about an inch, but enough that I suddenly felt bereft without the delicious warmth of his body pressed against me.
He reached in his jacket pocket and I held my breath, eyes filling instantly when I saw what he held.
“Oh my God.” My wide eyes met his. “Is that what I think it is?”
He nodded.
I stared at him in dazed wonder.
“Lace Lowell, I love you. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever known, and I want you to know that I’ve always had faith in you, even when you lost your way. I know that you’re no weak minded princess in need of a rescue, and that’s ok because I’m no prince. It’s really me who needs the rescue, from a life that means absolutely nothing to me if you’re not in it.” His hands moved softly through my hair and his eyes traced over my features as if he was committing them to memory.
“What I believe in most is the two of us. We’re better than any fairy tale. And if you want me to wait for a day, or a month, or a year for you, until you’re ready for us to begin our life together, I’ll do it. But just like I’ve been doing for the past several weeks, I’m gonna do it right up here in Vancouver where I can watch over you.” His eyes blazed with intensity. “You know me. I protect what’s mine.”
I didn’t say that out loud.
I didn’t need any more time to think it over. He was right. I could take care of myself. I knew that now. That impediment to our being together was out of the way. And I didn’t need…
I just needed him.
His faith in me was all the magic I would ever need.
“I’m ready now, Bry.” I took the ribbon from him, pulled it taut in both my hands, held it across my neck, and turned around. Bowing my head, I offered him the loose ends to tie.
I felt him breathe my name across my neck. I felt his rough finger tips tremble as they brushed across my bare skin. I felt the cool silk ribbon tighten as he fastened it around me. And I felt his lips drop a soft kiss on the tender skin between my neck and shoulder after his task was complete.
Bryan turned me around to face him. His dark possessive gaze swept warmth over me before his lips claimed mine in a deep hot wet kiss.
“I think that’s your phone,” I whispered breathlessly as he rained passionate kisses up and down the column of my throat.
“Mmm,” he groaned without pausing from his tender assault on my fevered skin. “Forget it. Tonight’s just for us.” He pulled me closer, slid the cell from his pocket, and tossed it on a nearby table without reading the message.
The End
COMING SOON
Book 2
(Estimated release date - April 2014)
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HEROIN FACTS PROVIDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE
Heroin is an opioid drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”
In 2011, 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older (or 1.6 percent) had used heroin at least once in their lives. It is estimated that about 23 percent of individuals who use heroin become dependent on it.
HOW IS HEROIN USED?
Heroin can be injected, inhaled by snorting or sniffing, or smoked. All three routes of administration deliver the drug to the brain very rapidly, which contributes to its health risks and to its high risk for addiction, which is a chronic relapsing disease caused by changes in the brain and characterized by uncontrollable drug-seeking no matter the consequences.
HOW DOES HEROIN AFFECT THE BRAIN?
When it enters the brain, heroin is converted back into morphine, which binds to molecules on cells known as opioid receptors. These receptors are located in many areas of the brain (and in the body), especially those involved in the perception of pain and in reward. Opioid receptors are also located in the brain stem, which controls automatic processes critical for life, such as blood pressure, arousal, and respiration. Heroin overdoses frequently involve a suppression of breathing, which can be fatal.
After an intravenous injection of heroin, users report feeling a surge of euphoria (“rush”) accompanied by dry mouth, a warm flushing of the skin, heaviness of the extremities, and clouded mental functioning. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes “on the nod,” an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Users who do not inject the drug may not experience the initial rush, but other effects are the same.
Regular heroin use changes the functioning of the brain. One result is tolerance, in which more of the drug is needed to achieve the same intensity of effect. Another result is dependence, characterized by the need to continue use of the drug to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
INJECTION DRUG USE AND HIV AND HCV INFECTION
People who inject drugs are at high risk of contracting HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). This is because these diseases are transmitted through contact with blood or other bodily fluids, which can occur when sharing needles or other injection drug use equipment. (HCV is the most common blood-borne infection in the Unites States.) HIV (and less often HCV) can also be contracted during unprotected sex, which drug use makes more likely.
Because of the strong link between drug abuse and the spread of infectious disease, drug abuse treatment can be an effective way to prevent the latter. People in drug abuse treatment, which often includes risk reduction counseling, stop or reduce their drug use and related risk behaviors, including risky injection practices and unsafe sex. (See box, “Treating Heroin Addiction.”)
WHAT ARE THE OTHER HEALTH EFFECTS OF HEROIN?
Heroin abuse is associated with a number of serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, and infectious diseases like hepatitis and HIV (see box, “Injection Drug Use and HIV and HCV Infection”). Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, constipation and gastrointestinal cramping, and liver or kidney disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health of the user as well as from heroin’s effects on breathing.
In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroin often contains toxic contaminants or additives that can clog blood vessels leading to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain, causing permanent damage to vital organs.
TREATING HEROIN ADDICTION
