Five years ago, Brooke had everything she wanted… until it disappeared like a magic trick. While she grieved the loss of her perfect future, fate sealed it. Moving on wasn’t an option. It was a requirement.
Now, Brooke has more money than she knows what to do with. But she also has panic attacks, no relationships outside her family, and a daughter. Brooke may have shut down, but there is no way to numb the constant terror that Mia could be taken away from her. She spends her days looking over her shoulder and avoiding her shameful memories.
She’s fine hiding from the world until Chris moves next door. A friendship forms when they unwillingly bond over their painful pasts. As walls come down, their relationship starts to develop into more. Brooke now realizes everything she’s missing out on and wants—a happy and stable family for her and Mia.
But Mia may not be the child with no traces of her father as Brooke assumed. And making a moral choice will risk everything.
This book contains explicit language, graphic sexual content, and sensitive topics, which may be triggers to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
“I really want to keep going. More than anything.” I moved my hands to the waist of his jeans as his eyes darkened. “Can you lose these?”
He stood up, watching me. My hand reached out slowly, and I lowered the zipper. The jeans dropped down to the floor, and he stepped out of them. He was wearing black boxer briefs. Nice. I let my gaze travel town to the bulge straining against the fabric and looked back up at his face as I stood up in front of him, pulling off my own jeans. He kept his eyes on mine, and I hesitated but decided to keep my shirt on.
Finally, he glanced at my exposed underwear. “Those are nice.”
I looked down. They had the Wonder Woman logo on them. Oops. I bit my lip, but then grinned. “I didn’t know we were going to be doing stuff today.”
“Doing stuff. Brooke, you have such a way with words.” He leaned down and started kissing my neck as he turned us so he could sit down, guiding me along and pulling me onto his lap with my legs on either side of him. My hips moved forward, and now that the jeans were gone, I could feel so much more of him. Chris groaned and grasped each side of my face so our lips met in a frantic kiss, and his hands slid down my arms, over my hips, where he pulled me back. My body tried to move toward him in protest, but his strong hands kept me in place.
He stopped kissing me but kept his mouth close enough to mine so I could feel his lips move. “Stay still for a minute?” His voice was shaky, and one hand stayed on my hip while the other traveled down, tracing the edge of my underwear as he made his way down toward my core. His breath was hot against my mouth as his fingers stopped, still touching the edge of my underwear. The only difference now was that he could move his hand a half inch and be right where I needed him.
Something needed to happen to get rid of this ache. Anything. I couldn’t press my legs together because they were spread out over Chris and I needed him to touch me. I wanted him so bad I was close to begging.
He took a choked breath. “Can I—”
“Oh my God, stop asking!” I gripped his arms. “Please. Just do it.”
