We’re both stubborn, calculating, and
controlling.
Mark Dixon doesn’t know what he’s getting
into. He doesn’t know his games could cost us our lives. I have to do what is
necessary to keep us alive, and that means guarding my heart.
But I know I’m defenseless against him,
and in the end, he’ll force me to surrender.
EXCERPT
I look around because the hair on the back of my neck prickles. “We need to get out of here.” Someone is here, watching, listening, and now it’s time to do what I do best. “I’ve missed you.” I smile while I use the tip of my finger to trace his jawline.
Mark’s eyes shift over my head as he pulls me flush against his body. We’re both facing exits. “I’ve missed you more,” he plays along.
This might just work. He’s on alert as well and senses something awry. His fingers splay across my lower back as he holds me close. “Maybe we should head back to my place so you can show me just how much.” I glance over his shoulder. His blonde hair falls in his eyes as he dips his head into my neck. I know the move, but a shiver runs down my spine.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I release a very low moan, which I didn’t give permission to escape. Mark’s lips glide across my skin.
I’m not sure he’s acting.
I’m not even sure that I am.
Then Mark reminds me this is serious. “There are two guys behind you.” His voice is low enough that only I can hear him. To anyone passing, we’re two lovers reacquainting ourselves. “One at my two o’clock, and the other is out of my view.”
“One just passed behind you twice. I think going toward my exit is best.” I snuggle closer. “I’m ready when you are.” The double meaning is meant for anyone to hear, but Mark should know it means I’m ready to disappear. “You’ll have to keep up, though.”
He leans back while cupping my face. His lips hover over mine. “I don’t have any problems keeping you satisfied, princess.”
My pulse spikes. I know he can hear it, feel it, see in my eyes that I’m affected. My breaths are shallow as his hands slowly make their way down my arms.
“Arrogant prick,” I mutter.
I can tell he’d be an incredible lover. His overconfidence would only play to my benefit. We’re both cut from the same cloth, ready to fight for dominance. He’d win, though. I can see it in his eyes. There would be no battle, Mark has already won. Right now, he controls me. He determines whether we kiss, what it’ll be like, and for the first time in my life—I surrender.
His lips come closer. “They’re closing in,” he whispers, his eyes locked on me. “Charlie?” he asks.
“What?” My voice is barely audible.
“This will happen again when we don’t have to fight off people, and then you’ll be mine.”
I don’t have time to reply. His lips crash down on mine as he spins me around so he leads our exit. The second our mouths collide, my brain disconnects. My fingers tangle in his hair, grabbing it to pull him close. Mark’s hands hold my face to his and he continues to guide me. I know we’re moving but I have no idea to where. In this instant, I don’t care. Never has someone made me feel so desperate for them. I never lose control, never feel so lost, yet right now, I am. I’m raw, exposed, and completely vulnerable.
Corinne
Michaels is an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun loving mom of two beautiful
children. She’s happily married to the man of her dreams and is a former Navy
wife. After spending months away from her husband while he was deployed,
reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness.
Both her
maternal and paternal grandmothers were librarians, which only intensified her
love of reading. After years of writing short stories, she couldn’t ignore the
call to finish her debut novel, Beloved. Her alpha Navy SEALs are broken,
beautiful, and will steal your heart.
I fell in
love with Liam only to be left shattered into a million pieces. Again. The idea
of being without him cripples me but the reality is, he’s gone.
He
doesn’t understand and I can’t make him.
If only
he’d see the conviction behind my words—then he’d still be here.
**************
Excerpts
************
Excerpt #1
Time isn’t something I ever thought
much about.
It ebbs and flows, but it never
changes. I can’t make it stop—no matter how much I want to. There’s no way to
rewind the clock or halt it. In this moment, all I want is to make the world
stop and go back to when I was happy and ready to tackle the world. Just two
short minutes ago, there was no worry about how my day would go. I was going
away with the man I love, the one who healed me. But time isn’t my friend. It
slaps me in the face and laughs as I stand here wondering how the hell any of
this is happening. I don’t want to move forward, and I sure as hell don’t want
to slow it down.
Excerpt
#2
His voice is thick and husky as he
refuses to break from my eyes. “Tell me you’re real.”
“I’m real.”
“Tell me you’re really here.”
“I’m here with you.” My hand rises,
and I press my thumb to his lips. “I’m here for you. I’m here with only you. I
need you so much.”
His eyes close as I rub my thumb,
savoring the rough feel on my skin.
“Stay with me,” he pleads.
Liam’s hands rest on each side of my
face as I drag him down further. “There’s nowhere else I want to be.” Our lips
meet, and I lose myself.
But my
husband is dead and I’m alone. I ache for him and I reach for Liam.
One night
with Liam changed everything. Now I have to decide if I truly love him or if
he’s just the consolation prize.
About the Author
Corinne Michaels is an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun
loving mom of two beautiful children. She’s happily married to the man of her
dreams and is a former Navy wife. After spending months away from her husband
while he was deployed, reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness.
