Good morning everyone! Today I have the awesome and super talented
Kyra Lennon visiting to kick off her Sidelined Blog Tour with a deleted scene from Game On (!!) and a fabulous Rafflecopter Giveaway.
Over to you, Kyra ...
Hey everyone! Thanks to Clare for letting me take over your blog today!
The following snippet was written originally as part of a Game On epilogue
before I decided to turn the book into a series. What happens here is relevant
to Sidelined, because the revelation in this part comes up at the start of
Sidelined, and the “after effects” of the news will ripple through the last two
books. The reason I’m sharing it is because I think it’s a good glimpse into
what happened to Leah and Radleigh after Game On. It COULD be considered a bit
spoiler-y for those who haven’t read Game On, but the book has been out for two
years now, so I’m hoping you’ll forgive me LOL! The other reason I wanted to
share it is because it seemed a shame to waste a perfectly good scene – it
needed a home, and that home is right here!
It was midday when I arrived back in LA, my new home, though as far as I was
concerned it was eight in the evening. I'd been asleep for hours but I was
still exhausted, and when I saw Radleigh and he wrapped his arms tightly around
me, all I could think about was going to bed and sleeping beside him.
He drove me home, and I tried to revive myself enough to have a conversation
with him but seeing how tired I was, he didn't push me too hard. When we got
in, I managed to swallow a cup of coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich before
passing out in bed.
When I woke up, it was dark, and when I looked at the clock, it told me it
was one-thirty a.m. Radleigh was fast asleep beside me. The glow from the lamp
outside cast light over him and he looked…. perfect. I felt bad for having been
asleep practically from the moment he had collected me from the airport, and I
leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek. He didn't stir though, and I
didn't want to wake him just because I had finally regained consciousness so I
carefully climbed out of bed and quietly made my way downstairs to the kitchen
to satisfy my rumbling stomach. I'd barely eaten anything all day, and I knew
if I didn't find something soon, I would keel over.
I had a rummage through the cupboards and the fridge, before striking gold
when I searched the freezer. Pulling out a box of two frozen pizzas, I almost
laughed out loud when I found another box underneath. Hurriedly unwrapping them
all, I put them in the oven to cook, then found a bag of crisps to munch and a
bottle of water to drink while I waited.
I was truly ravenous.
Taking my snacks into the living room, I turned the lights on and sat down
on one of the big, black leather sofas. Looking around at the décor, the
hardwood floor, the gigantic television on the wall, games consoles gathered in
the corner, I thought for about the millionth time that this really was a
bachelor pad. There wasn't a part of me that wanted to change it though. I
loved it the way it was. It would take a while for me to relax enough to treat
the place as if it were my own, but I'd get used to it eventually.
And now it is mine.
Reality began to crash over me and I let out a small groan.
Aside from the nerves of moving to another country, there was another reason
for my lack of sleep over the past few days. There was something I needed to
talk to Radleigh about, and I'd intended to do so the moment we got home, but
I'd been so tired, the only thing I'd had the energy for was going to bed.
I curled myself into a ball on the sofa and ate my crisps, thinking about
the upcoming weekend to distract myself. The idea of seeing my friends made me
smile. I'd spoken to Freya every other day when I’d been in Cornwall, and when
I'd given her the news I was moving back to America, she'd screamed so loud
she'd almost deafened me. Being away from her had been tough, and I couldn't
wait to see her to get the full lowdown on what had been happening between her
and Will.
"Hey gorgeous."
I jumped at the sound of Radleigh's voice and turned to see him walking
towards me wearing only a pair of boxers. His hair was dishevelled and a tingle
shot through me just from the sight of him.
"Hi," I said with a smile.
It was the first time since I'd arrived that I'd had a really good look at
him, and I put my unfinished bag of crisps down on the coffee table and stood
up to hug my gorgeous, slightly sleepy-looking man.
"I wondered where you were," he said, his arms encircling me.
