{"id":2822,"date":"2014-12-15T22:19:30","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T22:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/?p=2822"},"modified":"2019-12-21T16:05:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T16:05:50","slug":"beautiful-beloved-cover-reveal-excerpt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/2014\/12\/beautiful-beloved-cover-reveal-excerpt\/","title":{"rendered":"BEAUTIFUL BELOVED cover reveal and excerpt!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s almost here! Max &amp; Sara and their beautiful bundle of joy are ready to fill your e-reader full of swoon, sweet and of course a lot of steam on February 2nd, perhaps enough to make you visit an adult site like <a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youngsexer.com\/\">young sexer<\/a> when you&#8217;re finished with the book. Will Bennett be there? Will? OF COURSE! But get ready because the star of our 4th full-length novel (Beautiful Secret April 14th) makes a special appearance as well&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Preorder links:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hmhb.org\/\">HMHB.org\/<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/slovonevorobei.ru\/avtomatysvyvodom\/\">avtomatysvyvodom<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1suAliZ\">Amazon<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link barnes_and_noble\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/beautiful-beloved-christina-lauren\/1119883913?ean=9781476791654\">Barnes &amp; Noble<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link itunes\"><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/book\/beautiful-beloved\/id894623296?mt=11\">iTunes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link kobo_books\"><a href=\"http:\/\/store.kobobooks.com\/en-US\/ebook\/beautiful-beloved\">Kobo Books<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link google_play\"><a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Christina_Lauren_Beautiful_Beloved?id=XH4wBAAAQBAJ&amp;hl=en\">Google Play<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_ca\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Beautiful-Beloved-The-Series-ebook\/dp\/B00LD1OHD6\">Amazon.ca<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_co_uk\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Beautiful-Beloved-The-Series-ebook\/dp\/B00LD1M76U\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Chapter One<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Max<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The dishes were done, the flat tidied, and Sara had begun to sing quietly to our little miss in the nursery. I said a simple prayer to the god of sleeping children, because on her way in there, Sara had given me the look.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>don\u2019t fall asleep before I come to bed<\/em> look.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>I\u2019m still not over the sight of our baby sleeping on your naked chest<\/em> look.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>you\u2019re getting very, extremely laid<\/em> look.<\/p>\n<p>I fucking loved my life.<\/p>\n<p>Across the room on the coffee table, my phone lit up with a call. Going over and seeing whose name flashed across the screen, I broke out in a massive smile.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve called the happiest bloke on the planet,\u201d I told my brother, in lieu of a proper greeting.<\/p>\n<p>I was met with a heavy pause of silence, and then: \u201cIt\u2019s impossible for you to be smugger.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrue. But make it quick. I\u2019m about to be ravaged by the natives.\u201d Sweet mother Mary it seemed like it\u2019d been forever since we\u2019d had anything more than a quick grope en route to passing out from exhaustion. I was even considering doing some extensive stretching first.<\/p>\n<p>My youngest brother, Niall, laughed. \u201cIn that case, I hope you survive the night because I\u2019m coming to visit next week and I\u2019d be terribly disappointed to miss the Max Stella tour you\u2019ve promised all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrilliant!\u201d I smacked the table with my palm. This night kept getting better. The promise of sex two nights in a row with my gorgeous wife and a visit from my brother next week. \u201cAbsolutely, bloody brilliant.\u201d I hadn\u2019t seen Niall since the last time I went home, over a year ago, and he\u2019d been too busy to visit much. \u201cWork letting you out, then?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore or less.\u201d He paused. \u201cRight. That\u2019s it, then, just letting you know. I\u2019m coming to visit little Annabel, not you lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laughing, I said, \u201cUnderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll arrive on Tuesday. Leaving Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I noted the rest of the details and rang off before heading to find Sara to share the news.<\/p>\n<p>The singing had stopped, and to my complete lack of surprise, I found my beautiful wife asleep in the rocking chair beside the crib, with the baby in her arms. I pulled the little Beloved away from her mum, swaddled her up, and placed her in the crib. Although until recently, Annabel generally slept in stretches of only two or three hours, at least we could put her to bed beside a brass band and she wouldn\u2019t rouse.<\/p>\n<p>I suspected we wouldn\u2019t be as lucky with the next one.<\/p>\n<p>Next one?<\/p>\n<p>I blinked, feeling slightly mad for having this thought. It was only in the past two weeks that we were getting any sort of decent sleep at all.