Both her maternal and paternal grandmothers were librarians,
which only intensified her love of reading. After years of writing short
stories, she couldn’t ignore the call to finish her debut novel, Beloved. Her
alpha Navy SEALs are broken, beautiful, and will steal your heart.
Review by pearls Corinne Michaels takes you on an emotional journey. You will grieve with Natalie over her lost future with her husband. You will fall in love with Liam as he steps up. And you will feel the tension as things heat up. But it's not a foregone conclusion a romance will happen as guilt gets in the way. He's lost his best friend, she's lost her husband. Are they just filling a void, a consolation for the real thing? Of can this be the real thing if they let it? Be prepared to cry, to laugh, and to fall in love.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means including
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written consent of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places
and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or
publisher.
Prologue
Natalie
“Oh, Chloe, if you’d like to come
out, please wait until your Daddy gets back,” I insist, holding my belly as
another Braxton Hicks contraction hits. I grip the dresser and try to breathe
through it. It seems like they’re coming more frequently.
Once it passes, I try to finish what
I came in here for. Aaron is away, but I want the nursery done so we can enjoy
the next few weeks once he returns. I walk around what will be her room,
putting a few more of the pretty pink dresses in the drawers. Aaron and I have
fought about the vast array of pink things that are now strewn around the
house—he hates it, I love it.
He insisted we paint her room in
camouflage. Brown, green, and black camouflage for a girl? No. I almost sent
myself into labor with that argument. I got home and he and Mark were drawing
it out on the walls. I launched various household items at Mark while throwing
him out of the house. My husband found out shortly after how much he could
suffer by my hands. I may not be a SEAL, but you don’t mess with me either. In
the end, I won with purple walls and the sheer netting around her white crib.
“Daddy’s going to love this room,
Chloe. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees the pretty butterflies.”
Needing to take another break, I sit in the rocking chair and rub my stomach.
It soothes me knowing she’s in there. I can protect her—it’s my job. I love
being pregnant and it’s a miracle we were able to conceive her. I’ve already
told Aaron I want to try for another one as soon as she’s born. I close my eyes
and sink, allowing the world to fade away.
I imagine holding her in my arms,
sitting here in this chair, soothing and kissing her. I picture Aaron with her
asleep on his chest as she gets to hear his heartbeat. She’ll own his world and
have him wrapped around her finger.
Knock, knock, knock.
I hear the door, but it takes me a
few seconds to get out of the chair.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.
They bang louder this time.
“Coming!” I yell at the door. Jeez,
give me a second.
Waddling to the door takes me a minute
since I’m the size of a whale.
I open the door and see Mark Dixon,
Aaron’s boss and close friend. He works at Cole Security Forces with Aaron and
served with him for years. His head is hanging low and when he looks up, his
eyes are full of sorrow.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lee,” he chokes on the one syllable
of my name. The one Aaron uses. Something is definitely not right.
“What happened?” I ask again as I
begin to shake.
Tears fill his eyes and I know. I
know my life is never going to be the same. I know everything I’ve ever feared
is about to come true because Mark doesn’t cry. Mark wouldn’t be at my door if
something weren’t really, really wrong. “It’s Aaron.”
My heart stops beating and the world
I live in ceases to exist. “Don’t,” I beg with tears blurring my vision and my
breath accelerating.
This can’t be happening.
“Please, don’t, Mark. Please,” I beg
him again, because once he says it…but I know it’s futile. It doesn’t matter
because he can’t stop it. It’s already happened.
“Natalie, I’m so sorry.”
The dreaded words that every
military wife fears. Only I wasn’t supposed to have to worry about this
anymore. We were done. We got out. I wasn’t supposed to ever fear this again.
Please, God,
don’t take him from me. Please!
“But, I’m p-pregnant. I’m having a
baby,” I stammer as if that will somehow make none of this real. “He said he’d
be back. He said he…” I trail off as it becomes difficult to breathe. My hand
flies to my mouth to stifle the scream about to escape. Everything goes
colorless.
“It was an IED. I’m sorry,” Mark
says as his eyes glimmer with unshed tears.
I fall.
But he’s there, cradling me in his
arms. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“No. No. No.” Mark holds me as I sob
clutching my stomach. “You’re lying,” I hiss, tearing myself out of his
embrace.
“I wish I were,” he says as I
struggle to get up.
“It was a mistake. He’s having a
baby. He said it was a simple in and out!” I scream and throw my hands against
his chest. “You’re lying!” I scream, even knowing it’s not a lie.
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying you’re sorry!” My
sorrow turns to hatred. I hate him. I hate everyone in this moment. I hate
Aaron and everyone who was there. I hate this house and everything in it. I
hate the air that he no longer breathes. Hate consumes me. Hate smothers me. “Get
out!” I yell and push against his chest. “Get the fuck out of my house! Aaron
will be back in a few days and then we’re going to get ready for our daughter
to be born.”
“Please,” Mark beseeches and I
refuse to look at him.
