The rules were simple. Protect the woman I love. And try to stop loving her along the way.Kane Montgomery Carr and Phoebe Dixon's romance went from a fiery temptation to a fizzled out heartbreak.
Only Kane has no idea why.
All he knows is that he has to keep her safe when a stalker sets Phoebe in their sights.
Yet as the two of them are forced once again into each other's lives, the truth behind their breakup surfaces and they are forced to face the facts: the feelings and heat they buried aren't quite as gone as they'd like.
If they give in, they'll have to face the demons that broke them up in the first place—including a startling secret that shocks them both.
Yet if they don't, they might lose the chance of a life time.
That is, of course, if they can survive what lurks in the shadows for them both.
EXCERPT
©Carrie Ann Ryan 2024
Then
I knew one day I would die. That the monsters of my nightmares would creep into my days and suddenly I would be taken from this earth. Perhaps the monster would be time itself and I would be old and happy. My family would surround me and I would not be alone.
Or it could be the other nightmare where I was eaten by a bear because my friend wanted to go hiking, and here I was, waiting for a bear to eat me.
“Tell me again why I’m out here in the middle of the forest waiting for a bear to rip my face off. Or perhaps a mountain lion. Or a snake. Or an armadillo.” My voice went a little high-pitched, and my roommate and best friend Claire just looked at me, raising a brow.
“We’re in Colorado, not Texas. You’re not going to be bitten to death by an armadillo. Not that armadillos eat people.” She frowned as she said it, as if not sure she was telling the truth. For all she knew, there were man-eating armadillos that only lived in the mountains of Colorado.
I narrowed my gaze at her, my lips twitching as I held back a laugh. “You don’t know that. Perhaps at night when you think they’re just rummaging around for bugs or whatever in people’s yards, they’re actually looking for ways to infiltrate your house so they can eat your eyes right out of your sockets as you’re sleeping.”
Claire tripped over her own feet and nearly landed face-first on the rocks. She caught herself, hands out, as she looked over her shoulder and glared at me.
“You’re having a waking nightmare about bears, and suddenly you want me to have a weird eye-eating armadillo phobia? Are you serious right now?”
I shuddered even as I thought back to my words and held out my hands to keep Claire steady. “Okay, perhaps that was a little ridiculous, but it’s really not my fault.”
“Just because you say that in a high-pitched voice doesn’t actually absolve you of any responsibility.”
Claire grabbed onto my hand and squeezed and I just laughed, shaking my head.
An older couple walked by, walking sticks in hands, and they glared at the two of us.
I didn’t know if it was because we were holding hands, or that I had just yelled about armadillos trying to eat us.
“There are children here,” the older woman said, and Claire tangled her fingers with mine.
No, Claire and I were not a couple—we had never wanted to be a couple. In fact, neither one of us was attracted to the other. However, if this woman had a problem with us holding hands, we weren’t going to stop.
“Really, speaking of gouging out eyeballs? What would your children think?” The woman clucked her tongue at us and continued to walk, her husband rolling his eyes behind her.
Claire dropped my hand, her shoulders shaking as she held back a laugh.
“Well, at least that disdain was because I’m a monster rather than anything else,” I muttered under my breath.
“Oh, I would fight to the end of the world for you for your rights, but not for your fetish about giving me nightmares.” Claire wiped her hand on her jeans again since she had fallen back on a rock behind about a mile back. Of course, I had fallen right before her, so it wasn’t that she was klutzy, we both were. So going on a hike in the mountains on a public trail where there were countless others watching us be idiots? A totally correct move.
“Okay, let’s continue this monster of a hike,” Claire grumbled and I laughed, releasing her arm as we made our way down the path.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐓 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐍 𝐑𝐘𝐀𝐍'𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 HERE
Pheobe and Kane had a great relationship until one day, when she up and left him. He still doesn't understand what went wrong, but regardless of their past, he needs to protect her from a stalker who calls and sends her letters.
I finished this Book in one day and loved every bit of it.
The meet-cute with Phoebe and Kane was too funny, and OMG, Carrie Ann Ryan has my eyes popping out with the whopper of a secret that she drops in chapter…nope, I'm not going to tell you; you have to read the book to find out.
Aiden Snow and Isabelle Ruther did a fabulous job with the audiobook narration; if you listen, you get a bonus Epilogue, which made me laugh out loud a couple of times.
I recommend this book to readers who enjoy STEAMY Romantic Suspense reads, Second-Chance-at-Love Romances, New-Adult Romances, Right-Person / Wrong-Time Romances, or touch-her-and-die Romances.
Happy Reading!!!
**I have voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Readers Copy of this book for my Blog, Nadine's Obsessed with Books**
You can find Carrie Ann Ryan Here:
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