Time can heal wounds. But sometimes, it just f*cks everything up.
Five years ago, I was a lethal weapon for the Donovan crime family. Then I become the Boss and ruled Chicago. Men feared me. Women wanted me. Cops and criminals alike owed their lives and livelihoods to me.
I had it all…until I didn’t.
Now, I’ve been exiled and the woman I never thought I’d see her again is standing before me. A life I refused to believed I could have is suddenly all around me. A love I was too afraid to earn is within my reach.
Unless the life I left behind won’t let me go.
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This week’s featured book from the Tease Me anthology is an enemies-to-lovers romance from Victoria Liiv called Treasure Me.
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Read this excerpt from Victoria Liiv & Olivia Boothe’s Afterworlds.
Excerpt from Afterworld: Road To Redemption by VICTORIA LIIV
“You don’t have to come with me,” she spat. “Just stop the car and let me out.”
We were on West Street, riding toward the Lincoln Tunnel. We had to get out of Manhattan. It was crazy for both of us to be this close to Headquarters after dark. The Holland Tunnel was a wreck and the George Washington Bridge too far away. We’d have to risk the Lincoln. I wasn’t going to let her out. She wouldn’t make it back to the Brooklyn Bridge anyway, she’d be dead in minutes. And I sure as hell wasn’t letting my chance at that weapon slip away that easily.
“Nothing survives a pack of shaitan,” I reiterated. “The sooner you accept it the easier it’ll be.”
For the both of us.
As if she hadn’t heard a word I’d said, she reached for the door handle.
We were going a hundred miles an hour and she thought it was a great idea to open the door? I slammed the brakes before she could endanger the both of us or kill herself jumping out of the speeding vehicle–all in the name of love.
The change in velocity took her by surprise and she flew against the dashboard, letting go of the door she’d opened. It flapped around a couple of times like a baby bird learning to fly before it came to a halt. Leaning across her seat, I pulled her door closed, locking it for good measure.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” I didn’t mean to linger that close to her. Hell, I’d meant to pull back and drive the fuck off the moment the door was securely shut, but I was unable to move. I didn’t realize what triggered my personal inner-demon until I was hit by a whiff of sweat, blood, and underneath all of that grime… something distinctly female.
You caught us a toy, a gravelly voice only I could hear whispered in my ear.
Fuck me.
My eyes roamed down her delicate neck to the curve of her chest. The tight top she wore generously revealed a five-star view of her breasts. Encouraged by the sight, my eyes traveled lower, drinking in her slender shape, all the way down to where she gripped the angelic blade.
Its fiery glint snapped me out of the trance. Thank God—or anyone else willing to listen. That blade only glowed in the presence of Children of the Fire. I slunk back into my own seat. As much as I needed that damn sword to save me, I knew it hungered for my blood.
This week’s featured book from the Tease Me anthology is an enemies-to-lovers romance from Tracy Broemmer called Taste Me.
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Want to read more from Tracy? Check out this excerpt from her newest release End in Flames.
Excerpt from End In Flames by TRACY BROEMMER
Ben set his tray on the table and shrugged out of his coat, all the while wondering what the hell he was doing. He had come here looking for a birthday gift for Heather. Places like this made him jumpy; he still had a funky itch between his shoulders.
Carlie watched him drop into the chair across from him. She stared at him boldly when he studied her face, only a touch of pink in her cheeks. Ben decided the color was the cold weather outside and the overly warm interior of the café. Had nothing to do with him. He was sure of that.
“I get the feeling you don’t come here often.”
He had dropped his gaze to examine the southwestern chicken sandwich she had recommended, but now, he jerked his chin up to look at her again. The smile she wore was more challenging than sweet. Almost flirty.
Which was crazy. A kid like Carlie Beringer wasn’t going to flirt with a guy like him. He gave her a small smile and snagged his cup for a drink.
Too bad. He wouldn’t mind flirting with the blonde. She checked all the boxes—petite, intriguing brown eyes, and pretty pink lips that apparently loved to smile.
Kissable.
Jesus, Ben. Where did that come from?
“I don’t,” he finally found his voice, careful to keep his eyes just over her shoulder. The wall behind her was boring as hell but definitely safer. He sipped his blackberry tea and studied his sandwich again. “I’m looking for a gift.”
“Ah.” Carlie nodded. While he had ordered, she had taken a salad and a cup of soup from her bag, but now she only fiddled with the plastic silverware. “For your wife?”
Startled by her assumption, Ben jerked his gaze up to meet her eyes again.
“No.” He shook his head. She stared at him silently. He could lie. Tell her he was getting something for his sister. But why? They’d bumped into each other accidentally, so maybe this was the universe’s way of letting him know she was okay. A quick lunch together and they would head their separate ways.
Or maybe it was the universe’s way of telling him she wasn’t dating someone named Aaron.
He squirmed in his chair and picked up the sandwich. Carlie blinked and looked at her soup when he took a bite. At least now he could breathe, without her intense stare pinning him in place. He could think.
Just because she wasn’t dating someone named Aaron didn’t mean she was single.
Which didn’t matter in the least, he reminded himself.
“Um. Ex-wife, actually,” he mumbled after he swallowed.
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Want to read more from K.L.? Check out this excerpt from Until June.
