Hooking up with her best friend's brother is Sam's childhood crush come true, but to have a future together, she'll have to overcome her past. ***** Sam Larson has always known Mason Wells is off-limits. He's her best friend's brother, and their family took her in when she needed somewhere to go as a teen. She thought she'd let her crush go, but seeing him at his sister's wedding brings all those old feelings back. And then some. Hooking up is one thing, but to have a real relationship, Sam will have to wrestle with the past she fears if she's going to have the future she longs for. [[Word count: 60,000-70,000]] Cover designed by @OutofMyLimit17 Content Warning: This book contains references to drug use, childhood neglect, and intimate partner abuse.

First, I caught him with her in a restaurant on the anniversary of the day we met. He explained it all. Then, he came home with lipstick by his ear. He explained that, too. I found a secret phone with texts between them. He denied it was his and explained it away. But when I found out something he had lied about... That he couldn't explain.

Esme Things can become clear in a second. When I found Tanner in his office with that woman, so many things became obvious. Tanner's always held himself back from me, but now, secrets and lies come tumbling out into the light. He's never loved me and he never will. I'm no longer willing to be a placeholder in his life, and I have to end our marriage. Tanner I'd been married for four years to someone I didn't believe I loved because I thought I still loved another woman. A woman I had to give up when I chose to marry my wife after I got her pregnant. Now, the other woman's back, she's divorced and is telling me it's our time to be together. Just as soon as I divorce my wife, who's pregnant with our second child. The allure of the past was impossible to resist, so I gave in, met her at my office and my wife found us just...after. So many things became clear to me even before I looked into my wife's devastated eyes. What had I done? I knew what I'd done, and now I had to prove to my wife that she's the one I want.

I was supposed to be protecting her. Instead, I left her to help my former girlfriend. And she was badly hurt on my watch. Now, she won't talk to me and I can't get to her for a year. I'll work the rest of my life to regain her trust, earn her forgiveness and prove to her she's the woman I love.

I thought our arranged marriage had turned into love for both of us. I discovered how wrong I was the day I gave birth to our premature son and found my husband taking comfort from another woman. The woman he loved.