Yup, right there. Best place in the
world. For just a second I allowed myself to push my worries aside and sink
into him, resting my head against his chest.
"I'm hungry. I'm cooking pizza. Well," I added, with a grin,
"I'm actually cooking four pizzas."
"Four pizzas?"
"Yeah, but they're only small. I'm starving."
I gazed up at him with innocent eyes and he laughed. "Can I at least
have one?"
I nodded. "You can. I'm very generous."
We smiled at each other, and he held me tightly. "I'm so glad you're
here."
"Me too.” I ran my hands own his back. “Now give me a kiss before I die
from waiting any longer."
"I love how you feed my ego." His voice was low and husky, and he
slid his hand round to the back of my neck and leaned forward to kiss me.
The second our lips touched, everything that was worrying me left my mind,
and I pressed myself closer to him, running my hands down his back, relishing
the feeling of being with him. Before I was even aware of what was happening,
we were wound around each other on the sofa, making up for the last two weeks
we had been apart.
No. This was not supposed to happen…you want to talk to him, remember?
The thought sobered me, and before things could go any further, I put my
hand up to his chest and gently pushed him back.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm sorry," I sat up a little to straighten my clothes. "I
can't. Not yet. I need to talk to you about something."
My seriousness stopped him from complaining, and he shifted sideways a
little so he was no longer on top of me, but lying beside me instead. I gently
kissed him as an apology for stopping the fun we'd been having. The truth was,
I would much rather have carried on than have to have the conversation I was
about to have with him, but it needed to be done. Sooner rather than later.
"Leah, what's wrong?" His eyes filled with concern, making me
think that just maybe this might be okay.
Maybe.
I squirmed in my seat, knowing there was really no other way to say it than
to just blurt it out, and I couldn't back out now.
"I think…I think I'm pregnant," I said, averting my eyes from his
face so I didn't have to see his initial reaction.
There was a long, terrifying silence, before he said, "Pregnant?"
My eyes swivelled back to his face, and unable to resist the sarcasm, I
said, "You know what that means, right?"
"Pregnant," he repeated as if he hadn't heard me.
"Pregnant?"
This was the kind of reaction I'd been dreading. Even though it wasn't
definite, and I had no idea what the hell I wanted, I was afraid the news would
freak him out. Maybe I should have waited until I knew for sure, but if I
was
pregnant, I wanted him to be there the whole way. Not that I could guarantee
that he
would be there. Radleigh had changed a lot, but whether that
change included a sudden journey into fatherhood, I wasn't so sure.
"Yeah," I said. "Pregnant."
"But…how can you…I mean, I know
how. But…how?"
Why do men become stupid when
confronted with big news? "Before I just started talking – what were
we about to do?"
"We were about to have fantastic sex."
"Right. And do you happen to have a condom stuffed down your
boxers?"
"No."
"And
that is how. You know as well as I do that we haven't
exactly been…careful."
"There isn't always time," he said, with a grin.
"Radleigh, focus," I said, though I couldn't help but laugh at the
truth of his words.
"Sorry." He sat up, still looking somewhat stunned by my news.
"So, are you ever planning on finding out for sure?"
"Yeah. I don't mean to scare you any further, but I actually have a
home pregnancy test in my suitcase."
He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. The panic he was
feeling was clearly written all over his face which did nothing to ease my own
worry.
The fact was, I had been blocking out the possibility of me being pregnant
as much as I could until I got to Los Angeles. I told myself that whatever
happened, I needed to be with Radleigh the moment I found out for sure. I had
absolutely no idea if he would be happy if the test came back positive, I
didn't even know how
I would feel.
All I knew was that I loved him, and I didn't want to once again find myself
carrying a child that was unwanted by the father.
"You wanna do it now?" he asked, breaking me from my thoughts.
I shook my head. "I don't know."
"How long have you suspected?"
"About a week. I just…I wanted to be here when I found out. I didn't
want to do it alone. I
can't do this
alone."