<\/p>\n<p>With the baby taken care of, I crossed the room to wake Sara. Her eyes drew open just as I reached her, and she inhaled deeply, blinking up at me. \u201cOh. I fell asleep.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I crouched in front of her, using my thumb to move a strand of hair off her face. \u201cI don\u2019t think you were supposed to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo, I was going to get you naked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s still an option.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sara took my hand and stood, pulling me after her out of the nursery and down the hall. \u201cWhat were you thinking, just standing there looking down at me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust feeling rather in love with my life, is all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, I fell asleep wondering whether our second will be as good a sleeper as our first.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She glanced over her shoulder at me with a grin, and I gaped at her, eyes wide and incredulous. How could she know the exact thought had crossed my mind only minutes before?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou call Anna a <em>good sleeper<\/em>?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has been lately,\u201d she clarified. \u201cWe just had to give her time to grow into it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I watched Sara\u2019s hair slide over her shoulders as she turned back and shook her head. Her hair was longer now, thicker, and the way it slid across her skin made me want to gather it into a ball, hold it in my fist, and fuck her over the side of the bed.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, but it had been forever since we\u2019d done anything as rough as that.<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed, closed my eyes, and attempted to steady my hunger when she sat on the edge of the mattress and slowly slid her thighs apart.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve lost your mind,\u201d I said with a grin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProbably true.\u201d Her sexy little shrug told me she was only half serious, and a naughty playfulness lingered beneath the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Stepping between her legs, I helped her pull her tank top over her head and guided her onto her back so I could slide her thin cotton shorts down and off.<\/p>\n<p><em>Slow, Max.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>My mind frenzied with thoughts of pushing her thighs to her chest, biting my way down her torso, sucking and spanking the sweetness between her legs until she screamed so loud it shook the walls. Instead, I kissed her navel, her hip, moving my mouth to her ribs and then up higher to the firm swell of her breasts. They were already full, and growing tight the longer the baby slept. I bent, sucking at the pink flush of her nipples.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you really love to look at them so much?\u201d Her voice dropped slightly. \u201cYou like the taste?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I loved her body like this, but I didn\u2019t know how to truly admit it. I loved her hips, her breasts. Loved to watch her feed our baby and come curl around me after. It felt like every fucking thing in the world had come together with the arrival of our daughter. But it still felt a bit shameful to want her body to stay this way after what had admittedly been a tough labor.<\/p>\n<p>I shifted forward carefully, pressing my cock through my boxers into the warm skin between her legs.<\/p>\n<p>Sara pulled me down over her and slid her mouth down my neck. \u201cIs it weird that I want to stay like this?\u201d she asked as I spread my hand over her hip. \u201cTo fill this home of ours with little ankle biters?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I laughed into her shoulder. \u201cSleep deprivation is eating your brain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know you want a big family,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve never been more in love with you than when I\u2019ve seen you be a daddy . . .\u201d She noticed where my attention had gone, to the firm swell of her breast again, my mouth closing over her nipple. \u201cThey get full like this . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I kissed my way up to her neck. \u201cThey provide me with a rather spiritual experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo you do like my body right now?\u201d she whispered.<\/p>\n<p>There was a delicate edge to her voice, a vulnerability that shocked me. Sara knew I loved her body, every inch of her perfect, soft skin.<\/p>\n<p><em>Didn\u2019t she?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I pulled back to look at her. \u201cI fucking love your body. And I love how happy motherhood has made you. I like how you seem rather blissful lately.\u201d Bending, I spoke into the warm space between her breasts: \u201cI also like how ripe your tits are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She took a handful of my hair and pulled me back, laughing. \u201cFinally, he admits it!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her brow furrowed a little as she studied my face, warm brown eyes moving to take in every aspect of my expression.