Series: Unguarded Series
Title: Exposed (Unguarded #1) & Divided (Unguarded #2)
Author: Ivy Stone
Genre: Romance Suspense
We were on opposite sides of the law.
He was a cop.
She was a criminal.
Together we were chaos.
Our worlds collided with a violent crash, the impact stronger than either of us could have ever imagined. But we didn't realize until the damage was done and we had more than just broken bones.
Leaving our hearts unguarded only led to destruction.
It exposed us both to a war we never saw coming.
One explosive encounter brought us together.
One infatuation led to a love like no other.
One secret tore us apart.
We were strangers.
Two people on different paths that were never meant to cross.
He saved me.
I ruined her.
We had no control.
We were powerless against fate.
It wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t right, but it was real.
Ours was a toxic love. So lethal it was destined to ruin us both, and it did. In the end, everything went wrong for all the right reasons.
Our lives divided. But our love would be infinite.
A forbidden crush.
A destructive romance.
A fierce love.
“You’re not walking home alone, Lindsey. Give me a minute to let Roamyn know I’m heading out and I’ll walk with you.”
I stand up straighter, crossing my arms. “I don’t need an escort for the whole three-minute walk to my loft, Detective. I’m quite capable of walking myself home.”
“Not asking for your permission, sweetheart. Doing it anyway,” he retorts, locking me in between the bar and his body. The air becomes thin, my breathing deepens and my body temperature rises. Why does he have to get so close?
A stubbornness matching my own stares back at me and I blurt out the only thing that might deter him from wanting to accompany me home. “I’m not having sex with you.”
He chuckles and the sound is divine, yet surprising to hear from a man who’s so intense. It would be music to my ears if he wasn’t so frustrating.
“Never thought you were going to, Linds. Now are you going to stand here and throw a tantrum some more, or are we leaving so we can both get home to our beds?”
My brows furrow. “It’s Lindsey. Not Linds,” I reply swiftly, my nickname sounding far too satisfying leaving his kissable lips. More of that and I’ll be begging for him to take me on the sidewalk.
“Oliver calls you Linds,” he points out.
“Well, yeah, he does, Mason. We’ve been best friends for seventeen years. He was allowed nickname rights after two of those.”
“Linds,” he reiterates, his tone now more serious than playful. “Shut down your sass and get your ass moving.” Seriously? Who the hell does this man think he is? I sigh, my eyes itchy from lack of sleep and my head’s now pounding. “Fine, you win this round. But don’t ever expect it to happen again.”
“Be back,” he mumbles as he marches off to where Detective Tate, who I now know is Roamyn, is sitting, his back to us with two blondes either side of him. Hesitating, Mason stops mid-stride. “Don’t go anywhere.” Yelling over the music, he eyes me like I’m about to make a run for it.
“Not moving, Mason, now hurry up.” I jab my arm out, gesturing for him to get a move on. If he doesn’t hurry up, I will leave.
After a quick goodbye and cheeky grin from Roamyn, I let Mason lead us out of the bar while giving him the directions to the loft.
Leaning in so close I can feel his hot breath on my ear, he whispers, “Lead the way, sweetheart.”
I melt, melt into a puddle of mush this gorgeous man created the moment he opened his mouth. Those deep blue hues, that foreign chuckle, his hard chest, and that dark hair on top of his head that I just want to run my fingers through, it all screams bad news at my carefully crafted routine I call life.
I want him, bad. I want him to slap those cuffs on, tell me what a bad girl I’ve been, and fuck me into oblivion. I hold back my grin. This is so not going to end well.
“Ali.”
A shudder rolls through me at the gruff sound of his voice. When he says my name it’s like nothing else. I close my eyes and let it soothe me in a way only he’s capable of doing. Off balance, still imagining his face behind my eyes, words fall from my mouth without thought. “Thanks for letting me stay over tonight. I’m exhausted, though.” I reopen my eyes and point to the lounge taking up most of the living room. “I think I’m just gonna go to sleep.”
A few giant footsteps in my direction and Roamyn’s all but a touch in front of me.
Nerves swallow my words and I gulp, my throat bobbing with the movement. His frown deepens, jaw ticks. Hands slide to the back of my neck, pulling me in before I can stop him from getting dangerously close. My body stiffens at the firmness of his touch. Pleasure spirals through every crevice of my body because this is heaven and hell. Pleasure and torture. Familiarity. This is Roamyn. Strong and firm. Always.