Excerpt from UNTIL JUDEBOOK 1 OF THE PULSETUNES ROCK GODS SERIES. by K.L. SHANDWICK
“Fuck,” I mumbled and ran back down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen, with the sound of the Slipknot’s tune still so loud it resonated in my chest. The closer I got to where I’d guessed Joe was, the stronger the smell of burning. Breathless, I reached the kitchen door where smoke bellowed out of the oven, and I eyed flames licking inside the glass door, from the other side of the central breakfast island. The whole expensive chef’s kitchen looked as if a flour bomb had gone off. On the floor lay three raw, broken eggs, and by the look of the impressive skid mark that extended from them and the ‘dance moves’ footprints beside them, he’d obviously trodden on them. Two large bowls half full of raw ingredients sat to one side, like he’d abandoned those and started again. His laptop was perched on the halogen hob, open at a cake recipe page, depicting a picture of a perfect cake, he had likely been following. “Jesus Christ, Joe, what the fuck?” Rushing forward I turned the oven off, opened the patio doors leading out to the decked area, and waved a glass cloth at the wired in fire alarm. “Damn,” I cussed as I strode over to Joe, and shoved his shoulder to rouse him. He looked sluggish and unfocused when he peered back at me through bleary eyes. “Aw, man,” he mumbled as he slowly lifted his head a little off his forearms where he was perched on a stool at the kitchen counter. His head obviously felt too heavy and flopped to one side as he gave me a vacant look. “This isn’t just weed. You’re totally stoned. What the fuck did you drop?” “Just a couple of downers, I couldn’t sleep,” he mumbled almost incoherently. “You were baking a fucking cake … you weren’t supposed to be sleeping,” I barked angrily and rolled my eyes when I caught sight of Esther standing with a worried look on her face, at the kitchen door. The sound of the two-tone siren of a fire engine grew nearer and my eyes closed as they rolled to the back of my head. These people will be the death of me. When I opened my eyes, I softened my gaze at the sight of Esther. “Are you all right, sugar?” I asked calmly, noting that I’d seen her, but I couldn’t spend time babying her until I knew Joe was alright. I turned and strode over to the open fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and went back to my bandmate. “Get on your feet and drink this,” I said, shoving the cold drink at him and dragging him to his feet. “What happened?” Esther asked quietly from the kitchen door. I figured from where she stood, she couldn’t see the oven had been on fire. Fortunately, the cake fire had burnt out and the fresh air had dissipated most of the smoke from the room. “Joe happened. Fucking baking,” I added as if that explained everything. A sharp knock on the front door was simultaneously accompanied by a burly firefighter who’d turned up at the back and peered inside the French doors. “Everything under control?” he asked, looking past me in a quick assessment of the scene when he stepped into the kitchen without being invited. “If you mean is the fire out, yeah, I caught it in time,” I replied. “As for everything else being under control, unless you got a set of cuffs and a cage on your person, I doubt it,” I replied, nodding toward Joe. As if on cue, he climbed back onto the seat and resumed his position on the countertop. “You’re Jude Collymore, right?” he asked, slipping his helmet off and wagging his finger. “In the flesh,” I muttered. Hearing how pissed I’d sounded, I flashed him a smile. “Sorry, dude, I’d just come through the door to all of this,” I explained waving my arm at him and then wider to the new Slipknot heavy metal song blaring through the air and the averted disaster in the kitchen. “Looks like he’s living the dream,” the firefighter joked, glancing at Joe who had fallen asleep again at the counter. “He’ll be living a nightmare when he sobers up,” I shot back. “I have no idea where he even got the ingredients for all this. “You okay in here?” another firefighter asked when he appeared with Esther and interrupted the fireman and me laughing. I realized she’d answered the front door while my attention had been elsewhere. Moving around him she came closer and stood beside me. “Yeah, it was just Julia Child here baking a cake,” the firefighter standing near me remarked. “Right,” his colleague replied sounding less impressed. “You okay, sugar?” I asked Esther again, unconvinced by her initial reply earlier. It had only been a little over three weeks since her mom had passed and she’d been thrown into what could easily have been regarded as a mentalist’s nightmare. She’d looked a little freaked out, so I slung an arm over her shoulder and pulled her closer. She glanced up at me and shrugged that time as if to say, “I have no choice, I need to be.” “Okay, Jude, we’ll check the rest of the place out, just to be sure, reset the smoke alarms, and get on our way.” “Thanks guys, sorry for the disturbance. I’ll make sure we get this idiot a babysitter in future because he sure as shit isn’t baking a cake again.” The serious firefighter’s lips quirked but he stopped himself from laughing.” “Meth n’ Motorcycles is a dope album by the way,” the first firefighter admitted, which had been our second album release. “You’re a fan?” “Sure, got tickets for the gig later this week down south.” “Amazing. Leave your email and I’ll get our assistant to arrange a backstage pass for you to come hang out with us after the gig if you want.” “Fantastic, there’s four of us … would that be, okay?” “Sure, I’ll get Bernadette on it later.” He strode over and shook my hand while his partner had already turned and wandered back out into the hallway. I realized I still had my arm around Esther’s shoulder and glanced back down at her. “Never a dull moment with these guys, huh?” I asked.