Read and Swoon

“Man, I knew touching her would burn everything down. Didn’t stop me from pulling her into my arms anyway.”

I never planned on letting anyone in again, not after losing my wife, not after building a life out of control and distance. Then Addie Lane walked back into my world… my best friend’s little sister, all sunshine, grit, and impossible hope.

I try to keep my distance.

But she challenges me, softens me, makes me want things I shouldn’t. And when a storm traps us alone in my office, every line I swore not to cross shatters.

What grows between us is real, steady, dangerous, undeniable.

But Crane, my rival, sees her as leverage. Rumors spread. A threat appears. And when Addie starts questioning whether I’m her protector or her next heartbreak, everything we’ve built teeters on the edge.

Then her brother finds out, and the fallout is nuclear.

But the night I finally give in to Addie on that windswept overlook, I know one truth:
I may lose my company, my reputation, even my oldest friendship, but losing her would destroy me.