Lt. Grayson Masters is focused on graduating the Apache helicopter course, and the last thing he needs is his gorgeous new roommate Samantha Fitzgerald distracting him. While her smart mouth and free spirit are irresistibly irritating, he can’t deny their off-the-charts chemistry, no matter how hard he tries.Having just been expelled from college, Sam has no business digging for Grayson’s secrets while she’s hiding her own, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to tear down his walls. Each barrier she busts through drops one of her own, though, and she’s not prepared for the truth: another woman laid claim to Grayson’s heart long ago.
Falling in love is something neither Grayson nor Sam can afford, and when that line is crossed and secrets are exposed, they’ll learn that sometimes it’s the answered prayers that will put you through hell.
Excerpt
I shrieked as the mixer whirred a shrill pitch and batter exploded, hitting the walls, the cabinets, my face...everything. I sputtered as some landed in my mouth, and slammed my hand against the lever to turn it off.
This was going to be a bitch to clean up.
“Are you okay?” Grayson ran in, hair damp from the shower. His eyes widened as he took in the state of his precious kitchen. “You weren’t kidding about the mess.”
“Oh this?” I smiled. “It’s a new aeration technique. I totally meant to do this.” My awesome excuse died as a glob of brownie mix fell off the tip of my nose.
“Is that so?” he asked, walking over to me slowly, consuming my vision. My breath hitched as he swiped his finger across my cheek, and then licked the brownie mix off the digit. Holy hot. “Hmm... I think there’s something to be said for this method. Maybe a little more air in the batter?”
My mouth popped open. “Are you making fun of me?”
He smirked, which must have had a direct link to my panties, because they unanimously voted to drop. Now. There was sexy, and there was Grayson’s tongue sweeping across his lower lip, which was a step beyond hedonistic. His eyes took on a mischievous glint but kept the same signature intensity that held me captive, unable to look anywhere else as he lowered his face toward mine.
What...what was he doing?
Do you even care? Nope. Not one bit.
“Maybe another taste to be sure?” he asked, his voice low as his lips skimmed across my jawline.
“Mmm. Definitely more.” Shivers coursed down my body. Holy shit. His mouth was actually on me, and I was awake.
He flipped the switch on the mixer and chocolate flew.
“You did not!” I let my knees buckle so I slipped to the floor, leaving Grayson to be splattered by the flying confection.
“I most certainly did!” He lifted me up like I weighed nothing, and batter smacked the back of my tank top. “Man, you’re slippery.” He mock-dropped me.
I yelped, locking my ankles around his waist and my hands around his neck. He turned off the mixer and chuckled low in his throat. “You can laugh?” I asked, yanking my head back to look at him.
“I have been known to on occasion,” he answered, that stupid, crazy-sexy smirk in play despite the chocolate on his cheeks and forehead. How the hell could someone look so hot while literally dripping brownie batter?
“I like it,” I admitted.
His smirk disappeared, and his grip tightened on my bare thighs as his gaze dropped to my lips. They parted as if he’d freaking asked them to. We weren’t just stepping out of the friend-zone here, we were on a damn missile into let- me-jump-you-ville.
“I do, too,” he whispered.
"But, Samantha, it doesn't matter if I'm at our house at Rucker, or walking the beach here. I'm still yours. Sitting next to Grace? Yours. Studying for my next flight? Yours. Arguing with my sisters, my parents, the Bowdens...I'm still yours. I might not say it, but if I happened to you, well, you sure-as-hell happened to me. You challenge me, transform me every day. It doesn't matter what everyone sees, or what role I have to play, you're under my skin, and when I come here, you're along for the ride. This is not a temporary thing between us. There is no deadline. I. Am. Always. Yours."
--Grayson
Hello, can you say 'SWOON'? I can't gush enough about Grayson and Samantha's story. Quite possibly, they are my favourite. There's always the fear that subsequent books in series will never be able to top or even match earlier books. That is not the case in Rebecca Yarros' Flight & Glory series. Every book has been nothing short of amazing. Gut-wrenching, heart-aching, make-you-feel-non-fictional-feelings-for-fictional-characters kind of books. Beyond What is Given is no different. Grayson has this whole other life he's been able to keep from everyone up until his final year of flight school. He's got one goal--to finish at the top of his class--and nothing will get in his way. Samantha arrives as a new housemate to the guys at Fort Rucker with a past she's trying to get away from. Having hit rock bottom, she's looking for a way back up. The two of them are thrown together and the chemistry is off the charts from first sight. Finally, Grayson's personal life comes to light and holy drama-llama. An entire life back in North Carolina, complete with a girlfriend who's been comatose for 5 years. Soap opera-esque to the core. So much happens by the time you even get halfway into the book, you think you can't take anymore. But you just get SO MUCH MORE no-way-that-didn't-just-happen moments. Anyways, I think I teared for these characters about a dozen or more times throughout the novel. The raw want and need for each other is very well articulated in the hotter than hot sex scenes but you won't be disappointed as there is just as much desire, romance and drama to put your emotions through the wringer in this story.
"Because I fucking love you!...I'm in love with you, Samantha. You own me, body, heart, mind, soul, whatever there is to give, it's yours."
--Grayson
I can't wait for the next book...yet...I so don't want this series to come to an end. That is all.
About the Author
Rebecca Yarros is a hopeless romantic and lover of all things chocolate, coffee, and Paleo. In addition to being a mom, military wife, and blogger, she can never choose between Young Adult and New Adult fiction, so she writes both. She's a graduate of Troy University, where she studied European history and English, but still holds out hope for an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Her blog, The Only Girl Among Boys, has been voted the Top Military Mom Blog the last two years, and celebrates the complex issues surrounding the military life she adores.
When she's not writing, she's tying on hockey skates for her kids, or sneaking in some guitar time. She is madly in love with her army-aviator husband of eleven years, and they're currently stationed in Upstate NY with their gaggle of rambunctious kiddos and snoring English Bulldog, but she would always rather be home in Colorado.
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