"Okay," he said, gently stroking my hair. "It's okay."
"It is?" I asked, tears forming in my eyes. "Radleigh, if I'm
pregnant-"
"If," he interrupted, "Let's not panic until we know if you are."
There was another long silence, and Radleigh said, "Can you please do
it now? I can't stand not knowing."
The truth was, I wasn't sure how much longer I could stand it either, and I
slowly nodded. "Okay."
Radleigh kissed me gently on the forehead. "Everything will be
fine."
'
Easy for you to say,' I thought, as I stood up.
"I'll be a few minutes," I told him.
He nodded. "I'll go and get the pizzas. I need to distract myself while
you pee on the stick."
In spite of my nerves, I laughed. "Don't eat them all."
"I won't. I promise."
Looking down at him, I said, "I love you."
"I love you too."
Giving him one last smile, I headed upstairs to get the pregnancy test kit
out of my suitcase. I sat on the bed for a full five minutes, holding the test
in my lap, too afraid to use it. I remembered the last time I’d had to use one
of these tests. That time, I simply refused to believe I was pregnant. It was
just a precaution that I was taking the test; I didn't really think the result
would be positive, and when it was, my whole world changed.
This time, I was sure. Before I even took the test, I was convinced I knew
the result, and confirming it was really just to make it real. To have solid
proof. That didn't make it any easier though.
I eventually stopped putting it off and went into the bathroom to do what
needed to be done.
What passed were the longest two minutes of my life, counting down the
seconds until the truth was revealed.
That first moment when you look at it; that's the decider about whether or
not you even want a baby. Seeing the result could either fill you with dread or
elation. Having a child with Radleigh was something I wanted…I just wasn't sure
I wanted it right away, when things were so new. We'd never really talked about
it, apart from that brief, light-hearted conversation we'd had on the London
Eye. There was so much more to talk about, and I swore that if the result was
negative, we would discuss things properly and be a lot more careful in the
future.
One hundred and twenty seconds later, it was finally time to look at the
result. Taking a deep breath, I picked up the test in my shaking hands.
There, in the little window, was a plus symbol.
Pregnant.
I'd been counting on that initial reaction to tell me how I felt, but it
didn't come. The only thing washing over me was numbness. I don't know why I
was so shocked. Deep down I'd known what the outcome would be. I threw the
pregnancy test into the bin, quickly washed my hands, then made my way rather
tentatively back downstairs.
Radleigh was just heading into the living room with the plate of pizzas when
I reached the bottom of the stairs, and he stopped when he saw me.
"It’s positive. I'm pregnant."
He didn't say anything, but continued on in to the lounge, and panic gripped
me again. I followed him, and found him sitting on the sofa with a slightly
vacant expression on his face. I was almost tempted to slap him out of his
trance, but instead I sat down beside him.
"It would be great if you said something." I said.
He turned his head towards me. "I didn't think any of the things that
came in to my head were appropriate responses."
"The truth is the only response I'm interested in, Radleigh."
He let out a deep breath. "I don't know how I feel about it."
"You're not happy though."
When he didn't answer, I began to feel like everything was suddenly about to
come crashing down around me. Things had been going far too well for too long,
and this was the event that would put a stop to it.
"I guess I can take that as a no."
"Could you give me a second to think?" he snapped. "It's the
middle of the night, I've just woken up, you haven't even been here for
twenty-four hours and you drop this news on me! I don't know if I'm happy, or
angry, or-"
"Angry?" I interrupted, standing up. "How can you be angry
about this? This is as much down to you as it is to me!"
"I never said it wasn't, Leah. But I wasn't expecting this."
"Well, neither was I!"
"You had a whole week to prepare for this. I had five minutes!"
"Do I look like I was prepared for this? Sure, I had a week to think
about it, to worry about the result, but the one thing I couldn't prepare for
was how you'd react! I haven't been sleeping because I've been so damn scared
of what you'd say, and believe me, I have imagined every response there could
possibly be. But imagining the outcome doesn't make me any more prepared than
you."
