#ThrowbackThursday- Two Out of Three

In celebration of #ThrowbackThursday, I'd like to go back to the publication of my first contemporary romance!  Two Out of Three will always be one of my favorite stories about two flawed people and their toxic love.

He said that he needed her in his life...He swore that he wanted her more than he had ever wanted any woman...But love? That was never part of the bargain.

Sarah Deardon loved two things: Dancing and Vincent Allen. She struggled for years to become the best at the studio while nursing her crush. When a tragic accident destroys her dreams of dancing, Sarah turns her full attention to Mr. Allen and pursues him with the same relentless determination that she had used dancing. Vincent keeps her at bay, trying to let her get through high school and college, even putting an ocean between them. His absence opens the door for the sexy rebel Robert Stewart. With Robert in the picture, Sarah’s life takes a dramatic turn leading her across the country and back again. She seals her fate with a bargain and she finds herself torn between a life of stability and a passion that refuses to be denied.

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Excerpt:

With more determination that ever before, Sarah threw herself into her career. Always feeling the need to prove that she was better than her mother, she could make it in the world. Each day Sarah had appointments and photo sessions to go to, leaving Victoria in the care of Miss Chambers.

She battled rush hour traffic and the crowds of downtown Manhattan to reach the studios that were usually located on the upper floors of tall skyscrapers.  Once there, she was put through the torture of preparation and fittings for the winter season. While the rest of the population fought the soaring summer temperatures in their light weight clothes, Sarah was forced to stand under hot lights donning a fur coat or wool dress.

Hot and irritable, Sarah was often made to pose in the middle of Central Park, surrounded by fake snow in eighty degree weather. There were times that she was sure that she would faint before the photographer would get his shot.

As a model, Sarah was never comfortable. When it was below freezing, Sarah was posing in swimsuits. When it was one hundred degree out, Sarah would be photographed in furs. Oh! Modeling was hell!

Victoria became rather moody as the mother who had always been at her beckon call started drifting away and always seemed to be leaving her. She would cry and protest every morning when Sarah would prepare to go. “Momma, don't go! Stay and play!”

The musical twitter-like voice that chimed like bells when Victoria was happy, would raise to a siren-like wail when she was angry or denied what she wanted. Sarah tried to
reason with her daughter, but to no avail.

Every morning Victoria would cry, scream, and beg while Sarah tried to explain. The only result was that her pleas for understanding made her late every day, and according to Miss Chambers, as soon as Sarah was out of sight Victoria's tears would cease and she would go back to her usual agreeable self.

After one such episode, Sarah was pushing her way through the crowded sidewalks of New York. She was over twenty minutes late for her photo shoot; luckily, dressed in torn blue jeans, tee-shirt, and large sunglasses no one could recognize her and hold her up longer. She was able to move through the mob-like maze quickly, as she reached the doors of her destination another frenzied commuter walked into her. The impact caused her to drop her huge bag, the contents spilling out on the pavement.

“Damn!” Sarah exclaimed as she knelt to retrieve her strewn belongings. The stranger was on his knees as well, gathering her things before they were trampled by the crowd.

She lifted her face to thank her benefactor, when she did; she gazed into clear blue eyes, like the ocean or sky after a storm. Oh! She knew those eyes, eyes that could
turn emotionless so easily.

Oh God, she knew those eyes.  Her breath caught in her throat as she stared into the dangerous face of the man she hoped never to see again and yet, here he was, Rob.

Sarah’s heart began to pound loudly again the walls of her chest.  She feared that he would hear it and know her anxiety. Her body began to tingle from just the nearness of him.  She inhaled the scent of him as she removed her glasses. “Dear God!”

That crooked smiled that Sarah used to love came across his face, Rob's raspy voice played across the strings of her heart. “What? Didn't you miss me?”

Recovering from her original shock, Sarah snatched her things from his hands and shoved them into her bag. She was too aware of the electric sensation that run up her arm when their fingers touched.

Sarah couldn’t let herself get pulled in.  She glared at him, remembering all that he had put her through. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Don't tell me you thought that I'd lay down and die just because you left, you must have known that you'd see me again?” Rob asked with a bemused smile crossing his lips. “Didn't you miss me at all?”

Casting her eyes down, Sarah tried to fight the surge of emotions that were pulsating through her body again with just the closeness of him. “No, I had hoped that you would stay away.”

Rob stepped closer to her, “I'm never very far away from you Sarah.”

She blushed under his steady gaze, causing him to laugh rudely. “Don't flatter yourself, I didn't come here for you.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Sarah asked as indifferently as possible as she placed her glasses back on to hide her too revealing eyes.

“I'm here meeting with some agents,” Rob replied and stepped even closer so that Sarah could feel his breath on her cheek.  “But was that a note of disappointment I heard?”

Eager to escape, Sarah turned away and opened the door, looking back just once more. She was trying to memorize every detail of his face. “Yes, I had hoped that you were dead.”

Rob chuckled as she walked off, “You still don't lie worth a damn, Sarah.”

With that he walked off and mixed with the mass of people, Sarah stared after him from the shadows of the foyer, fighting the urge to run after him.

She had to force herself to look away, Sarah wanted to hate him, but deep inside she had been waiting for his return. Sarah engraved the memory in her mind, hoping to live on that one vision for the rest of her life. She knew that fate had given her one last chance to stare into the face of the love that could have been, should have been, and now could never be.