizard farms don’t
exist.” He shook his head. “In second grade I was voted least likely to
succeed, on account that I didn’t speak for the entire year.”
“Why’s that?” I took another step toward him.
He took another step in my direction and shrugged. “It took
me a while to get over the lizards.”
“So you stopped speaking?”
“It was more of me trying to make the public aware of my
outrage.”
“Ah, like lizard strike.”
“I made shirts.”
“Tell me, professor, is that when the label-making started?”
“No.” He nodded toward the door and started walking. I
followed, genuinely interested in what he was going to say and hating that it
was possible he was stringing me along only to go all cold-crazy-psycho on me
again. “That was an entirely different situation.” He pulled the door open.
“What? No more stories?” I asked.
“Dinner.” He shrugged, his eyes a stormy gray. “I’ll tell
you at dinner.”
“Bribery.”
“My trump card. Label-maker stories. You know, I do actually
know how to romance a woman.”
“Well...” I cleared my throat and broke eye contact. “…since
I’m your student, I’ll just take your word for it.”
“Right,” he said quickly then repeated, “Right, shall we?”
“Lead the way.” I forced a smile and tried to remember that
this was dinner, nothing romantic, just my very sexy professor once again
apologizing for being a jackass during class.
Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street
Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances.
When she's not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and
plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.
She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir
Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing
journey at www.rachelvandykenauthor.com
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