Erin's Kiss Read online

  She looked like a damned teenager.

  The effect she had on him was anything but immature though. His entire body hardened, tensed. Every cell, every particle of being came to full, vibrant life.

  Pushing past J.D., Turk moved to her slowly.

  Heavy, red-gold waves fell about her shoulders and surrounded the vulnerable features of her face while mysterious sea-green eyes watched him with a hint of vulnerability, and more emotion than he’d ever seen in another woman’s eyes.

  He stopped in front of her, aching to touch her, his palms itching with the need, his entire body going hot with the urge to feel her against him.

  “I missed you,” he whispered, aching, trying to find the words, trying to find a way to tell her things that he was still fighting to understand.

  She licked her lips, her gaze holding his, the promises and feminine needs reaching out to him, sinking inside him.

  “I missed you,” she answered, her voice soft, vibrating with so much more to say. Words she would hold locked inside her, he realized, until he gave her what she needed.

  Before he realized the intent, before he was aware he was moving, he had her in his arms. Cradling her head in one hand he tipped it back, his lips touching hers. Just touching as he stared down at her, as he held her close to his body and relished the feel of her against him.

  “I love you, Erin Masters,” he whispered against her lips, watching her eyes dilate, the flush that suddenly mounted her pretty face. “Don’t walk away from me. Give us a chance.…”

  “I love you.”

  Her soft voice, the feel of her hands gripping his waist, her body bending to his, the essence of who she was, of everything they could be, sank inside him before taking root with a suddenness that stole his breath.

  She loved him.

  God, she loved him.

  In that second Turk found what he’d been searching the night for in the long, lost years he’d watched the darkness. He’d been searching for himself. For that part of him that would complete the lonely parts of his soul.

  And he’d found it the night he’d met her eyes. He’d claimed it the night he claimed her kiss.

  Erin’s kiss.

  She completed him.

  *

  Nothing mattered.

  No one mattered.

  Erin felt her world suddenly come to a full stop, leveling, then filling with a bold, heated stroke of color as Turk whispered “I love you.”

  In the dark-chocolate gaze she suddenly saw inside him, felt herself inside him, felt him wrapping himself around her, his heat and strength holding her in one place. Right there in his arms.

  “I love you.” She loved him as she’d never loved anyone in her life.

  J.D. didn’t matter. John D.’s support had always been assured. But right here, in this moment, in this man’s arms, she found the search she’d been on for so very long come to an end.

  She’d been searching for herself, never realizing, never knowing, that the completion of who and what she was would end in the knowledge that she truly wasn’t alone. She never had been.

  Turk had been right there, waiting for her, watching the night until their eyes met across a crowded bar and fate entwined them as it had always meant to do.

  They found each other in that first kiss.

  And now, they would complete each other in the first of what she knew would be a lifetime of kisses.

  Erin had found her way home. Years of restlessness, of searching, of never understanding why she couldn’t bear the thought of putting down roots until she came here, to the place where her heart was awaiting her.

  Where Turk was waiting for her.

  EPILOGUE

  There were others searching for the betrayer.

  That changed the rules of the game.

  That couldn’t be allowed.

  The betrayer would always be protected from outside forces, it was a vow made long ago, even before the betrayal was revealed. Even before the betrayer had been born.

  The enemies from without had to be destroyed.

  Could that be the key to revealing the identity of the one sought for the destruction of generations of trust? Could it be that easy to draw the betrayer from hiding?

  The watcher watched, waited, and planned.

  The betrayer was here, that was now a certainty.

  Others sought him, other’s sought vengeance that they couldn’t be allowed to have. Vengeance belonged to the watcher, and no one else would be allowed to interfere.

  No matter the cost.…

  Coming soon…

  FROM #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  LORA LEIGH

  COLLISION POINT

  Available in March 2018 from St. Martin’s Paperbacks

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  #1 New York Times bestseller, LORA LEIGH is the author of the Navy SEALs, the Breeds, the Elite Ops, the Callahans, the Bound Hearts, and the Nauti series. You can visit her website at www.loraleigh.com, or sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Copyright

  These are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novels are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Originally published in Hot Alphas.

  “Erin’s Kiss” copyright © 2015 by Lora Leigh.

  All rights reserved.

  For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  Author photograph © Holly Daniel

  Cover art of man © Volodymyr Tverdokhlib/Shutterstock.com

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  eISBN 9781250125293

  First Ebook Edition: June 2017