Teaser Tuesday: All Falls Down

Happy Teaser Tuesday!

Excerpt

Home.

I glance around, sighing at the crush of people jogging down the concourse. Airports are always the same, and yet, I find this one more stressful than most. San Francisco. It's loud and crowded, and I'm not sure I want to be here.

I have no choice.

Securing the strap of my bag over my shoulder, I start pushing through the throng rushing off to make connecting flights. An elbow jabs me in the ribs, catching the edge of fading bruises and barely healed surgical wounds. I hiss, intense shards of pain ricocheting through me.

"Sorry," a lady says, trying to squeeze past me. Her elbow jabs me again.

"It's fine," I mumble, fighting not to fall to my knees and cry.

The woman and her rolling suitcase trod on my foot before finally breaking clear. She rushes off without another backward glance.

"Welcome home, Savannah," I mutter when the pain subsides, making my way toward the entrance of the airport, praying Katrina Talbot hasn't forgotten me in the chaos and tragedy currently consuming her life. Guilt worms through me at the thought, but I can't help being selfish.

I desperately want a bath, a bed, and a few hours of silence. None of which are available on international flights. I feel dirty in a way only breathing recycled air for hours on end can accomplish.

You are dirty, inside and out, a little voice whispers in the back of my mind, taunting me.

Fighting down the tears threatening to spill over at the reminder, I focus on Katrina instead.

Poor Kit.

She's my age—only twenty-one—and her father is dead.

I don't even know how it happened, but my heart aches. Matthew Talbot was always so good to me. It's hard to imagine that he's really gone, dead at the age of forty-nine. I want to cry for Kit and her sisters, Lexi and Madeline.

Lexi is only three years older than me and Kit. How's she supposed to run a global nonprofit like Talbot International? Or raise an eleven-year-old child?

I'm horrible enough to envy her a little.

Lexi has a place in the world. A purpose. I'm just...here.

I shake my head, refusing to dwell on that fact, and weave my way through the airport. When I make it to baggage claim, I'm once again jabbed in the ribs by a wayward elbow. The weight of my carry-on unbalances me this time, and I pitch forward with a muttered expletive, grabbing for the first thing I can to keep myself upright.

"Oof!"

"I'm sorry," I mutter, slamming into a hard chest. The attached body stumbles backward a step. "So sorry," I say again when he reaches out to steady me.

His fingers brush roughly across my bruises. A painful cry bursts from my lips, intense pain shooting through me again. I jerk away from the fiery burn as much as from his hands.

The stranger snatches his hands back like I've scalded him.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I glance up and blink through the fog of pain, my answer dying on my lips when I catch sight of him.

The man is absolutely gorgeous, dressed in a suit and tie that are doing things for him that should be illegal. He towers over me, lean and muscular. Dark blond hair falls across his forehead, ending right before the most beautiful jade colored eyes I've ever seen. His lips are full, kissable. And his jaw is chiseled perfection beneath a day's worth of stubble...My fingers actually twitch to reach out and stroke it.

My stomach flips when his eyes meet mine. They're cool. Not unfriendly, but surprised, and I can't look away.

One dark brow arches when I continue to stand there, gaping at him.

"I'm...sorry," I manage to choke out, mortified to be caught staring so openly. I start to spin away when he reaches out and grasps my arm. His fingers are long, his nails perfectly manicured.

"Savannah Martin?" His voice is warm honey—rich, smooth, low.

My stomach flips again.

"Ah, yes?" I squeak, amazed that this beautiful man knows my name.

"You're Savannah Martin?"

"Yes?" I'm not sure why I'm asking instead of telling, but I can't seem to stop. He's completely thrown me, and he's still staring at me with those eyes…. I clear my throat and try again. "Yes, that's me." The words sound throaty, breathless, but at least they're not a squeak this time.

His questioning expression morphs into...I'm not sure, honestly. But it's fascinating. And intimidating.

My stomach flutters.

"I'm Jared Corbit."

"O–kay?" I wrack my brain, trying to place the name. I've never heard it before that I can remember. It's a nice name though. It fits him.

"Katrina Talbot sent me?" he says, aggravation sweeping through his expression.

"Oh!" I blink up at him. "Okay. I didn't realize–"

He brushes me off, irritated. "Do you have any additional luggage?"

"One?"

Again he arches a brow and I silently curse myself for sounding so uncertain.

God, what is wrong with me?

Oh right. He's stunning and very much here and I'm...me.

"I have one bag," I say, my heart slamming uncomfortably against my ribcage. "Carousel Four."

He nods coolly and turns on his heel. I follow behind, enthralled both by the way he walks and the fact that people move out of his way without even looking up. They just seem to instinctively know he's there and don't want to get in his way. And his rear–

I choke and jerk my eyes upward when he glances back at me. Something close to amusement flickers through his expression, his lips turning up at the corners. The flash of emotion is gone before I can even be sure it is amusement though.

"Which is yours?" he asks, gesturing toward the carousel.

"Oh, um…" I whip my head in that direction just in time to see my bag disappearing around the back of the conveyor belt. I wait until it appears again to point it out to him. "That one."

He steps forward to claim it. "Ready?" he asks.

All Falls Down is FREE for all mailing list subscribers. Or you can get it for .99 on Amazon! 

About the Book:

"Ayden K Morgen spins an emotional, heart gripping tale of love, mystery and deceit. Her words flow like water—beautiful and sustaining." - Melanie Moreland, NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author

"Ayden writes an all-consuming love that these two embark on while Jared helps Savannah work through the ghosts that terrify her." -Sarah Reads from Reading in Sarah's Corner

When Savannah Martin walks in on her abusive boyfriend and her best friend in bed together, she thinks life can't possibly get any worse. And then she wakes up in a hospital in Italy, scared and alone. With nowhere left to go, Savannah runs to the family who took her in when her mother abandoned her as a teenager.

But things aren't as simple as they were then.

For starters, two years of constant emotional abuse has broken Savannah in ways she's not sure can be repaired. And patriarch Matthew Talbot has been murdered, leaving his eldest daughter, Lexi, in charge of a global non-profit and her younger sisters.

Jared Corbit, Lexi's gorgeous boyfriend, is the only thing standing between her and whoever murdered her father. That doesn't stop Savannah from falling in love with him. She knows it's wrong, but she just can't stay away from him when he makes he feel like no one else ever has before.

Finding out his relationship with Lexi is a ruse should make things easier, but when the truth is finally revealed, Savannah's fragile world threatens to fall apart. There's a murderer on the loose, and he's gunning for the only family she has. To save their lives, she and Jared will be forced to make a decision that just might destroy her completely.