From the New York Times bestselling author of the Marked Men books comes the next installment in the Saints of Denver series.
Synopsis
Everyone else in Dixie Carmichael’s life has made falling in love look easy, and now she is ready for her own chance at some of that happily ever after. Which means she’s done pining for the moody, silent former soldier who works with her at the bar that’s become her home away from home. Nope. No more chasing the hot as heck thundercloud of a man and no more waiting for Mr. Right to find her; she’s going hunting for him...even if she knows her heart is stuck on its stupid infatuation with Dash Churchill.
Denver has always been just a pit stop for Church on his way back to rural Mississippi. It was supposed to be simple, uneventful, but nothing could have prepared him for the bubbly, bouncy redhead with doe eyes and endless curves. Now he knows it’s time to get out of Denver, fast. For a man used to living in the shadows, the idea of spending his days in the sun is nothing short of terrifying. When Dixie and Church find themselves caught up in a homecoming overshadowed with lies and danger, Dixie realizes that while falling in love is easy, loving takes a whole lot more work…especially when Mr. Right thinks he’s all wrong for you.
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EXCERPT
Church
She kissed me.
Her lips touched mine and she
destroyed me. This tiny ray of light that seemed determined to chase the
darkness inside of me away unraveled me with nothing more than the brush of her
very soft lips against mine.
I should’ve pulled away, either that
or gone all in. The attraction between us was only going to end one way, with
me inside of her as we scorched through one another, so a real kiss with
tongues and teeth and grabbing hands was inevitable, especially if she was
holding the door wide open in invitation. I was already struggling with the
friend thing and this wasn’t helping at all. I stood there, holding her,
feeling her as she rubbed her mouth over mine, the barest hint of pressure as
she took a taste, as she feathered her lips against mine like she was trying to
memorize the shape, the feel, the flavor of them. It was the singularly softest
touch I’d ever experienced and yet it had the power to make my knees weak and
my blood pop with a desire so sharp it felt like it could pierce right through
my skin.
Her hand cradled my jaw, her fingers
shaking with some of the same things I was feeling. This thing that lived
between us was hungry and tired of being ignored. It buzzed around us, electric
and hot, refusing to be cooled by the chill in the night air that surrounded
us. If we weren’t careful the passion that was hungry and needy between us
would consume us, devour us, and leave us nothing more than hollow husks filled
with fading satisfaction and jagged disenchantment because no matter how good we
were together it couldn’t and wouldn’t last. I didn’t want any part of me to be
responsible for burning her out. I liked that her light chased my shadows away
and that meant I wasn’t going to have any kind of hand in dimming her internal
glow.
Her breasts pressed into the center
of my chest as she leaned more fully into me and I could feel the pointed peaks
of her nipples stab into my skin. The sensation made my dick twitch behind my
zipper and had all the available blood that was still above my belt rushing
south. I’d always liked the way Dixie was built. She was on the shorter side,
but every single part of her small frame was curved and lush. She looked like a
woman that you could grab ahold of without having to watch yourself. She was
delicate but in no way did she come across as fragile or breakable. She looked
like she could take everything I had to give her, all the pent-up longing, all
the nights of frustration I spent hard and alone, all the denied hunger that
made me want to eat her up and then go back for seconds and thirds because I
knew there was no way I was going to have my fill of her honeyed lips and
velvety skin in one go.
There was so much of her to
experience, and I wanted to know what all of it felt like, tasted like, sounded
like. I wanted to watch her come from every possible position I could get her
in, and then I wanted to find some new ones, ones no man had ever had her in
before, and watch her come in those, too. Because I knew once I got her she
would let me have her in ways she hadn’t let anyone else. Her eyes, so pretty
and dark, made me all kids of promises, and I wanted to take her up on every
single one of them. But there wasn’t anything I could promise in return, and
that always kept me from crossing the invisible line.
She ran the tip of her nose along the
edge of my jaw and that little nuzzle made my entire body shudder. She had the
ability to bring down all the walls I’d so carefully built up around us in
order to keep both of us safe. She didn’t have any clue the kind of damage I
could do if I ignored all the warning bells ringing loudly in the back of my
mind. I knew the ways in which I could wreck the women in my life that I cared
about and there was no way on God’s green and often unforgiving Earth that I would
subject her to that. I barely survived the loss of the last woman I loved. I
knew if I let Dixie sneak her way inside my heart and something happened to her
there would be nothing left of me. There wouldn’t be anyplace left for me to
run.
About Jay Crownover
Jay Crownover is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Marked Men, The Point, and the Saints of Denver series. Like her characters, she is a big fan of tattoos. She loves music and wishes she could be a rock star, but since she has no aptitude for singing or instrument playing, she'll settle for writing stories with interesting characters that make the reader feel something. She lives in Colorado with her three dogs.
My favorite thing about home is family and pets. Thank you
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