LOGIN~Emma~Chapter: Saturday, August 16I hear Daddy calling my name across the house from his recliner. “Emma!”“Coming, Daddy.” I hustle into the living room with his cup of coffee, a piece of dry multigrain toast, and his morning medicine, then set everything on the table beside him. “Eat up and take your pills.”I am surprised to see that he has already showered and shaved, but not at all shocked by his sour expression. “Capsules of nonsense from a snakeoil salesman.”“No, medicine prescribed by one of the best heart surgeons in the state,” I correct. “Please take it. We don’t want to put your heart at risk again.”I can’t. The news that he had collapsed and that I had nearly lost him devastated me. Though Colt following me shopping that day rattled me, I thank God he was there. I was in no shape to drive myself to the hospital.Daddy grumbles but sighs with resignation. “Fine. When you’re done with your last client, I need you to run by the church and pick up my mail. If you g
~Colt~Thursday, August 14“It’s okay, Em-bee. Don’t be upset.”Through the open door of my boss’s office, I hear Sawyer’s crooning tone. I risk a glance at Ryder Kane. How quickly can I wrap up this pointless chat with my boss and eavesdrop on the douche who doesn’t deserve his girlfriend? Because I haven’t stopped thinking about Emma Grant in the last six days. I don’t care if I have to fight dirty. I am not giving up on her.“Uh-oh. I don’t like your expression.” Ryder grumbles.I don’t give a shit.“Tell me what you’re thinking,” my boss presses.“Gotta pee,” I lie.“Wait–”I don’t. I dash out the door to plaster myself against the wall, around the corner from where Reeves is having his low-voiced telephone conversation with Emma. Thank fuck that, despite a life spent around firearms, I still have superb hearing.“You know your dad,” Sawyer murmurs. “He’s a perfectionist and he cares about the people of his congregation. Since he’s recovering from surgery and can’t handl
~Colt~Sawyer and I walk out to the breezeway. The moment the doors slide shut behind us, Sawyer turns around, pointing a finger at my chest.“I told you to stay the fuck away from her,” he growls, stepping into my space. “You’re using my absence to muscle your way into her life. She’s vulnerable right now, and you’re hovering like a vulture.”I look down at his finger, then up into his bloodshot eyes. “Your absence is your own fault, Reeves. Where were you last night? Because you smell like a hotel room and cheap perfume, and your girl spent the last five hours crying into my shoulder while you were unachievable.”Sawyer goes stiff, the blood rushing out of his face. “That’s none of your business.”“Well I’m making it my business.” I take a step closer. “If you ever leave her alone like that again, if you ever fail her when she needs you, I assure you, won’t just take her car keys... I’ll take everything. Now get out of my face before I forget we work for the same company.”He
~Colt~She sucks in a shuddering breath. “Why me? Why not the bartender you… connected with last weekend?”Sawyer would only tell her about that forgettable twenty minutes if he’d noticed, as I myself had, that Emma is attracted to me.“Tell me you don’t feel the pull between us.”Emma cuts her gaze away and sinks her teeth into that plush bottom lip.“You do. I know you do.” I edge closer. “Look at me.”She doesn’t. “I really need to go. Please don’t follow me again. And don’t pursue me. This” she gestures between us “won’t work.”“Why?”“We’re different.”“Opposites attract.”She shakes her head. “Too different.”“Meaning?”“Sex could never be casual for me.”I believe that. “I suspect that, with you, sex would be anything but casual to me.”Emma sucks in a shaky breath. “Stop.”“What, trying to show you the options Sawyer told you to ignore?”Finally, she whips an annoyed glare my way. “He doesn’t tell me what to think.”“Good. You’re smart enough to make up your o
~Colt~A good sniper spends eighty percent of his time watching, ten percent calculating, and ten percent waiting for the wind to die down. You learn to dissect a target from a distance, measuring the rhythm of their breathing, the hitch in their stride, the exact moment they let their guard down.I’m not trying to put a bullet in Emma Grant, but I’ve spent the last fourteen hours tearing her life apart piece by piece, looking for the cracks.Yesterday at the party, she was all I could look at. She thought she was hiding behind Sawyer Reeves, playing the good girl in her little yellow dress, but I saw the way her fingers twitched against her glass when our eyes locked. I felt the heat rolling off her skin when I straightened that lace strap in the foyer. Sawyer thinks he can claim her just because they grew up on the same street, but he doesn’t have the stomach to handle the fire burning inside that girl. She’s suffocating under the weight of everyone else’s expectations, and she’s
~Emma~“Emma!” I turn to find my best friend at the back door, his snarl warning the other man away. “Come here. Now, honey.”I jump at the demand in his voice. He would never be so insistent… unless something is wrong. “O-okay.” I face the big, dark stranger again. “Excuse me.”For a second, he looks as if he might object. Something in me wants him to, but he merely steps back, his jaw set in a hard line.I edge away. As soon as I reach Sawyer’s side, my breathing eases and my nerves bleed away. And when he curls a protective arm around me, I feel safe and sheltered.But he doesn’t make me feel alive… not like the other man.“Are you all right?”pWhy is Sawyer acting as if the newcomer might unleash terrible savagery on me in the foyer? “Of course.”He acknowledges me with an impatient nod. “Time to eat. Why don’t you head on outside? I’ll meet you at the buffet table.”And leave so he can berate the man for doing nothing but staring a little more than is truly polite and st
~Lila~“Walk to the bed. Stand beside it and wait for me,” Ryder orders.I walk over to the low platform bed, my bare feet silent against the concrete. Ryder prowls toward me, then sits on the silk sheet. “Come closer.”“Don’t I get a safe word first?”He tilts his head slightly, studying me
~Lila~The heavy oak door of Thorne’s office clicks shut behind me, but the sense of entrapment follows me right into the corridor.Before I can even take a full breath of the cooler hallway air, a broad, calloused palm presses firmly against the small of my back and the heat of Ryder’s hand burn
~Lila~ “Bud?” Ryder breathes. The name lands like a physical blow against my ribs. I jerk away from Ryder’s grip, my heart slamming against my ribs like it wants to break free. His hand falls away, but the heat of his fingers lingers on my scalp, sending unwelcome sparks down my spine. Zane
⚠️A Little Heads Up Before We Begin⚠️While this is a romance book, it also contains explicit Dom/sub dynamics including consensual spanking, power exchange, edging, restraints, and enough unresolved tension to short-circuit your e-reader.If any of that makes you uncomfortable, no hard feelings, b







