The Lost Years (The Guardians Book 4) (21 page)

“What? No way!” Rachel snapped. “I wouldn’t trade that time for anything. I loved getting to know you.”

“Rachel Harwood!” Gabe exclaimed . He loved the sound of her married name as it rolled of his tongue. “I was all over the place, you can’t be serious. One minute I was nice to you and the next a complete ass.”

“Well—” Rachel began with a grin. “Yeah, you could be an ass. But that roller coaster we were on was quite exciting.”

“I suppose it was,” Gabe relented, the memories rushing over him like warm bath water.

Quiet loomed in the room. Both were comfortable with it, content with the intimacy of their bodies just being near one another. Their breathing was in perfect sync.

Several minutes went by like this, until Rachel decided a question was pressing enough to ask. “Do you think we’ll find it?”

“What?” Gabe asked before it dawned on him what she was inquiring about. “The crown?”

Rachel nodded, looking up at him with her oversized brown eyes.

“Yes, I know we will.”

“How can you be so confident?”

“Because I love you. If we need The Guardians Crown for us to be safe, then that’s what we will get,” Gabe replied, no doubt in his voice.

“I love you, too,” Rachel whispered.

Arching her back, she used the momentum to sit up, slipping off the robe that had been secured around her curvy body a moment ago.

“Oh, my,” Gabe snarled, raising one eyebrow.

“Shut up and kiss me,” Rachel commanded, wrapping her arms and legs around his torso.

When his lips touched hers, she stiffened, their passionate kissing causing her to moan. He took advantage of her open lips, easing his tongue into her mouth slowly, exploring a moment before thrusting it deeper. Pulling back, he caught her lower lip between his teeth and tugged gently. She squealed in delight.

In the next moment, Gabe leaned forward, causing Rachel to fall back onto the bedding. His embrace wandered, his fingertips exploring the crevices of her body. She sighed heavily, moving into his touch. His stomach pressed against hers as her back arched in pleasure, his hands dancing around her inner thighs.

Moving inward with great intensity, his pulse maddened her, the pace keeping her guessing as to his next move. Pressing his lips against her ear, he reaffirmed with a whisper, “We’ll find the crown because I can’t lose you.”

As always, there’s a team that makes my books what they are:

To my cover artist, Claudia Lucia McKinney of Phatpuppy Creations.

A huge thank you goes out to my editor who helped make this book better, Chelsea Kuhel. And also I want to thank Ashley for the first run through of the book.

A shout out to Fictional Formats for another amazing job, my book would be ugly without you.

And lastly, thank you to all my fans who have continued on reading the series. You have given me the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream.

Wendy Owens was raised in the small college town of Oxford, Ohio. After attending Miami University, Wendy went on to a career in the visual arts. After several years of creating and selling her own artwork, she gave her first love, writing, a try.

Since 2011, she has published a young adult paranormal series, The Guardians, which will contain five books total.

Wendy now happily spends her days writing—her loving dachshund, Piper, curled up at her feet. When she’s not writing, she can be found spending time with her tech geek husband and their three amazing kids, exploring the city she loves to call home: Cincinnati, OH.

The Guardians Complete Series

Book One
Sacred Bloodlines

Book Two
Cursed

Book Three
The Prophecy

Book Four
The Lost Years

Book Five
The Guardians Crown

Stubborn Love
is her debut New Adult novel.

For more info on Wendy’s novels visit:

http://wendy-owens.com
/

If you want to follow her on social media, you can visit:

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/WendyLOwens