𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐌𝐞
LANA
It was supposed to be simple.
A favor for Caleb. All I had to do was play the part of his girlfriend, just long enough to convince an unwanted admirer to back off.
We've always been close.
Believable.
Safe.
But everything changes when Kane Deveraux walks back into town.
He has always been a locked door. Cold, distant, impossible to read. But the man who came back is different. Now, his gaze holds me a moment too long, a silent, weighty thing. I see the muscle in his jaw tighten when Caleb's hand brushes my arm.
The air itself changes when he's in the room. That old, empty silence between us is now full, taut with something unspoken that he brought back with him. I don't understand this new tension, this sharp, unwelcome awareness that pricks at my nerves.
I only know that the safe, simple world I built is gone. And I can no longer pretend that I want it back.
KANE
I told myself I could forget her.
I let oceans and cities grow between us, believing the distance would smother her memory. I thought leaving was the cure.
It was a lie.
Every day away from Lana Reyes carved at me. The echo of her laugh, the memory of how she could light a space just by breathing in it was a ghost I couldn't escape.
I thought coming home would cauterize the wound. That I would find her a stranger, or find myself numb.
Then I saw her. Standing beside him. Beside my brother.
And the world went up in flames.
The want I buried. The hunger I denied. It all roared back the second her smile landed on someone who wasn't me.
I've tried restraint. I've tried silence.
None of it matters now.
Bloodlines mean nothing where she's concerned. If taking her means breaking every rule, if wanting her means shattering my family.
Then so be it.
Because Lana Reyes isn't just another girl. She's the only thing I've ever wanted enough to burn everything for.
She was never his to begin with.
And I'll take her. Consequences be damned.
Mature, steamy, and dark romance content ahead.