He lowers his head to mine, so close I feel his breath warm my face. “I nearly lost you today, babe. Are you really gonna pretend after the day we had… after the past seven fuckin’ years of this… us.” He gives my neck a gentle squeeze. “That you don’t want to know what it would feel like to have my lips kissing your skin? My cock deep inside of you while I give you everything I should have a long time ago?”
His words become whispers of truth in my ear. I do want it. I’ve wanted it since I was fifteen years old. Warmth trails against my skin as Roamyn’s nose caresses my cheek before bringing his face back to mine.
“I want to feel you, Ali. I want to feel us together just once before you shut me out.”
My chest tightens at the pain cutting through the last of his words. He knows. He knows I’m about to close the door on every moment, every laugh, every crazy second we’ve shared together. I can’t move forward with him holding my hand, not anymore. And I can’t fall back to an addiction I won’t escape twice. And I will fall, I’ll fall because I’m still too weak for him. I’m walking a tightrope and one small slip in the wrong direction will send me crashing down. Because I’m powerless against Roamyn Tate and the hold he has over me.
He’s my heart.
My soul.
My Kryptonite.
He’ll be my undoing.
This is how it has to be. At least for now. On my own. Fighting for myself. Dependent on no one because if I were to lose him now, I’ll lose myself too. I can’t be dependent on him to give me a reason for living. I need to be enough, for me. But maybe, just once, for one night, could we forget about everything else and just give in. We can forget about the past, ignore the future and bask in a moment we’ll spend forever chasing.
I bite the inside of my cheek. What am I thinking? I’m not strong enough for just once and our hearts will always want more.
My lips part and heavy breaths fall through my small voice. “One time will never be enough. We both know that.”
His eyes soften. His other arm comes up where he cups my cheek. “You’re right. But I’m hoping once is all it’ll take to make you realize no matter what, we’re always better together than we are apart.”
His hope weighs me down. How can he possibly believe that? We’re chaos and crashes, not roses and happiness.
“We’ve been a lot of things, Roam. But together isn’t one of them.”
I lower my head thinking how time has changed everything.
Years of hearing his smooth voice lift me up and pull me down.
Years of accidental touches, stolen glances, and forbidden feelings.
I fought against us.
He fought for the both of us.
He pulled away.
I pushed back.
We’re a mess. Reckless. Beautiful. Destructive, and I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.
The last of my resolve peels away with the what ifs, maybes and my shameful lack of self-preservation. God, I’m a masochist.
Roamyn lifts my chin, giving me no choice but to look at him. To face what I’ve just allowed to happen.
His hands glide down my sides, firm and slow. Reaching my hips, they splay around my ass. Wetness pools between my thighs and my eyes close, breathing in his touch, his scent, the uneven strumming of my heart. I want to capture every piece of this moment and lock it away, somewhere deep, hidden. Where I can treasure it forever. Roamyn pulls me against him and my hands fly to his hard chest. We’re nose to nose. Lips barely apart. Bodies molding to one when he rolls his hips forward, his hardness thrusting up against me. An inferno rages in my core. Light moans fall from my lips, spurring on my hands that are now gripping his thick, muscled arms. My breathing, needy. My body, anxious.
His hands loosen around my ass and glide under my top, all the way up to my breasts where he pulls the cups back and grazes my nipples. He rubs over the tight buds and a shiver shoots up my spine. I arch my back into him and he kisses my shoulders, my neck, across my cheek, trying to bring us impossibly closer. His thigh meshes between my legs and I grind against him, all inhibitions gone. I bite down on my lip to hold in everything I want to say but know I shouldn’t. And somehow he knows, I can see it in his frown, those eyebrows all drawn in. His square jaw, tight with anticipation, just waiting for me to come to my senses and put a stop to this. But his hungry almond eyes contradict every other feeling. Lust swirls behind them and the look, one I’m so familiar with, one I’ve committed to memory stares back at me with as much fire inside his eyes as I feel coursing through my body.
A minute passes, or maybe it’s seconds. “Good. Because I’ve waited far too fucking long to do this.”
All air escapes me as his face descends on mine. His lips conceal any coherent response. Our tongues tangle with unrelenting need. Fingers twirl through my hair until Roamyn knots it in his hand followed by a gentle tug. The pull spikes excitement and goosebumps coat my skin as he brushes light kisses against my exposed throat.
Lust. Love. Excitement. Years of the most torturous foreplay explodes from both of us as we tear at each other’s clothes. As my fingers claw at his back. As our world’s shift from one dimension to the next because nothing, nothing has ever felt like this. It’s all consuming—electric. Seven years in the making. A night I’ll never forget.
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