Starting over hasn’t gone well for Mercedes Elliott. After making the biggest mistake of her life, moving halfway across the world felt right at the time. But six months later, she’s isolated, dependent on a dangerous relationship with her boyfriend, Jason Marsh, and no closer to rebuilding her once promising legal career. Running low on hope, Mercedes secretly reaches out to the one man she never thought she’d see again.
Former British Intelligence officer Alec McKinley always regretted letting Mercedes slip through his fingers. So when she invites him for coffee, he jumps at the chance to see her. Warm, funny, and still stunningly beautiful, Mercedes draws Alec in as much as ever. But despite her cheerful smile, he can’t ignore the pain hiding in her eyes.
After Jason’s obsession with Mercedes comes to a violent head, she finds herself unable to escape his suffocating grasp. That is, until Alec makes an unexpected offer that could be Mercedes’s saving grace.
But accepting that offer comes at a cost. Being near Alec ignites a flame she thought had burned out long ago. And when they realize Jason is not the man they thought he was, she and Alec uncover a stunning truth about the past that will change everything between them.
Alec opened one of the rear doors. Mercedes climbed in and sighed, laying her head against the seat. After the last few instructions, the team was off, and he joined her in the back seat. She’d already belted herself in and was leaning back with her eyes closed.
When he touched her hand, she opened them and smiled at him. “Alec,” she murmured. Warmth spread through him. How was it just hearing her say his name made him crazy for her?
“You sure you’re alright?” She looked so damn fragile.
Mercedes yawned. “I will be. I just need some sleep.”
“Would you like this?” he asked, reaching behind the seat to take out a heavy faux-fur blanket. “We have a bit of a drive, so I grabbed it for you.”
“Oh, that looks amazing.”
Alec grinned at her and unfurled it over her. He could feel her eyes on him.
Declan got in behind the wheel and maneuvered the car out of its space. Alec moved to the other side and made to buckle in, but her voice stopped him.
“Do you think . . . maybe I can lean on you? Leaning against the window won’t be as comfortable.”
Another thrill of energy shot through him, making his heart jump. Did she realize what she was doing to him?
Alec shifted back to the middle seat and put his arm around her, drawing her in. Mercedes nestled her head against his chest, still vibrating with tremors.
She sighed. “Better be keeping a tally.”
“A tally?”
“Mm-hmm.” She yawned. “A tally of all the favors I owe you. I can’t keep up.”
He chuckled. Even in her exhaustion, she kept her sense of humor. Mercedes burrowed under the blanket, closed her eyes, and was asleep before they reached the motorway.
Alec kept turning his head to check the cars behind them, doing his best not to jostle Mercedes as she slept.
“I could keep a better lookout for tails if your fat head weren’t in the way,” Declan said, amused.
“That’s probably true. Can’t blame me though, aye?”
“Oh, aye. I noticed you didn’t tell her there’s a pillow in the back.”
Alec caught his cousin’s eye in the mirror and smiled sheepishly at him, saying nothing more.
“You doing all right? With, you know, everything?”
Alec shrugged. “I want to kill the son of a bitch. But my priority is getting her whatever she needs.”
“What about when this is over? It’s clear you still have a thing for her.”
Alec looked at Mercedes, breathing softly against him, her face upturned in a way that allowed him to study her features in the fading evening light. She was as close to perfection as he’d ever met. Smart and kind, funny and talented. And so damn beautiful. She could leave him breathless with a look.
Yeah, he still had a thing for her. It didn’t seem to be something he could control. No one but Declan knew how much it had hurt to let her go all those years ago. Long-distance relationships were always challenging, and theirs had been no exception. Add that he hadn’t asked her to make it exclusive, and it all fell apart.
Months later, when Luke let it slip, Mercedes had introduced them to a new man. It had stung. He’d hoped she had found happiness in the person she had chosen. It was hard to swallow that Jason Marsh had been her choice.
Seeing her so shattered now ripped his heart into shreds. How could anyone do so much damage to someone they claimed to love? It wasn’t just the physical abuse, but the way he’d torn her down, stripping away everything she loved, everything she was . . .
Mercedes shifted. Her hand slid up his chest, coming to rest over his heart. She sighed and settled back to sleep.
Alec was getting hard again, and guilt washed over him. She was in crisis, for Christ’s sake. He had to stop thinking of her that way. His cock disagreed.
He needed to get his shit together.
If they were to cross that line, it would mean cutting open his soul and leaving it bare for her to ravage. Alec didn’t think he could go through losing her again.
He swallowed hard. “I don’t know, Dec. I think the chance for anything between us is over.”
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This sounds really intense!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteSounds really great
ReplyDelete