<\/p>\n<p>Sara often studied me like this: quietly, earnestly. She ran a fingertip across my chin, her eyes trained on my lips. \u201cI just want you to not worry so much,\u201d she whispered. \u201cI want more babies\u2014maybe not right away, but someday\u2014and when I say that, I see terror in your eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I swallowed around the heavy lump in my throat. \u201cIt\u2019s not as hard on my body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy body seems to be weathering it fine. I\u2019m going back to work soon. Look at us. We <em>did<\/em> it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I bent, tasting her skin again. Kissing her stomach.<\/p>\n<p>She pulled me up, whispered in my ear, \u201cTell me you didn\u2019t love having your baby in here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Laughing, I admitted, \u201cShe was certainly easier to take care of all tucked away in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She looked back up at my face as I shifted over her, spreading her thighs with my knee and settling there, growing tighter at the feel of her, soft and warm, beneath me. \u201cAll right, love?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Her breaths were already coming faster, short bursts against my neck, her hands sliding lower over my back to push my boxers down my hips. \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I slipped my finger into her mouth, wetting it against her tongue before bringing it between us to touch her. I hummed, rubbing myself on her thigh. \u201cYou sure? You\u2019re not sore?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She stared up at me, expression shifting into one I couldn\u2019t quite read. \u201cI\u2019m <em>sure<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe made love last night, too. I don\u2019t want to hurt you,\u201d I explained.<\/p>\n<p>She closed her eyes, pulling my head into her neck. \u201cI know, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I slid in, slow, and pressed my mouth to her jaw, groaning.<\/p>\n<p>Each time . . . each fucking time I was sure I would never get used to the feel of her. Her nails dug into my back as she let out a relieved moan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChrist, Petal. You\u2019re heaven beneath me.\u201d Cupping her breast in one hand, I squeezed, relishing the slide of milk on my palm. \u201cFuck,\u201d I managed. \u201c<em>Fucking hell<\/em> . . .\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a new thing,\u201d she whispered, scratching her nails down my back.<\/p>\n<p>I clenched my jaw, fighting the admission that wanted to burst free. \u201cI bloody love them like this. I\u2019m sorry\u2014I know they\u2019re mostly a drag for you\u2014but fuck, Petal. I love your tits like this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I felt her still beneath me and stopped moving so I could pull back and look at her face.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat?\u201d I asked. \u201cWhat did I say?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She didn\u2019t look upset, just a funny mix of disappointed and amused. Sliding her legs up my sides, she whispered,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince when do you have to give me a disclaimer?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smiling, I bent and kissed her sweet, full lips. My heart was beating a little too fast; I still wasn\u2019t sure what I\u2019d done wrong.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don\u2019t have to apologize for being turned on by that,\u201d she whispered into my mouth. \u201cI miss seeing you lost in me, and unapologetic about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My immediate instinct was to <em>show<\/em> her how lost I really was: to lift her arms over her head, pound into her, and relish the sight of her breasts moving below me, relish their weight and the spike of lust I felt when they leaked onto my skin. But instead, I began to slowly move above her, making sure to ease her pleasure from her with every draw of my body inside hers.<\/p>\n<p>She grabbed my ass, urged me faster and harder, and I tried to give her more but it was almost like something newly hardwired in me with every shift forward:<\/p>\n<p><em>Take it easy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Take it slow.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Take it easy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Take it slow.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d had sex many times in the months since the baby was born, but it hadn\u2019t yet returned to the wild days of before, with fucking on the kitchen table or the floor, or sweaty and reckless play in the club. Those days we\u2019d had spanking and bondage. Those days I\u2019d taken her in every manner imaginable, sometimes with strangers watching, sometimes with only my video camera as witness. Once I\u2019d bit her shoulder so hard she\u2019d bled and it nearly made her savage with excitement.<\/p>\n<p>Before\u2014and during\u2014her pregnancy, it never occurred to me how <em>fragile<\/em> she was.<\/p>\n<p>And then she\u2019d had my baby: nearly nine pounds and over twenty-four hours of hard labor. For two months after Annabel came, we\u2019d stumbled our way through new parenting, fallen in love with our daughter, fallen in love all over again with each other, and found tiny winks of sleep whenever we could. Eventually, we\u2019d also found ways to be carefully intimate with hands and mouths, playful with words and toys.<\/p>\n<p>Then, nearly two months ago now, Sara said she was ready to make love again.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d been terrified at first, but one kiss led to another, and soon I\u2019d been harder than I could remember being in weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The sound she made when I pushed into her would forever echo in my thoughts. It was a broken sound, the sharp, surprised cry of pain. I\u2019d immediately stopped, and although she swore she felt no pain now, I couldn\u2019t help but feel I was handling her differently: being careful with a treasure I\u2019d only recently discovered could be broken.