I would welcome a pain that’s greater than my ache for her. Maybe the cut of the glass could cool the feelings I have pulsing though me but I doubt it. Slamming the glass down on the bar, I’m both disappointed and relieved when it doesn’t break. Something so pure and untouched like nothing I’ve ever known before. The music is deafening, but if she were to simply whisper my name, I would be at her feet, begging to touch what I shouldn’t, taste what doesn’t belong to me, run my hands along the sweet innocence she taunts me with. Her body is like the pendulum inside a grandfather clock, and I can’t look away. I watch transfixed when they move side to side. The seductive curve of her waist as it cascades to the flare of her hips. I clench the glass because I can’t put my hands where I want them. There is no burn when the liquid warmth hits my tongue and melts down my throat. Her small body moves with the dark beat of the bass as I throw back a shot of vodka. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise : all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. I’ve never been noble, and I’m not starting now. I’ve done bad things in my life, and I don’t deserve her. I can’t let her go and I won’t give her up. This man, this man who looks like he could kill someone with the flick of a wrist, is everything. Ivan steals the breath right out of her lungs, something no boy has ever done. I can’t help but think that perhaps someone should have protected her from me. One look at Ivan and she never wants to run again. Practice has made her an expert at ditching her bodyguards. Penelope Justice is eighteen, old enough to graduate high school but-according to her parents-not old enough to live without 24/7 security.

If she were to simply whisper my name, I would be at her feet, begging to touch what I shouldn’t, taste what doesn’t belong to me, run my hands along the sweet innocence she taunts me with. New York Times and #1 ebook bestselling author Alexa Riley returns with Stay Close, the first novella in a brand-new series spinning off from the bestselling For Her books.Ī former Russian mafia soldier is hired to protect a friend’s young daughter, but he knows he’ll do more than keep her safe-he’ll make her his.

Holding his forever by alexa riley