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Excerpt

A growl rips from my chest and my brows furrow as I slam the cereal box on the counter next to us. “I bet you’re expecting a thank you, but you’re not gonna get one because you know what? If you hadn’t have put the fucking box up there in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to struggle.”

He seems utterly amused with my anger and that just pisses me off even more. “I didn’t mean to put it up there. I’m sorry.” I start sniffing the air, and he looks at me in complete confusion. “What are you doing?”

“Oh me? Nothing, I just smell bullshit.” He cackles at that and throws his hands up in surrender as he takes a couple of steps backward. He crosses his arms across his chest waiting for me to continue. “You’re doing too much and it’s irritating my soul.”

“What am I doing?”

“You call it helping; I call it getting on my fucking nerves! You’re picking up this, bringing me that.”

He chuckles again and as much as I love that sound right now, I want to shove it right back down his throat until he chokes on it. “If I remember correctly, the whole reason I’m here is to help you.”

“But I never asked you to do that, and if I remember correctly, I told you I wanted you out after a week.”

“Why don’t we talk about what’s really bothering you?”

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Dismiss what I’m saying. I’m telling you what’s really bothering me and it’s you all up in my space.”

“No, see, I would never dismiss you, Olivia. I’m always listening to you and I hear what you’re saying, but your problem is that you know I’m also hearing what you’re not saying loud and clear.”

I tilt my head to try to process what he’s even saying. “Look, I’m not about to sit here and argue with you. You said yourself my recovery is going well and I really don’t need help anymore, so you can just go pack your stuff and go home.”

He rubs his hand against his chin in thought. “Okay, I can go home if that’s what you really want.”

“It is.”

“But do you wanna know what I think?”

“Not even a little bit, no.”

“I’m gonna tell you anyway.” Figures. I take a deep breath and motion for him to get on with it. “I think you miss me as much as I miss you, and you don’t know what to do with that so you’re pushing me away. You’ve been running from me for the last thirteen years, but now you have to face whatever it was you couldn’t face back then, and it scares the shit out of you. But here’s the thing. If you’d just take your wall down one damn inch you’d realize that there isn’t a war I wouldn’t fight, dragon I wouldn’t slay, or mountain I wouldn’t climb for you. You don’t even have to ask. All you have to do is let me in.”

And therein lies the problem. Kai is too good for this world. I know he would do anything for me, and I would do anything for him. It’s why I’ve stayed away this long. It’s why I should’ve stayed away. Fuck. I can feel the tremble in my hands getting stronger, so I fold my arms across my chest. “I haven’t been running away from you.”

He scoffs. “Out of everything I said, that’s your takeaway?”

“It’s the only takeaway I care to address. Everything else is irrelevant.”

Anger flashes across his features. “Irrelevant?”

“Yes, Kai. Irrelevant. I didn’t ask for a fucking heart-to-heart. I am not your problem to fix. I don’t need you to slay any dragons for me, I don’t miss you, and I don’t need you. I—”

I don’t know when it happened, but sometime during my rant, Kai moved. And before I know it, his lips are crashing down on mine.

They’re as soft and intoxicating as I remember. His kiss is like that first shot of liquor after a hard day at work. It’s a shock to the system, but then the liquid trickles down your throat and settles in your gut, warming you up from the inside out and making you forget all your troubles. I’ve been sober for a long time. So long that this one drop is enough to pull me under the waves of its influence where I can drink until I reach the end of the bottle.

His tongue glides along the seam of my bottom lip, demanding entrance, and I can’t tell which way is up so I give in. The second our tongues meet I know this is the moment where I relapse.

My hands wind their way around his neck and settle deep into his curls. He grips my hips and pulls my body farther into his. His kiss swallows every moan and groan out of my mouth for its own, consuming me until there’s nothing left. There is no me and him. There’s only us and this moment.

This. This is how addicts are made.

This is why I haven’t kissed a single man since the last time Kai’s lips touched mine. Why settle for a cheap substitute when nothing’s going to taste as good as your favorite drink?

Giveaway

One of Five eARC's for Where We Found Our Passion

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Other Titles Within this Series

WHERE WE FOUND OUR HOME

The Lost & Found Series #1

WHERE WE FOUND OUR HEART

The Lost & Found Series #2

About the Author

Natasha is an indie contemporary romance author living in Baltimore, MD with her family and fur baby. She likes to write about everyday heroes who are a bit haunted and heroines who are sweet, sassy, and a little badass-y.

When she’s not writing, she’s usually reading, obsessively binge-watching TV, playing with her adorable dog, or hunting down delicious gluten free snacks.

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