It wasn’t that I thought love was bullshit. Okay, I did, before I saw Carter with Delaney. I still had my doubts, then I watched Hadley Walker work some sort of voodoo magic and turn Brady into a love-sick puppy. After that, I came to realize that there were people in the world who had the capacity to love. Real and true love, but it was rare. And even though Drake had found it with Liberty and Trey with Addy and fuckin’ Luke of all people with Shiloh, I still knew with a hundred percent certainty that I was not one of those people who could love.
“I think Liberty makes you happy, but more importantly you make her happy. Which is a damn good thing, brother. Her dad and uncles would have no issues putting your ass down, you fell down on that particular job.”
“No chance of that happening. Dinner will be served in about an hour. You’re staying, right?”
“Of course I am. Don’t be a dick.”
“Lauren’s—”
“Not mine. Will never be mine. And I don’t want her to be mine,” I quickly interrupted.
Drake gave me a look that told me he didn’t believe me. Seeing as it was his wedding day and his wife would be unhappy if I busted his lip, I didn’t call him on the look. I should’ve been used to Drake, Trey, Matt, Carter, Luke, and even fuckin’ Dylan giving me that same look at least once a day since Lauren started dating her boyfriend.
Fuck. Even the word gave me hives.
“I’m going to find my wife,” Drake beamed.
And with another pound on my back, Drake did just that; he left to find his wife.
Fucking hell.
They were dropping like flies.
Matt would be next. He seemed to be determined to find a woman.
I felt her presence before I heard her sweet voice.
“Two Millers, please.”
I did another scan of the crowd and found Guy lounging back in a seat, his eyes glued onto Quinn’s ass as she bent to talk to her niece, Emma. If Brice caught the fucktard eyein’ his woman’s ass like that Guy would be blind.
“Idiot,” I mumbled.
“What?”
I turned to find Lauren staring at me.
“Your boy, he’s an idiot.”
“Why are you always such a jerk?” she asked.
She sounded genuinely perplexed, like she really wanted to hear my answer. Maybe even cared what my answer was.
“Why is it you’re up getting drinks and your boy’s sitting his ass down?”
“Stop calling him that, Logan, he’s not a boy,” she seethed.
I took a step closer and fuck me, the little spitfire stood taller and squared her shoulders.
“A man doesn’t let his woman get her own drink and he sure as fuck doesn’t let her get his. He makes sure her ass is sitting and enjoying herself then he goes and gets her a drink. A man doesn’t check out another man’s woman. And a fucking man doesn’t let weeks turn into months before he makes a woman his.”
Lauren huffed out a humorless laugh.
“Funny, you talk a big game. You talk like you know how a man behaves. Yet you have no clue.”
I closed the remaining space between us, tilted my head down so my mouth was inches away from her ear. I inhaled her fresh scent then I promised, “Sweetness, I guaran-damn-tee I’d have you beggin’ to be mine before the night was up and I wouldn’t be wasting a second of it talking a big game. You know it and I know it, so don’t give me shit about not having a clue.”
I’d miscalculated my play.
I’d gotten too close.
I felt Lauren shudder, and when she sucked in a lungful of oxygen her chest expanded, and at the same time she pressed her chest against mine, got up on her toes, and hissed:
“Prove it.”
With that, she nabbed two cold Millers off the bar and strutted her ass back to her date.
I watched the sway of her hips, not feeling a twinge of remorse.
I also did this with my heart pounding in my chest, my blood burning through my veins, and my skin electrified.
If there was ever a woman I would prove anything to it would be Lauren.
If there was ever a woman who could make me a believer it would also be Lauren.
But being the son of a man who religiously beat his wife and children, being the son of a woman who had been forced to kill her children’s father, I knew better than to let my guard down. I knew he was in me. My hand automatically went to the scar on my stomach and as it happened every time I saw what my father had done to me, I remembered I wasn’t meant to have a family.
I had to find a way to let her go. I had to stop taunting her, and in doing so torturing myself.
Lauren Saunders was everything I could never have.
She was the type of woman who would dig her claws in until I was in so deep I’d never let her go.
Then my demons would rear up and ruin her.
It was time I faced the truth—I couldn’t be trusted. Not with something as precious and beautiful as Lauren.
Up next…Lauren and Logan. A man who doesn’t believe he can love and woman who’s looking for forever.
Grab your copy of Tarnished
Also by Riley Edwards
Romantic Suspense
Gemini Group
Nixon’s Promise
Jameson’s Salvation
Weston’s Treasure
Alec’s Dream
Chasin’s Surrender
Holden’s Resurrection
Jonny’s Redemption
Red Team
Nightstalker
Protecting Olivia
Redeeming Violet
Recovering Ivy
Rescuing Erin
The Gold Team
Brooks
Thaddeus
Kyle
Maximus
Declan
Blue Team
Owen
Gabe
The 707 Freedom Series
Free
Freeing Jasper
Finally Free
Freedom
The Next Generation (707 spinoff)
Saving Meadow
Chasing Honor
Finding Mercy
Claiming Tuesday
Adoring Delaney
Keeping Quinn
Taking Liberty
Triple Canopy
Damaged
Flawed
Imperfect
Tarnished
Takeback
Dangerous Love
The Collective
Unbroken
Trust
Standalone
Romancing Rayne
Falling for the Delta (Co-write with Susan Stoker)
Be A Rebel
Riley Edwards is a USA Today and WSJ bestselling author, wife, and military mom. Riley was born and raised in Los Angeles but now resides on the east coast with her fantastic husband and children.
Riley writes heart-stopping romance with sexy alpha heroes and even stronger heroines. Riley's favorite genres to write are romantic suspense and military romance.
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Acknowledgments
To all of you – the readers: Thank you for picking up this book and giving me a few hours of your time. Whether this is the first book of mine you’ve read or you’ve been with me from the beginning, thank you for your support. It is because of you I have the coolest job in the world.