*~*The Silence Between Beats Promo – Excerpt & Giveaway*~*

Picking up the pieces of her shattered life after the tragic death of her dance partner, best friend, and lover is something Kate Olivier is determined to do – no matter how daunting it seems. Her only thought is to get out of New York and become “Kate” again after so many years of living up to the expectations of “Katya”. Tucked away in Roseford, Louisiana, dancing as the Principal Ballerina for SoLa Dance Company, the notion just may be possible.Falling in love again couldn’t be further from her mind.

And then Mac Carbonaro is hired as SoLa’s new physical therapist.

The way he looks at her, the way he touches her… it’s quite clearto Kate he’s interested in more than just her dance-related injuries. Moreimportantly though, Mac seems to have secrets he’s not willing to share.

With the pain of Stuart’s death so fresh on her mind, can Katetake a chance on love again?

I reach across the bed, seeking out Kate, but my hand is met with nothing but cold, rumpled sheets. My eyes adjust to the dark and scan the tiny apartment but they don’t register any lights or movement. I get up and step into my sweatpants, calling out her name a few times into the quiet darkness.I poke my head out of the door and see a faint light coming from the end of the hallway, along with the faintest hint of music. I assume it’s her, since it’s almost three in the morning. She’s the only person I know that would be up at this hour, dancing.

The melancholy music pulls me down the hallway. It’s haunting, heavy and hymn-like. I don’t want to disturb her but I have to get a glimpse of how she’s moving to the depressing sounds that are filling the air. I’ve never heard her dance to music arranged like this before.

I poke my head in the doorway and she takes my breath away. I see Kate dancing, raw, exposed, bleeding, torn apart. She’s splayed open, emotions pouring out for all to see. This is Kate. Not a character, not her dancing to someone else’s choreography.

And it breaks my fucking heart.

One dark song bleeds into another. She’s entranced by the music, lost in a place I can only assume has to do with our discussion of Stewart earlier. I turn off the music coming from the small Bluetooth speaker in the corner, startling her and halting her movement.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asks, wiping an errant tear from her flushed cheek.

Swallowing down my own, pushing down the emotion I can’t quite get a grip right now, I answer her. “Long enough. Come to bed.”

“I need to dance right now,” she says, walking back over to her phone to turn the music back on.

I tug at her wrist, pulling her in for a kiss. I need my mouth on hers. I let my desperation bleed through. I give her a greedy, messy, hard kiss that has her chest heaving just as hard as mine by the time she pulls away.

“And I need you to come to bed right now.”

“Okay,” she exhales, as if she was going to be able to say no after I kissed her like that.

She lets me lead her back down the hallway and into the apartment. I don’t bother with lights, words, or foreplay. I need Kate, and I can’t wait a second longer. Walking us straight to the bed, I strip us both down and plunge into her tight, wet body.

We don’t say anything. There’s nothing either one of us could say to right now that could bring comfort after our emotional day. I can tell she’s struggling after today’s events. Hell, I am, too. I don’t know how to heal us with anything but this. With a slow and steady rhythm, I move in and out of her, keep my eyes and mouth on her, and hope it’s enough.

Her gentle hands resting on my face, her misty eyes looking into mine, and her erratic breathing tells me it’s more than enough.

It’s everything.

“Mac,” she whispers, closing her gray eyes.

“Shh,” I tell her, wiping her falling tears, angling my body to get her to that place she needs to be.

I love you leaves her mouth with the exhale of a shaky breath.

She shudders underneath my body, her quiet, slow release prompting my own. I groan her name into her shoulder, biting down on it, then soothing it with an open mouth kiss.

“I love you, too, little bird.”