book 4 in the romancing the clarksons series was always leading to belmont and sage. from the moment sage is introduced in too hot to handle you knew that there was something between them. something that burns so hot, so deep, so painfully, so exquisitely.
in too beautiful to break, sage knows they've reached their breaking point. there is too much between them. love. aching need. trauma. emotional scars. she tries so hard to leave belmont behind. to protect him. to free both of them from the ties that bind them together. she's not sure that it's really love. she doesn't want to be his crutch. she doesn't want him to be hers.
but belmont can't let her go. even though he knows he must in order to let her breathe. he can't breathe without her. without her he isn't whole. loving her is the only way he knows to go forward. he would face down anything, everything for her. in so many ways he proves that what he feels for sage is something real and strong and wonderful.
they are both so afraid. they've both endured trauma. they're broken souls who work so beautifully every moment they are together. this series has been deeply emotional throughout. these characters are all healing and renewing themselves by finding love throughout their journey. they started out in san diego fractured and aimless and when they finally jump into the icy waters in new york city they have found happiness and peace. i am so sad to see this series end, because it was such an experience to be immersed in the clarksons' world.
**too beautiful to break will publish on september 26, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/grand central publishing (forever) in exchange for my honest review. keep reading for tessa's top 5 road trip destinations as well as more information on the book...
i asked tessa to share her top 5 road trip destinations in honor of the road trip the clarksons complete throughout the series. here's what she had to say:
Hello! Thank you for having me! I went on a big family road trip recently so I feel uniquely qualified to answer this question. I’ve also completed the exact same drive from San Diego to New York as the Clarksons do in the series. So! Here we go...
- The Grand Canyon. Is this a boring/obvious answer? Yes. But until you see it up close, you really don’t get how incredibly massive and breathtaking it is. That being said, I spent all of twenty minutes there. I came, I canyoned, I got back on the road.
- Nashville, Tennessee. I went to Nashville in 2010 for a music festival and fell in love with the people. The actual festival was held in Manchester and I remember lying in a giant, green field, feeling dwarfed by the amount of unbroken blue sky. There were no buildings or clouds or anything. Just blue and blue forever.
- Washington, D.C. There was a fifteen-year gap between the first and second time I went to DC. The first time, the history on every corner didn’t really grab my attention, but I went back this year and found the memorials and museums so compelling. There are also a lot of fabulous restaurants and bars. Highly recommend!
- Charleston, South Carolina. I loved this town. So many parks and churches and beautiful old houses. We went on a tour and I immediately started plotting a book in my iPhone notes. There’s just something about the whole place—it has an almost haunting quality. If you go, eat as many pralines as humanly possible. You can’t get them that good anywhere else.
- Brooklyn. Always. Take all the cities in the world and put them all in one place—and you get this borough of New York City. If you’re planning a trip to NYC, take a day to cross the bridge and explore Brooklyn. Laze around in Brooklyn Bridge Park/walk along the Promenade. Eat in Fort Greene. See a concert in Prospect Park. It’s amazing.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BREAK
Author: Tessa Bailey
Series: Romancing The Clarksons, #4
On Sale: September 26, 2017
Publisher: Forever
Mass Market: $7.99 USD
eBook: $5.99 USD
A love of a lifetime . . .
Leaving Belmont Clarkson is the hardest thing Sage Alexander has ever done. From the moment they met, she knew Belmont was the one, and getting up close and personal with him on his family's epic road trip has taken her desire to a new, even hotter level. But there's no way she can go there---not without revealing secrets that could devastate them both.
Losing Sage is not an option. Belmont's heart is hers, has always been hers. He knows she's hiding something from him, but nothing will stand in his way of telling her just how much she means to him. Finding her is easy---saving her from her past could cost him everything.
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EXCERPT
“You don’t have to leave right away,” Sage said when Belmont turned, watching her from beneath his eyebrows. “Can you wait here while I take a quick shower?”
Maybe that hadn’t been the right thing to say. His big back heaved and the touch of his tongue in her mouth came crashing in like a behemoth wave. They had crossed an unspoken boundary on the train platform. There was no going back to before, to when they stopped at rough, crushing embraces. As if that hadn’t been…more than sexual somehow.
“Yes, I’ll wait,” he said, his voice sounding like serrated metal. “I can light the fire for you.”
I’ll say. God, why did everything sound like an innuendo now? If her body weren’t flush and sweating beneath the jumpsuit, she would have laughed about it. But there was nothing funny about having Belmont looming mere yards away, looking like one word of encouragement would snap his chain and send him barreling toward her. “That would be perfect. I’ll just be…a few minutes.”
Sage all but dove into the itty-bitty bathroom, pressing her back up against the door and willing her racing heart to calm down. Why had she asked him to stay? Her resolve would weaken with every passing second. Biting down on her lower lip, she began the excruciating task of lowering the zipper of her jumpsuit, which kicked up a protest in her triceps and shoulder muscles. When she finally got it down, she gripped the hem of her T-shirt and attempted to lift it over her head.
Her arms wouldn’t cooperate. They flat out wouldn’t rise any higher than her ribs, leaving the T-shirt suspended in midair. Her muscles burned like someone had doused them in lighter fluid and held them above a flame. Sage’s agony must have escaped in the form of a whimper, because Belmont’s boots scraped just outside the door. And her stomach hollowed with awareness, lightning racing all over her skin.
