If You Leave: The Beautifully Broken Series: Book 2 (40 page)

In the best-selling tradition of J. A. Redmerski, Jessica Sorensen, S. C. Stephens, and Jamie McGuire…

Twenty-four-year-old Pax Tate is an asshole. Seriously. He’s a tattooed, rock-hard bad boy with a tough attitude to match. His mother died when Pax was seven, leaving a hole in his heart filled with an intense guilt that he doesn’t understand. What he does know is that he and his dad were left alone, and they have never been close. Now he uses drugs and women to cope with the black void in his soul. He pretends that the emptiness isn’t there and this always works… until he meets Mila.

Sweet, beautiful Mila Hill is the fresh air that Pax has never known in his life. He doesn’t know how not to hurt her, but he quickly realizes that he’d better figure it out because he needs her to breathe. When the memories of his mother’s death resurface to haunt Pax, Mila is there to save him from his overwhelming guilt. Mila restores his broken heart, even as she evokes his powerful sexual desires. Now, for Pax to keep Mila, he needs to work on his issues—and stop being an asshole. But is that enough to make her stay?

*     *     *

Sometimes, one dark moment is all it takes to turn your world black…

For twenty-four-year-old Dominic Kinkaide, that moment took place on the night of his high school graduation. One dark incident changed him forever. He’s a hardened actor now, famous in the eyes of the world, but tortured in his own. He doesn’t care about much of anything, except for losing himself in the roles he plays.

Twenty-three-year-old Jacey Vincent doesn’t realize how much her father’s indifference has affected her. She is proof that sometimes it isn’t one specific moment that wrecks a person, but rather an absence of moments. She tries to find acceptance in the arms of random guys, one after the other… to fill the void that her father left in her.

Until she meets Dominic.

After jaded Dominic and strong-willed Jacey are thrown together, his secret and her issues create a dark and damaged energy that will soon turn their attraction to each other into an explosive storm.

The only question is: When the clouds have cleared and the dust has settled, will either of them be left standing?

*     *     *

If you loved
Beautiful Disaster
then you're ready to discover…

A rule-breaker with a fiery attitude, Ella always wore her heart on her sleeve. Then she left everything behind to go to college, where she transformed into someone who follows the rules, keeps everything together, and hides all her problems. Now it’s summer break and she has nowhere else to go but home. But once there, Ella fears that everything she’s worked so hard to bury might resurface—especially with Micha living right next door.

Smart, sexy, and confident, Micha can get under Ella’s skin like no one else. He knows everything about her, including her darkest secrets. If he tries to tempt the old Ella to return, he will be impossible to resist. But what Ella doesn’t realize is that when she left, she took a piece of Micha’s heart with her. Now he’s determined to win back the girl he lost, no matter what it takes.

*     *     *

From the bestselling author of
The Secret of Ella and Micha
comes a mesmerizing novel of fate, friendship, and the healing power of love…

For Kayden, suffering in silence was the only way to survive. If he was lucky he could keep his head down, do as he was told, and make it through the day. But one night it seemed like his luck—and his life—might finally end… until an angel named Callie appeared just in time to rescue him.

Callie has never believed in luck. Not since her twelfth birthday when everything was taken from her. After the worst was over, she locked up her feelings and vowed never to tell anyone what happened. Now, six years later, she continues to struggle with the painful secret that threatens to consume her.

When fate lands Kayden and Callie at the same college, Kayden is determined to get to know the beautiful girl who changed his destiny. Quiet and reserved, Callie still fears letting anyone else into her world. But Kayden is certain that Callie has come back into his life for a reason. And the more he tries to be a part of her life, the more he realizes that, this time, it's Callie who needs to be saved…

*     *     *

No one knows who twenty-one-year-old Adrian Westfall is behind his façade. After what he’s done, he deserves to live alone with his pain, even if he’d do anything to forget. Anything for a moment of quiet without his past haunting him.

Eighteen-year-old Delaney Cross wants nothing more than to absolve her family of her father’s sins. To keep her suicidal mom off that ledge, and help her brother Maddox get the light back in his eyes. She thinks their road to freedom is through Adrian.

Adrian and Delaney are bound together by tragedy… only Adrian doesn’t know it.

As their lives intertwine, they find a solace in each other they never knew existed. Laney knows she needs to tell him—to come out from behind her smoke screen—but to say the words could mean losing him.

Two people. Two disguises. True love.

Will it be enough to save them when all secrets are bared?

*     *     *

Sometimes life takes you off course…

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett thought she knew exactly where her life was going. But after a wild night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she shocks everyone—including herself—when she decides to leave the only life she’s ever known and set out on her own. Grabbing her purse and her cell phone, Camryn boards a Greyhound bus ready to find herself. Instead she finds Andrew Parrish.

Sexy and exciting, Andrew lives life like there is no tomorrow. He persuades Camryn to do things she never thought she would and shows her how to give in to her deepest, most forbidden desires. Soon he becomes the center of her daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But there is more to Andrew than Camryn realizes. Will his secret push them inseparably together—or destroy them forever?

*     *     *

Maddie Simcoe knows the devastation that comes from keeping secrets. Now she’s desperate to move on from the heartbreak that almost destroyed her—trading the wild passion that once made her knees weak for a life of comfortable stability. But before Maddie can start over, she must return home to put the past behind her once and for all…

When Maddie blows back into MJ Rocha’s life, nothing will stop him from proving to her that walking away from him was the biggest mistake of her life—not even the engagement ring she wears. Her every look, every touch tells MJ that the fire that once raged between them still burns hot, and MJ won’t give up until Maddie gives in to the inferno.

Trapped by a hurricane roaring through Turtle Tear Island, MJ and Maddie find shelter in each other’s arms. While the lightning flashes, MJ and Maddie are helpless to fight the bonds of desire that tie them together. But just as they’re about to surrender to the torturous longing that consumes them both, the storm unleashes violent secrets from MJ’s past… secrets that could wash away all MJ and Maddie’s hopes of forever…

If You Stay

“In
If You Leave
, we continue the wild ride Courtney Cole started us on in
If You Stay
. This raw story of heartbreak and hope solidifies Cole’s standing as a rising star in hot contemporary romance.”

—M. Leighton,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Down to You

“Another raw, gritty masterpiece with a sexy-as-hell Army Ranger to swoon over.”

—K. A. Tucker, author of
Ten Tiny Breaths

“Five stars—Love this bad boy who’s heart is pure gold!”

—Stuck In Books (stuckinbooks.com) on
If You Stay

To receive special offers, bonus content, and news about our latest ebooks and apps, sign up for our newsletters.