''Tell me how it feels,'' he whispers.
"Good," I gasp, my entire body trembling. Deeper. Harder. Perfect -- like we've been doing this for years.
His hand finds my jaw, fingers firm as he tilts my head up, making me look at him. And that's it.
Wav...
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Whitney's life is a balancing act. Bound by love. Held by fear. She hides the bruises of her heart behind soft smiles and warm hands. The stars whisper promises of escape, but she knows the truth they carry. It's too late.
Faro lives by the law, haunted by shadows that his badge can't banish. His unshakable demeanour hides a man fighting his father's dark blood. It's his calling, and it's his cage, but then there's her—a ray of sun in winter, beautifully warm, achingly untouchable.
Their worlds collide on fault lines of pain. Police uncover a dangerous network of corruption. Whitney's world unravels. Love is forbidden, justice demands sacrifice, and the stakes have never been higher.
How far is anyone willing to go to protect the things they love?
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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 (sneak peek)
D E C E M B E R 31st 1 year, 2 months after the proposal
The whiskey is warm, the kind of warmth that numbs more than it burns. The party swirls around new house banisters—a kaleidoscope of colours, laughter, and music, but Faro Wyatt is tethered to his place in the shadow.
Except, she's here.
A flame in the center of the room, Whitney's skin glows under the low lights, and a burnt gold sundress clings to her in ways that make it impossible to look away. She dances, she lives, she breathes—and it's like sunlight bursting across the floor.
Faro stays in his cold, holding his tumbler just a bit tighter. His eyes, though, never leave her.
The home pulses with music, a shrine to celebration. It's Fox's party—Faro's kid brother. Too much money, too much time, too much everything.
But never too much of her. A year and a half since meeting her, and it won't ever be enough.
Her freckled nose is a constellation, a universe etched into her skin. He's mapped every star in stolen glances and dreams he can't admit to having.
An arm slides around her waist, lips press to the crown of her head, and she's pulled away.
Faro drains his glass, the whiskey humming somewhere deep in his bones.
The minutes drag. The hours fade. Faro waits for one moment, just one—
She's on the balcony, leaning against the railing, that dress covering almost every inch of skin. And she's alone.
Faro doesn't think; he collects two things and he moves.
The air bites when he steps outside. She startles when he drapes a royal blue blanket over her shoulders, a laugh bubbling up from her throat when she sees him.
"Officer Wyatt. How gallant."
"Your boyfriend left," he says, handing her a mug of hot chocolate. She might hear it as a question, but he already knows the answer.,
"He and his brother have work in the morning." She sips her drink, the steam curling around her face. "Thanks for this."
The snow falls in thick flakes, the forest blurring into a painting.
"Do you think it'll be a happy new year?" Her voice is soft like she's afraid of the answer.
"It's a beginning." It's the closest thing to hope he's allowed himself in years.
She nods and leans against him, her shoulder pressing into his, and it's everything he's ever wanted and nothing he can ever have.
Inside, Chris, his sister-in-law, sits at the grand piano. The first notes of Auld Lang Syne drifting out from the party.
Whitney shifts. There are tears on her cheeks, freezing into tiny crystals. She attempts a laugh, brushing them away with the back of her hand. "Sorry I'm such a mess."
You're beautiful, he says, but it's lost to the winds of last year.
As the clock strikes midnight, Camila's fireworks light up the sky from a clearing in the trees, gold, red, and white.
Whitney leans into Faro, her breath hitching on a sob she can't quite swallow. "Sorry," she whispers again. "I'm so sorry."
Every word he's never said is trapped behind his teeth, burning like the whiskey.
She looks up at him then, eyes wide and glassy, with snowflakes in her lashes. For a second, for a heartbeat, for the briefest moment in all the world, Faro forgets the rules. The world tilts. He's so close he can taste the salt of her tears, and then—
"Happy New Year," she whispers.
It's not a wish—it's a plea.
She is still standing there, still crying, still beautiful, and all he can do is nod. "Happy New Year."
He offers his shoulder. It's all he has, but never enough.
Because she's not his.
COMING JANUARY 2025
WELCOME, ONCE MORE, TO BOOK 3. HERE'S THE COVER.
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✩ ˚ . ⋆ ☾ ⋆ ✧ ˚ ✩ . ⋆ ☾ ⋆ ✧ thoughts? please let me know
until launch, tell me what you think will happen here
and tell me what you want to happen here
Update: BETWEEN HAS LAUNCHED❗️
Love, Laurel ✩ ˚ . ⋆ ☾ ⋆ ✧ ˚ ✩ . ⋆ ☾ ⋆ ✧
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