| Cross My Heart... |

and hope to die...

Meerab Arsalan had it all. The warm, healthy childhood, perfect teeth, stellar education, the best friends a girl could ask for, enough money to live a comfortable life & still have some left over every month for the Net-A-Porter hauls, & most importantly, the drop dead gorgeous, sinfully charismatic soulmate who was as amazing on the inside as he looked on the outside.

Until she was faced with the daunting realisation that he wasn't all roses, warm honey & Victoria Sponge cake on the inside as she'd thought him to be...

Delta Force operative Murtasim would've sooner made himself sniper target practice at the Fort Bragg HQ base than entertained the thought of a 'girl next door' variety female stumbling into his life (and his mission), wrapping him around her tiny, adorably plump pinky, & getting him to the alter all within a few months of knowing her

And yet here he was, still alive & being dragged around Charlotte, North Carolina for cake tastings & tuxedo fittings by the said 'girl next door' variety female. And to say he loved it would be an overstatement, but to say he adored the living daylights out of her wouldn't be.

Until someone decided they wanted to take the one thing he adored in the big bad world away from him.

Pasts resurfaced, monsters roared all around, and worse, the ones inside him were unleashed until he wasn't just fighting for her, but fighting her to make sure they somehow made it back to the pretty picket fence, porch swing, & breakfasts in bed life they'd dreamed of.

A short story by DelilahUpInTheClouds.
Cover by the talented moonshine_1

The hero's & heroine's first names have been inspired by PTV show Tere Bin.