[BOOK 1]
"I won't leave" I whisper, and he smiles, "I know, baby" he says softly, and my lips tug upwards
into a smile.
"You're the exception" he continued, his tone tender as he pressed a short, sweet kiss to my forehead.
I didn't know it then, but I started falling in love with Finn Brookes, we were each other's exceptions.
*
*
*
Lily Garcia didn't come to university looking for love-especially not with someone like Finn Brooks. He's charming, infuriating, and a walking complication she doesn't need. But no matter how hard she tries to keep her distance, there's something about him that feels like gravity, pulling her closer with every encounter. Beneath his cocky exterior, she senses the fractures he tries to hide-the same ones she's been running from her entire life.
Finn's been through hell, and love isn't part of the plan. He's good at keeping his walls high, locking out anyone who might get too close. But then Lily shows up, and suddenly his carefully controlled life begins to unravel. She's everything he didn't know he was missing, and that scares him more than he's willing to admit.
But with their pasts threatening to destroy what they could be, and old friends trying to drive a wedge between them, trust becomes their biggest hurdle. And when a new love interest steps into the picture, everything Lily and Finn thought they were building starts to fall apart.
Fighting their demons was never supposed to include each other, but now they have to decide if the risk of heartbreak is worth the reward of finally letting someone in.
He brushed his lips against my jaw, his dark hair falling over his brow. "Open your eyes," he commanded. "Look at me."
I followed his orders and looked into the raven-black depths before me. I saw my entranced gaze reflected in his glaring one. "Tell me what you see."
I kept on looking at him, searching for something, anything, that remained of the person he used to be.
They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. But his eyes were so dark, so empty . . .
"Nothing. I see nothing," I whispered.
He smirked, his gaze still on me. He pulled away, leaving me feeling cold.
"Exactly. You see nothing - that's because there's nothing there."
**
How much can a person change in just three years?
Short and full of fiery spirit, Hanna Jordan is a gifted college student who is enrolled in one of the most prestigious culinary programs in the country. She's just returned from three years of study in France and is anxious to reconnect with her longtime friend, Rian Aronhalt.
However, when she does finally see him, she's startled to find that he's become an entirely different person. Cold, ill-tempered, and exceptionally attractive, Rian is absolutely nothing like his old self. Worst of all, he claims he doesn't even remember her.
Despite their differences, both are haunted by dark memories of the past, which form a poisonous bond between Hanna and Rian that neither can escape from.
Can they both heal from the scars time left behind, and find love in the process?