***AN AMAZON TOP 100 SERIES***

Lourde and Barrett's story continue in this steamy, angsty, and forbidden love story.

Lourde

I've fallen so deep for Barrett, that there's no turning back.
He is the man that I cannot be without.
The man that lights a fire between my thighs that burns all night long.
But when his world spins upside down, he does something completely unexpected.
He pushes me away.

Barrett

She is the only girl for me, but deep down I know I don't deserve Lourde.
She is perfect, flawless and the only person that completes me.
But when my business world is threatened, I have to protect her,
and the only way I know how is to push her away.
Problem is, I don't think I can stay away.

It was after two in the morning, but I wasn’t tired. Barrett just declared he wanted to be with me. Me. When I asked him about the consequences of dating his best friend’s younger sister, he’d said the most romantic yet disturbing thing, “I don’t give a fuck about anyone else but you. They can all perish under a cinder of smoke and ash.” Then he proceeded to kiss me, and that’s when my heart rocketed to the moon, taking off and levitating in a suspended euphoria—until we were rudely interrupted. The untimely visit from Detective Summer and Detec‐ tive Davies had kept our hands from clawing at one another. Their late-night interruption informed Barrett of a fire that had broken out on the third floor at his award- winning tower, 21 Park, the same tower he had just sold but had yet to hand over. In the last hour, the detectives ran through what they knew so far—which wasn’t much—and inquired if Barrett had any known enemies as early evidence pointed to arson. Leaving Barrett to see the detectives out, I pushed aside my blue evening dress and unpinned my chignon, letting my loose waves fall around my face. As I thought about this evening, a knowing smile crept onto my lips. Just a few hours earlier and consumed by jealousy, Barrett had me pinned in the dark library, his fingers inside me while my date for the evening and his family were in the dining room nearby . But my family, and especially my brother, Conner, had no idea the man I was most interested in was Barrett Black. The same man who only days earlier in the Hamptons had rejected me when I’d told him he’d stolen my heart. My opinion on my love life didn't matter to Mom, all she cared about was finding me a husband from a noteworthy family, so I could be married off and follow in her footsteps. Enter Exhibit A, Finigan Connolly, son of James Connolly, the Governor of Massachusetts, and the family of politicians stemming back to the 1900s. Old money, not nouveau riche. A perfect match in Mom's eyes. Sure, Finigan was cute—in a Zac Efron kind of way— but he wasn’t Barrett. No one could ever be Barrett Black. Dark green eyes, mysterious and bone-meltingly sexy, Barrett was the guy whose scorching good looks and mysterious glances kept me intrigued. Once a silly crush, held over many years, transformed into something bigger when he let me into his Hamptons home, after yet another failed relationship. The forbidden attraction we had was reserved only for one another. Difficult to control our urges in such proximity, his touches and stares all culminated in a secret and forbidden attraction, and the crush I had on Connor’s best friend turned into a full-blown love affair. The ding of the elevator interrupted my dirty thoughts. I looked up to see Barrett staring at me, and the detectives gone, presumably headed back down to the Manhattan sidewalk. “Right, where were we?” he asked. Dressed in charcoal suit pants molded to his thighs and a crisp white shirt, he stood with a hint of a smile. His green eyes like magnets, dragging me toward him, I shrugged, my teeth grazing across my bottom lip. Each step he took closer, my heart pounded harder against my chest, knocking the breath from my lungs. “You’re coming with me.” He bent down and pulled me into his arms. “Wait!” “I’ve waited long enough having the two detectives here while imagining my head between your thighs tasting you.” His eyes darkened as his heated gaze fell to my lips. “Now I have you, Lourde. I want to claim you, every last inch.” Oh. I swallowed. Without any hesitation, I pulled myself closer into his chest, wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders. Strong arms carried me, clutching me tightly against his muscular wall with each step he took. I nuzzled into his neck, his manly scent making my lady parts squeeze together in anticipation. He kicked open a door leading into his bedroom, staring at my exposed thigh, where the slit of my dress had opened wide. After years of crushing hard on Barrett Black and imagining him taking me in his bedroom, I was finally here in his arms. I took it all in, unsure of what I expected to find. His low-line enormous bed took center stage in his room across the expansive cement floors. Above it, vaulted ceilings with exposed black metal beams held a chandelier overhead as alabaster walls stood bare like an empty art gallery. “Going for minimal?” I asked. “Haven’t had time to decorate.” Without another word, he slammed his lips to mine in a heated kiss infused with desire. I pulled