I paused to take a breath and Radleigh said, "I'm sorry, okay? It's
just….so fast."
"I know."
"Well….what do you want to do? I mean, do you want us to have a
baby?"
My outburst had clearly shaken him, and he looked slightly afraid that I
might start yelling again, which instantly made me feel guilty. I sat down on
his lap, and gently said, "We have to make this decision together. I don't
want you to tell me what you think I want to hear, because that won't help
either of us. We need to be honest."
"I don't want to upset you, Leah. I don't want to say the wrong
thing."
"You don't need to tell me anything right now. We'll eat, and sleep and
you can think. We can both think. We'll talk about it more tomorrow."
He shook his head. "I want to talk now. But…”
"What?"
"Leah, the smell of that pizza is killing me. I want to eat
first."
Relaxing a little, I wrapped my arms around him. "That sounds good to
me."
The two of us began munching our way through the pizzas in silence, and I
knew Radleigh was lost in thought. I didn't want to push him for a decision
about his feelings because I still hadn't really reached one of my own.
Well, not one I was ready to admit yet, anyway.
When the food was gone, we sat quietly for a while, me still on Radleigh's
lap with his arm around me. It was kind of peaceful, in spite of the
uncertainty of things. All I could hear were the sounds of the clock ticking on
the wall, and our gentle breathing as we pondered what we wanted.
After a while, Radleigh rested his hand gently on my stomach and I looked up
at him.
"This may be crazy soon," he said, "but I would really love
it if we had a baby."
Afraid I had misheard him, I sat bolt upright. "What?"
He laughed at my surprise. "I want us to have a baby."
"Are you sure? I mean…this is an enormous commitment."
"Yes, I'm aware of that. Leah, you just moved halfway across the world
to be with me. If we weren't committed, would you really have done that?"
"No, but-"
"If you don't think now is the right time, it's fine. But you wanted to
know what I think. And I want to have a baby with you."
Relief began to flood through me. This was the honest reaction I had been
waiting for. I'd needed to hear what Radleigh wanted before I knew for sure how
I felt. If he'd said he didn't want the baby, I would have been heartbroken.
But he did want it, and while I knew it wouldn't all be plain sailing, I was
pretty sure we could do it.
A smile spread across my face as the full realisation began to hit me.
I was pregnant. With Radleigh's child. After everything that we had been
through, things were actually working out.
"Oh my God," I said, with a small laugh. "We're really going
to do this?"
He nodded. "If you want to."
"I want to."
He wrapped his arms tightly around me, smiled and said, "Then we'll do
it."
Blurb: At the age of twenty-one, Bree Collinson has more than she ever dreamed
of. A handsome husband, a fancy house, and more shoes than
Carrie Bradshaw and Imelda Marcos combined. But having everything
handed to her isn’t the way Bree wants to live the rest of her life. When an idea to
better herself pops into her head, she doesn’t expect her husband to question her, and keep her tied by her apron strings to the kitchen.
Isolated and unsure who to turn to, Bree finds herself falling back into a dangerous friendship, and developing feelings for the only person who really listens to her. Torn between her loyalty to her husband and her attraction to a man who has the perfect family she always wanted, she has some tough choices to make.
While Bree tries to figure out what she wants, a tragedy rocks the Westberg Warriors, triggering some dark memories, and pushing her to take a look at what’s really important.
About the Author:
Kyra is a self-confessed book-a-holic, and has been since she first learned to read. When she's not reading, you'll usually find her hanging out in coffee shops with her trusty laptop and/or her friends, or girling it up at the nearest shopping mall.
Kyra grew up on the South Coast of England and refuses to move away from the seaside which provides massive inspiration for her novels.
Her debut novel, Game On (New Adult Contemporary Romance), was released in July 2012, and she scored her first Amazon Top 20 listing with her New Adult novella, If I Let You Go.
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