Trails of Sin

We were 16 the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched. I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering. Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma. Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact. Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets. She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her. I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains: She’s mine.

I protect what’s mine. The ranch, my family, our buried secrets. Nothing will stop me from reassembling the life that went terribly wrong. Not the law. Not our enemies. Not even Maybe Quinn. The gorgeous, quarrelsome journalist shouldn’t have meddled. I shouldn’t have let her stay. But she’s hiding something in those deceptive blue eyes. Something deeper than her thirst for a news story. I make a deal with her to buy time. To unravel her lies. To play with her. To satisfy my darker appetites. When she buckles beneath my belt, I’ll send her away. Unless I buckle first.

The night I’m released from prison, she’s in my bed. It’s been eight years since I touched a woman, and the Native American beauty is half-dressed, beaten, bruised, and devastatingly exquisite. We’re toxic together, but we want the same things. Blood. Vengeance. Violent relief in a warm body. Beneath her touch, I’m alive. Against her skin, I’m redeemed. Buried inside her, I forget the past. Until the past takes her from me. Prison made me cold, but losing Raina makes me cruel. Ruthless. Unforgiving. I killed before. For her, I’ll kill again.