away, breathless and slightly confused. “But haven’t you been here for years?” “I think I need to hush that pretty mouth.” His mouth lowered to mine as his tongue traced the curve of my bottom lip before he bit down on it just enough to elicit pain and pleasure, then tossed me onto the middle of his bed. “Ow.” I reached for my lip and gazed up at him. He’d already removed his shirt and cast it to the floor. His forged and rippling muscles had me forgetting about my momentary tingling lip and lusting after every curve of his torso. I watched as Barrett slipped out of his pants. His thick erection sprung free and a warmth pooled between my legs. Carved from granite, the man was all mine. As I dragged my gaze up, I spread my legs apart. Hungry eyes stared back at me when my eyes met his. Then his heated stare fell on my breasts, hovering there before he lowered it to the opening of my dress. His almond-shaped jade eyes were enough to set me on fire. He bent down and climbed on the bed and between my legs, his hands on either side of my head where he rested his weight. Lowering his mouth to mine, he said, “What do you want, dollface?” I breathed him in, my heart slamming against my chest. Fuck, I could bottle his scent— delicious, sharp, mysterious—an orgasm in a bottle. “I want you, Barrett. It’s always been you.” Barrett pressed his lips to mine, and our tongues collided in a feverish assault on one another. His fingers slid underneath the strap of my dress, pushing one down, then the next, my nipples hardening as they brushed against his hard chest. His erection dug between my thighs as I widened more for him. Clenching my sex, I grabbed his ass and pulled him down at the same time, raising my hips to feel him against my clit. “You like my cock there?” He pressed down harder on my clit while tracing my neck down to the shell of my breasts with his mouth. His dirty words combined with his touch had me teetering on the edge. Fuck, he wasn’t even inside me. I moaned out. Barrett took one breast into his mouth and sucked hard on my nipple, dragging his teeth around it. His hand slid up the inside of my thigh and pushed across my lace thong, then he plunged two fingers inside me, dragging my wetness to my nub. Yes. Fuck, yes. His fingers returned and curved inside of me, my eyes shut tight. A shot of warmth tingled through my lower belly, and seconds later, I screamed his name out in a moan. Opening my eyes, I found his fiery gaze staring back at me. He took his fingers to his mouth and licked my wetness off of them, one at a time, while never breaking eye contact. “I want you to taste how delicious you are, Lourde.” Oh my. With my pussy still throbbing, he brushed his glistening finger to my lips, and I took it in my mouth. Tasting my own juices on his finger, I closed my eyes while imagining I was giving him glorious head. “Fuck,” he groaned, removing his finger. He then leaned in, dragging his lips across mine in a savage kiss. Our teeth clashed, his tongue pressed against mine as my fingers felt for his hair, tugging at the roots while he deepened the kiss, assaulting all my senses. I removed my mouth from his, breathless and needy, the ache between my thighs almost becoming unbearable. “Ride me, dollface,” he ordered. “I want to see your delicious tits up in my face.” I groaned out in obedience, his dirty words had my lady bits singing “Hallelujah.” Sitting up, I unzipped the dress, flinging it to the floor, then lowered the scrap of material acting as a thong. He opened his side drawer and reached for the foil packet. Taking it to his teeth, he tore it open and wrapped himself. Then, lying back and folding his arms behind his head, he watched me like a predator stalking their prey. “Leave the stilettos on.” With his voice like gravel and hooded eyes, goosebumps erupted all over my skin. “Deal.” With my four-inch heels snaking around my ankles, I climbed on top of him. My fingers gripped firmly around his cock, and I lowered myself onto him. A deep, guttural moan sounded from the back of his throat as I slowly glided down onto him. Absorbing his thickness inside me, I grabbed my breast and squeezed, savoring the aching pain brewing inside me. “Fuck, you’re too much to take like this, Lourde.” Folding up, his face was only inches from mine, his breath on my cheek. He fisted my hair between his fingers, tilting my head back so my tits pushed against his chest. He took his mouth to mine, raking his tongue across my bottom teeth. I leveled down on him deeper, sliding back and forth. “Tell me it’s only me, Lourde.” He sunk his teeth across my neck, his warm breath sending pulses between my legs. “Just you.” I breathed out, my body hot, aching all over with a compulsion for him. He cupped my ass, squeezing it tight, pushing me into him harder and faster. His finger teased my back entrance, and every nerve ending burst alive. I moaned out his name as my body became dead-heavy. “Fuck, Lourde,” he hissed out, his head dropping, his breath on my shoulder. We stayed like this, neither one of us wanting to move as our chests rose and fell, slowly returning to any semblance of normality.

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