<\/p>\n<p>We had yet to return to the club.<\/p>\n<p>We had yet to even pull out the camera for anything other than pictures of our daughter.<\/p>\n<p>We had yet to have sex that did anything more than rustle the sheets, let alone break furniture.<\/p>\n<p>But here, in our bed, with her beneath me, and making her hungry, gasping little noises, her words echoed in my head\u2014<em>pounding<\/em>\u2014each one like a mallet hitting a drum.<\/p>\n<p><em>I miss seeing you lost in me, and unapologetic about it.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>She was letting me be gentle. She was patiently waiting for it to sink in that she\u2019d asked for more, for real sex, again and again.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019d say, <em>Do you want to make a movie tonight?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>No, Petal, it\u2019s enough just to feel you.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Do you ever miss the club?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>No, Petal, I love being right here where we are, with our baby asleep down the hall.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>You really like to look at them like this? You like the taste?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d wanted to make things easy for her. I\u2019d wanted her to feel safe and cherished. I closed my eyes, absorbed by the paradoxical sensations of relief when Sara began to quietly come beneath be, and heartache in the realization that somewhere along the line, I had forgotten what she needed.<\/p>\n<p>****<\/p>\n<p>DUN DUN DUUNNN!! Oh, watching Max &amp; Sara figure this all out was so fun for us!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/books\/beautiful-beloved\/\">Beautiful Beloved<\/a> hits an e-reader near you (and that includes Kindle, iTunes, Nook etc etc apps for smart phones\/tablets\/computers) on February 2nd!<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li class=\"store-link amazon\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/1suAliZ\">Amazon<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link barnes_and_noble\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/beautiful-beloved-christina-lauren\/1119883913?ean=9781476791654\">Barnes &amp; Noble<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link itunes\"><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/book\/beautiful-beloved\/id894623296?mt=11\">iTunes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link kobo_books\"><a href=\"http:\/\/store.kobobooks.com\/en-US\/ebook\/beautiful-beloved\">Kobo Books<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link google_play\"><a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Christina_Lauren_Beautiful_Beloved?id=XH4wBAAAQBAJ&amp;hl=en\">Google Play<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_ca\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Beautiful-Beloved-The-Series-ebook\/dp\/B00LD1OHD6\">Amazon.ca<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_co_uk\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Beautiful-Beloved-The-Series-ebook\/dp\/B00LD1M76U\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And don&#8217;t forget! Niall Stella&#8217;s turn to take the stage is next, in our 4th full-length Beautiful novel, Beautiful Secret out April 14th!<\/p>\n<ul class=\"list-inline\">\n<li class=\"store-link amazon\"><a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/VcGmm9\">Amazon<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link itunes\"><a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/book\/beautiful-secret\/id895642964?mt=11\">iTunes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link kobo_books\"><a href=\"http:\/\/store.kobobooks.com\/en-US\/ebook\/beautiful-secret\">Kobo Books<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_ca\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Beautiful-Secret-The-Series-ebook\/dp\/B00LHA1HHW\/ref=pd_sim_kinc_2?ie=UTF8&amp;refRID=14CVHKNRPF42ZHED4F15\">Amazon.ca<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"store-link amazon_co_uk\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Beautiful-Secret-Christina-Lauren-ebook\/dp\/B00LH9Z986\/ref=la_B009XCC1L2_1_9?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1407464814&amp;sr=1-9\">Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>XOXO!!<\/p>\n<figure class=\"image-inline alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/signature_laurenandchristina_zps921380ce.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/signature_laurenandchristina_zps921380ce.png\" alt=\"signature_laurenandchristina_zps921380ce\" width=\"300\" height=\"144\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s almost here! Max &amp; Sara and their beautiful bundle of joy are ready to fill your e-reader full of swoon, sweet and of course a lot of steam on&nbsp;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[201,1],"tags":[203,453,245,92,451,469],"class_list":["post-2822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-announcements","category-uncategorized","tag-beautiful-bastard","tag-beautiful-beloved","tag-cover-reveal","tag-excerpt-2","tag-max-stella","tag-novella"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/9781476791654.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4468,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2822\/revisions\/4468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinalaurenbooks.com\/Clo2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}