FRACTURED LINES- by Jen McLaughlin
October 2014
The lines we once crossed so easily have widened and torn us apart…
Once upon a time I thought Finn and I would live happily ever after, but real life doesn't always have a happy ending. He's testing my trust, and I'm losing faith in the man I thought I'd spend the rest of my life with, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. He’s the one I trusted to keep me safe, but now he’s the source of my greatest pain…
Forgiveness is fragile, and some fractures never fully heal...
One mistake—a slip in a moment of weakness—might cost me everything I've worked so hard for. The thing about trust is that it's a lot easier to lose than it is to build. Just as I'm about to give up and surrender to the demons from my past, an unexpected threat reminds me what I'm best at: protecting the woman I love. Whether or not she wants me, I will fight for Carrie and our daughter, and I will keep them safe—no matter the cost.
Even if I have to put my life and my heart on the line.
Straightening my spine, I walked to the bedroom door and opened it. Three steps into the living room, I froze. Finn had his shirt off, and he was tending the fire. His hard muscles flexed and rolled as he poked the wood, and his ink swirled over the sinews. The veins in his arms stuck out, and he didn’t see me, so I looked my fill while I could.
Before he saw me looking, and realized just how easily he could get me to forget everything he’d done with a simple kiss, I glanced away. But I’d never get sick of looking at him. Of studying every single hard edge of his body.
His light brown hair was messy, as if he’d just woken up, and his dark blue jeans were loose around his hips. He hadn’t buttoned them up, so the “just woke up” appearance must have been legit. I swallowed hard, watching him with a hunger I couldn’t deny.
After he finished tending the fire, he set the poker next to the fireplace and leaned against the mantle on one hand. His shoulder muscles bunched and hardened as he rubbed his injured leg. He winced and stopped, pressing his hand against his thigh.
And just like that, lust became concern.
My heart clenched tight. Instead of admiring his lean body, I saw the bags under his eyes. Saw the exhaustion and loneliness echoing in those blue eyes of his. I saw how far he’d fallen, and I knew I needed to pull him back into the light. It was on me this time. I couldn’t fail him again.
Not like last time.
Jen McLaughlin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of sexy New Adult books. Under her pen name Diane Alberts, she is a multi-published, bestselling author of Contemporary Romance with Entangled Publishing. Her first release as Jen McLaughlin, Out of Line, released September 6 2013, and hit the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal lists. She was mentioned in Forbes alongside E. L. James as one of the breakout independent authors to dominate the bestselling lists. She is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.
Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a
hot, sunny beach with crystal-clear water. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal-clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, and a cat. Her goal is to write so many well-crafted romance books that even a non-romance reader will know her name.
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