Series: Red #0.5
Publication date: September 22nd, 2020
Synopsis:
The hottest summer brings the first flames of love.
Love is dangerous. It collides with culture, and culture is defied with rebellion.
She promised herself to me.
Ryder is the small town's local college boy.
It's summertime, and he's at the beach when he sees a young, college girl.
Their eyes lock together.
Intrigued by her, he wants to approach her but she quickly disappears.
Disappointed he returns home, but he sees her the next day in his summer class.
Good girls don't fall in love. They only obey.
From a traditional Middle Eastern family. Cyrah is a young foreign-exchange student.
She's studying abroad in a summer program of the small-town.
Intimidated by her beauty, Ryder begins writing love letters to her.
She is flattered but tries to steer clear from him.
But then an incident happens that draws these two star-crossed lovers together.
Slowly, she begins breaking all the rules and reciprocating the same feelings.
But summer doesn't last forever though, and Cyrah has to leave.
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Excerpt
"I'll drop you home. Hop on," he said. It wasn't a question but rather an order.
She looked at him, surprised. Then, she glanced at the blue and black bike. The size of it scared her. It was massive, and she had never ridden a bike before.
"You look scared already," he said, chuckling.
She sucked on her lower lip before looking away. "That thing looks huge."
He laughed at her words. His eyes lit up when he joyfully laughed. Her heart turned into knots, making her confused. She didn't know she was capable of making a guy laugh. She had zero experience with guys. Back home, she had attended an all-girls high school. She never had any interactions with guys unless it was her father or at the supermarket.
"How do I sit on it?" Cyrah asked, considering the bike.
"Come here, I'll show you," he said reaching for her hand. Again, it was an order not a request. She glanced down at his outstretched hand nervously and looked up at him again.
He gave her a slow smile. "I don't bite," he said gently.
She nodded and rose from her seat. She leaned in and entwined her hands within his. He pulled her closer to him, and she stood only a few inches away from him. She smelled his cologne, and it was nice. She looked into his heated eyes.
He stared at her before he said, "Come on the back seat."
Ryder guided her to sit. She sat down with her body facing sideways and her legs facing outward. He glanced back at her and arched an eyebrow, "You have to sit the right way."
She looked at him, confused.
"Don't you watch American movies? Your legs have to... straddle my back, Blue Eyes." His eyes darkened at the word, staddle.
Her eyes almost bugged out of their eye sockets.
I beg your pardon?
"Straddle?" she questioned.
That wasn't the way the women sat back home.
Ryder sighed and said, "It's safer to sit that way. You have a better hold."
"I can take the bus," she protested softly. She could still make a dash for it.
He shook his head. "It's up to you, but I would feel better if I could drop you home."
She looked up at him, surprised. "You're not my bodyguard."
He glanced down. "I know. I just feel... protective."
Beena Khan writes literary fiction and edgy, contemporary romance. She 27 years old and lives in New York. She's from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, an immigrant who moved to New York when she was five years old. She currently holds a Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology. She enjoys reading, writing, and netflixing. The Name of Red is her debut novel published at the age of 26. All of her books are on Kindle Unlimited + Free Novella!
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