Shawna K. Williams – Romantic Excerpt – Part 3 of 3

Shannon here: Historical romance author, Shawna K. Williams shares a second excerpt from her book, No Other as Jakob & Meri’s relationship develops. Comment on any post dated July 30 – August 3 for a chance to win a copy. Deadline: August 11th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Shawna:

Excerpt from No Other by Shawna K. Williams: 

The engine idled smoothly and Jakob could feel the vibration through the seat. He reached for the keys and the rumbling motor suddenly went silent.  “What’s wrong,” said Meri.
Jakob looked over at her. Moonlight poured in through the window, haloing her hair, and her widened eyes sparkled in the darkness. She was so beautiful.
“There’s something I need to tell you, but I don’t know how.” He sighed heavily and then whispered. “Crud, I don’t even know if I should.”
Meri turned her body toward him and scooted against the car door. “It sounds important.”
Jakob pressed his lips together. “It’s just, if I don’t say something, I’m afraid I’ll regret it. And things might… change between us.”
She shook her head. “Change how?”
“You’ll find someone else.”
Meri covered her mouth and turned away, hiding her face from him.
Her reaction startled Jakob. It wasn’t what he’d expected — not that he knew what to expect. He had no idea what she was thinking, but he’d started this and he had to finish it — even if it ended up breaking his heart. With Meri cowering in the seat beside him, that seemed likely.
Get it over with.
Jakob stared straight ahead and forced himself to continue. “I know this is crazy, and we can’t do anything about it — not that you’d even want to.” He bit his lip, and then let out a sigh, puffing his cheeks.
Say it.
“I’m in love with you, Meri. I’m a hundred percent in love with you.” He looked over to see if his words made any difference. Meri stayed hunkered down, covering her face with her hands.
His heart toppled from a cliff — falling… falling. What have I done?
“Meri, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She didn’t move.
“I’m an idiot, okay. A complete fool!” He swallowed away his humiliation, and reached for the keys in the ignition. “I’ll take you home, and I won’t bother you again.”
Her hand covered his as he started to turn the keys. Jakob looked at her and was shocked to see tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Oh, Meri.” The pain in her eyes tore at him. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He touched her cheek and gently wiped her tears. They fell faster. Jakob reached with his other hand, cupping her face and tried to catch them as they spilled over the rims of her eyes. Her bottom lip trembled, drawing his gaze as she mouthed the words, ‘I love you’.
His heart stilled. She loved him.
Jakob drew her to him and found himself overcome by the feel of her lips beneath his, tasting the saltiness of her tears, inhaling the sweetness of her skin. There was so much that he wanted to tell her, show her…give her. He had no words to express, so he used his kisses to convey all that he dreamed.
She responded with equal passion, telling him what she felt but couldn’t say.
When their need for breath overcame their need for each other, they rested their heads together. Meri’s tears still flowed, and Jakob stroked her hair.
“What are we going to do, Jakob? I can’t be without you.”
Jakob kissed her forehead. “It’s okay,” he said, running his fingers through her hair. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ll find a way to make this work.” He tipped her chin to look into her eyes. “I can’t be without you, either.”
The night became deafeningly quiet, as if all life had abandoned — except his and Meri’s. In his heart Jakob understood that the price of being together was to be cut off from everyone else. To keep this secret he must erect a wall. He’d been there before. He could do it again.
About Shawna: Having never considered becoming a writer, Shawna K. Williams’ path changed in a single night all because of a dream. Her early writings were a mere attempt to fill in gaps within the dream and satisfy her curiosity, but later became the inspiration for her first two novels. She is a content editor for Desert Breeze Publishing and Solstice Publishing, acquisitions editor/social media specialist for The Wordsmith Journal Magazine, speaker, homeschooling mom and multi-published author of twentieth century historical fiction. Shawna enjoys books in almost any genre as long as they contain strong characters tackling real-life grit. She also has a thing for dogs and pygmy goats, and believes the world would be a better place if people aspired to be the person their pet believes them to be.
Shawna’s books: No Other, In All Things, The Good Fight, Orphaned Hearts, and coming in Dec. 2012: A Hand to Hold. All books are available as ebooks. No Other is also in print, In All Things releases in print in November 2012, and all other books will be available in print in 2013. Learn more at: http://shawnakwilliams.com/, http://shawnawilliams-oldsmobile.blogspot.com/, https://twitter.com/shawnakwilliams, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shawna-K-Williams/236629884245
About the book: In the aftermath of WWII all Jakob Wilheimer wants is to get over his pain, get on with life, and if at all possible, forgive those who’ve wronged his family — including himself. But it’s hard to do when there are constant reminders. One of them being his former schoolmate, now teacher, Meri Parker — Miss Port Delamar Pearl, Mayor’s daughter, Belle of the town — Meri Parker.
After enduring the stigma and isolation associated with the internment camp, the awkwardness of going back to school should’ve been a cake walk. But Jakob didn’t expect to find himself inexplicably drawn to Meri. Or to discover that the pain and loneliness of her life surpassed his own. She needed to be rescued from the wretched people seeking to control her life. And more than anything, he needed to be the one to save her. 
Come back August 6th for Amish romance author, Mary Ellis!