“Sage.” His voice was deep, urgent. “Do you need help?”
No. Say no. She’d only gotten finished reminding him she didn’t need him. But in this case, it would be a lie and she’d done so much of that lately. With Belmont. The most truthful person she knew. “I can’t get my shirt off.” Her nose started to ache, the tip probably turning red. “My arms hurt.”
His growl was short and broken. A beat passed before the door opened and she felt Belmont filling the doorway behind her. She flicked a glance up to the ancient mirror and confirmed what she’d seen in her mind’s eyes. Belmont towering over her like an avenging angel, outlined by candlelight. He’d taken off his coat, leaving him in a black long-sleeved shirt, which he’d rolled up to the elbows. Every inch of visible skin was shot through with strained cords of muscle, as if his frustration were written on him like a road map.
Sage still had the shirt halfway lifted, so her lower back was visible. Not a big deal to most people. But Belmont had never seen anything below her neck. Or above her knees. With the jumpsuit peeled halfway down, the band of her underwear might even be peeking out.
Breathing grew difficult as Belmont took one step closer and took hold of the T-shirt, his knuckles grazing the small of her back. “You’re wearing”—his breath ghosted down her neck—“my shirt.”
Sage only realized she’d closed her eyes when they popped open. Oh God. In the shock of Belmont arriving, she’d forgotten. “I am?” Her mouth was parched. “L-look at that.”
“I am looking.” She jumped when Belmont reached over her shoulder with his left hand and turned on the shower, the sound of spray filling the room. Then the roughness of his knuckles returned, sliding up her spine along with the shirt. “I like knowing there was a layer of me standing between you and the earth.”
Her legs took on the consistency of Jell-O. His touch was a drug, making her languid, although it was different than the way he usually touched her. There was sex this time. So much of it. And it was that major difference that allowed Sage to accept the skimming of his fingers. Accept the part of herself that lusted. They were in a dark room and time had surely suspended anywhere outside this little plot of square footage. Words ached to leave her mouth, words that wouldn’t be suitable in the sunlight. This man, so warm and brave and large at her back, knew things about her no one else did. What was one more secret? “I stole it out of your suitcase. I broke a commandment and everything.”
“Why?” He breathed into her hair, sinking heat like an anchor in her belly. The shirt came off, her arms dropped to her sides, and she was left in nothing but a bra from the waist up. Inches from Belmont. “Why, sweetest girl?”
A light steam had begun curling in the air like beckoning fingers. Maybe this is a dream. It felt like one of the fevered fantasies she woke from on occasion, sweat slicking her breasts and neck. “Because I like the way you smell and it hadn’t been washed.”
His exhale was gravelly. “Sage.”
“Yes.”
She thought he might not respond, but finally he asked a question that made her nipples turn to hard points. “Can you manage”—a long, windy inhale—“the bra?”
Sage tried. She really, truly did. Her arms felt as though they might break off and hit the floor, but she reached back until her muscles locked up, refusing to move farther. But Belmont was already there, pushing them back down, holding them at her hips.
“Jesus. Please, stop. I can’t watch it.” His touch disappeared only for a second and then the cotton material of the bra tightened over her breasts. She could feel him working the back clasp with fingers she knew so well. They’d tunneled through her hair so many times, twisted in her clothing, but had never, ever, touched her with any kind of…intent. Intent to seduce. And that’s what he was doing, intentional or not. The inhibitions she’d held close forever, circled the drain, along with the shower water. “Your back is so beautiful.” A ghost of a fingertip traced down her spine. “But I need to leave before I—”
“What?”
“Before I turn you around.” They weren’t touching, but she could sense the shudder that ran through him. “Or look in that mirror.”
Right or wrong, the mine, their codependency aside, Sage knew if she let him leave just then, she would regret it for all time. Her body had been woken up. By one man. He’d kept her on the razor’s edge for thousands of miles, surrounding her with his power and taking it away. Over and over. And this fever wrapping around them in the tiny bathroom was completely different from easing his anxiety. Finally, she felt like a woman standing in front of him, instead of a calming device. This was mutual and alive and she couldn’t stand it to end. Tomorrow might be a different story, but this moment was the culmination of a thousand dreams and she could no more deny herself than she could forget his face.
“Belmont, do you think of the kiss?”
“I never stop,” he groaned into her hair. “Never.”
She took a deep breath for courage. “Will you shower with me?”
THE ROMANCING THE CLARKSONS SERIES
TOO HOT TO HANDLE, #1
TOO WILD TO TAME, #2
TOO HARD TO FORGET, #3
TOO CLOSE TO CALL, #3.5
TOO BEAUTIFUL TO BREAK, #4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tessa Bailey is originally from Carlsbad, California. The day after high school graduation, shepacked her yearbook, ripped jeans, and laptop, and drove cross-country to New York City in under four days. Her most valuable life experiences were learned thereafter while waitressing at K-Dees, a Manhattan pub owned by her uncle. Inside those four walls, she met her husband, best friend, and discovered the magic of classic rock, managing to put herself through Kingsborough Community College and the English program at Pace University at the same time. Several stunted attempts to enter the workforce as a journalist followed, but romance writing continued to demand her attention.
She now lives in Long Island, New York with her husband and daughter. Although she is severely sleep-deprived, she is incredibly happy to be living her dream of writing about people falling in love.
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