This isn’t happening because Aaron’s
alive.
He’s not dead. How dare Mark lie to
me.
“He’ll be back. He wouldn’t leave
me. He promised.” Aaron wouldn’t lie to me. He never does. When he left for
missions, he would always say goodbye like it could be our last. But this time
he kissed the tip of my nose and said, “Now don’t have that baby until I get
back.”
“Can I call someone? Your mom?”
“No, you can’t call anyone because
he’s not dead! Go get him, Mark! Go get my husband and bring him home.” I step
back pointing my finger at him. “You all promised. He promised.” I clutch my
stomach as a sharp pain radiates, but it’s nothing compared to the agony
sitting on my chest. Tears flow relentlessly as I struggle against his hold.
“He promised.”
“I know he did,” Mark says as he
holds my head against his chest.
“He lied.”
My life is gone.
My heart is dead.
I’m a widow at twenty-seven.
Excerpt
Aarabelle sits in her highchair as I feed her dinner. She’s
growing so fast. Already she’s eating cereal and a little baby food. Soon
she’ll be crawling and I have no one to celebrate with. Her father will never
see these milestones and it breaks me apart.
“You should really lock the door,” Liam huffs as he throws
his coat over the chair.
“But then I’d have to get up to let you in,” I state
matter-of-factly and go back to feeding the baby, trying to put aside my
worries. The fact is…this is reality. I have to deal with it.
“Uh huh. Hey, Pumpkin,” his eyes alight as he crouches down
by Aara. It’s adorable hearing grown men use a baby voice. It gets a little
softer and higher pitched.
The corners of her mouth lift and she throws her arms in the
air when he gets close. My heart sputters seeing how happy she gets seeing him.
Liam kisses her head and she giggles.
“At least someone is happy to see me,” he says playfully.
“I’d be happy if you brought me a present,” I joke.
He laughs and goes into the pocket of his coat. “Just so
happens I did, but since that’s the only way you’ll be nice, I’ll hold on to
this until you’ve earned it.”
Practically leaping out of my chair, I rush over. “What is
it?” I try to peer around his back as he holds the mystery item.
Liam’s lips curl as he sees how much I want this. I don’t
even know what it is. Jeez, I’m an idiot. “Nope. We eat first, then maybe
you’ll get it.”
“Watch, it’s a freaking Pez dispenser or something stupid.”
“Guess you’ll have to be nice to find out.” He shoves the
item into his back pocket and I fight the urge to reach and get it. “How was
work?”
We spend the next thirty minutes going over my day and
Jackson’s return. Liam never mentioned that they spoke, but he’s surprised to
hear he’s in Virginia. After we finish the pizza, Liam somehow convinces me we
should watch a movie. I get Aarabelle to bed and come down to find him sprawled
out on the couch.
“By all means, make yourself comfortable.”
Liam pulls his beanie higher on his forehead and his eyes
glimmer with amusement. He sits up and puts the TV on. “I picked the movie.”
“What?” I ask with mock incredulity. “It’s my house. Why do
you get to pick the movie?”
“Ummm, I’m the guest.” He shrugs as if this should be an
obvious answer.
I groan and lean back. “What crappy, shoot-‘em-up movie do I
have to endure?”
“You’ll see. It’s a classic.”
Excerpt
#2
I lift my head and press my lips against his. His hand
cradles my cheek and he holds me as we kiss. I grab his neck and feel the
weightlessness from letting a little part of myself go. He kisses me adoringly
and cautiously, allowing me to lead but still commanding me. I lose myself a
little more as I moan when his hand presses against the small of my back.
“Let go,” he says against my mouth. “Let me take it for
you.”
Before I can say anything, his mouth is on mine again. Our
tongues thrash against each other as the kiss becomes hungry. He pulls me close
so there’s no space between us. The low sound resonates through his chest,
sending shivers down my spine. It’s sexy, and before I know it, my hands are
traveling to his chest. I pull his shirt out and my fingers trail up his chest.
I want to feel his skin.
Liam breaks the kiss. “Natalie,” my name is both a plea and
a request.
“Shhh,” I instruct him as I unbutton his shirt. “I want to
feel your heart.”
My hands glide up and he trembles beneath my touch. We stand
here with my fingers resting on his chest, feeling his heart beat beneath me.
He’s alive and here with me. His hands stay at his sides as he once again lets
me decide where I’m going with this.
“I want to touch you so bad,” he admits and his hand lifts
then drops. “I’m fighting every muscle in my body right now.”
Corinne Michaels is an emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun
loving mom of two beautiful children. She’s happily married to the man of her
dreams and is a former Navy wife. After spending months away from her husband
while he was deployed, reading and writing was her escape from the loneliness.
Both her maternal and paternal grandmothers were librarians,
which only intensified her love of reading. After years of writing short
stories, she couldn’t ignore the call to finish her debut novel, Beloved. Her
alpha Navy SEALs are broken, beautiful, and will steal your heart.
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