The first time I see him-really see him-is the exact moment my brain short-circuits, my pulse betrays me, and my body forgets how doors work. I should've spun on my heel, mumbled something unintelligible, and vanished like an unfinished thought. But instead, I just... stand there. Rooted to the spot. It's not just the way he looks-though, let's be honest, that alone is a problem.
He's all devastating sharpness and quiet, effortless authority, the kind of presence that doesn't just exist in a room but owns it. The air shifts around him like it knows better, like it's making room for something-someone-important. And I? I am suddenly very aware of my own breathing. But it's his gaze that truly undoes me. He looks at me like he already knows. Like he's reading every stammer I haven't spoken, every nervous fidget I haven't made yet. Like I'm an open book and he's leisurely flipping through my pages while I stand here malfunctioning.
I should leave. Apologize for existing. Maybe softly dissolve into mist. But I don't.
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It started with therapy.
Mia Parker was supposed to be healing, not developing a mild (read: major) addiction to her ridiculously intense therapist. Adrian Wolfe is smooth, unreadable-dangerous in a way that makes her pulse do things it shouldn't. But hey, who doesn't have a little emotional damage these days?
Then the weird stuff starts. The calls. The messages. The undeniable feeling that someone's watching her. Totally normal, right? (Wrong.) Because when her psycho ex, Ethan, slithers back into the picture, things go from maybe I need help to okay, I'm definitely getting murdered.
The worst part? She has no idea which man she should be running from.
Marcus Thorne wears several masks in his life-playing retired pirate, Captain Hawk, is his favorite, but if his secret is discovered, he could die. Captivated by his enemy's daughter, Marcus kidnaps her, but in turn, she captures his heart... until he discovers Isabelle is one of Napoleon's spies with the power to endanger his life and the lives of his friends.
After her release, Isabelle can't stop thinking about her masked abductor and how he'd stolen her heart before ridding her of his presence. Betrothed to a man who strangely reminds her of the man whose kisses set her ablaze, she marries him, only to discover he's not who he seemed to be and is withholding secrets. But then, so is she.
Content warning: This story contains a mild amount of violence and kidnapping... along with plenty of falling in love.