VictoriasPlace

Now that her nightmare is over, Vanna and I are free to live our happily ever after like I promised her we would. Even if I have to kill for it. Those were my words to her. Words I intend to live up to. Though, as we have come to learn, the past rarely stays buried. Not even when it's left to rot in the Sonoran Desert.

It's been months since Aden Colt left the army, and still the memories haunt him. When he moved into a tiny boat off the California coast, he thought he'd found the perfect place to escape life. Then Sawyer shows up and turns his simple life upside down. Beautiful and sophisticated, she seems out of place in this laid-back beach town. Something is pushing her to experience everything she can - including Aden. But as much as he wants her, starting a relationship with Sawyer puts them both at risk.

I don't like to be touched. I'm the hacker-geek-goddess of the FBI. When I'm hiding behind my screen, I'm a safe distance from everyone; isolated, powerful. No man has ever touched me, but when I'm captured by Colombian drug lord Andrés Moreno, I no longer have the right to refuse. He's scarred and scary, and his cruel brother Cristian has tasked him with breaking me. I try to fight, but I can't escape his strong arms and harsh discipline. He demands that I accept his touch, and my virgin body can't help but respond to his masterful manipulations.

I'm his captive … and I want him to keep me. I was only a child when everything changed. Too young to understand, too old to forget. Broken and damaged. I thought nothing good could ever happen to me, but 10 years later, something did. I met a man. He swept me off my feet and swooned me into his bed. Cole's touch was perfect. His lips were made of velvet obsession. They helped me forget the memories that burned me from the inside out. For the first time in forever, I was happy. Then he locked me inside his home. He told me it was for my safety. And it was so easy to believe him.

I never thought I could love a monster. Then I met Machi. I shouldn't have been there that night. I shouldn't have seen that man die - or the face of his killer. Every part of me wanted to run and hide, to escape and forget what I saw. But then he caught me. He stole me and pushed me into his world. He wants me to believe that he isn't the bad guy. But I know better. Except...his hard jaw and full lips are hard to ignore, his voice makes my heart flutter, and his hands - his hands are purely toxic, unfurling my body with one touch.