Hiding from his past may wind up leading Liam to the merriest Christmas of his life.
Constantly looking over his shoulder has become Liam Carlson’s norm after five years in witness protection. Living with his new identity has come with a major downgrade in lifestyle and a lack of any meaningful connections. But when he loses his minimum-wage job and the rundown apartment he called home, he finds himself in the middle of a Texas state park waiting for the marshal in charge of his case to help with relocation. A sudden, ferocious storm destroys many of his belongings, including the tent that offered him some protection, but it also heralds in a sexy-as-hell park ranger, Jax Gallagher, who taunts Liam’s long-neglected libido.
Jax and his wife, Megan, have had an unconventional relationship from the beginning, with a military romance that blossomed into marriage. Their mutual desire to share their love with a third member resulted in several blissful years with another man that ended when they left the service and took on civilian careers. An unexpected visitor in the form of a drenched Liam is the first glimmer of hope since then that they can reclaim the happily-ever-after they thought they’d lost. Their attraction grows with every second they spend together. While they become closer, another lifesaving rescue also manages to open the door to a career Liam never fathomed.
But the truth of the criminal world Liam grew up in threatens to destroy the still-tenuous bond the three are forming and the bright future Liam never believed possible.
Reader advisory: This book contains a description of an injured or abused animal.
General Release Date: 6th December 2022
Nate—Liam
A perfect circle of cold steel penetrated through my thin cotton dress shirt. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and fought to keep my hands from shaking. They’d found me…again. It was only a matter of time. I’d known that.
Fuck.
“Don’t move.” The gravelly voice behind me uttered the completely expected command.
I rolled my eyes toward the inky sky, barely noticing the full spectrum of stars. “Exactly how predictable are we going here, Joe? Full-on cartoon villain or just generic mobster? I want to make sure I keep my expectations realistic.”
A laugh, roughened undoubtedly by decades of smoking, was the response. “Name ain’t Joe, but I know exactly who you are, Nathaniel Cogliano.”
“Left off the middle name there, Joe. That’s how you really strike fear into the hearts of your prey. Take a tip from my ma, since she’s the one paying you to be here.” I sucked in a lungful of air. “And I call all you guys Joe. No need to learn your name, since you pass through soon enough.”
The barrel pressed harder into my back and the man behind me growled. “You think you’re something special? I’ll have you back to the boss man, collect my money and send your ass to the bottom of the river before breakfast.”
That was the moment I knew I could smile. The banter had bought me enough time to center myself and call my nerves under control—a sad fact for ole Joe. I was exactly the protégé my mother had always hoped I’d be. “The river? Really? Can’t we do something just a little more creative? Maybe a warehouse in midtown or a cabin somewhere upstate that you set on fire to cover the evidence? Work with me here, Joe. Bring something to the table so I remember who the fuck you are five years from now.”
“I’m about done with your ‘Joe’ bullshit, and you ain’t gonna live to see another day, much less another year.”
My grin widened. Irritating the latest thug who’d been hired to kill me was almost too easy. Getting the other man frustrated and off his game was the first step to controlling the situation. “Give me your real name or give me a reason to remember you—otherwise I’m just gonna keep calling you Joe, right up until I don’t need to call you anything anymore.”
I wished to every higher being I knew that I could see the man’s face. It was certain to be mottled and reddened from frustration. Fucking with these guys—the ones who were always hiding in the shadows waiting to deliver me into the hands that would destroy me—was one of the few pleasures I could find in my world these days.
Even a night at a strip club didn’t hold the same allure as it once had, which was a damn shame. But surgically enhanced tits shoved in my face weren’t enough to hold my attention when I was looking over my shoulder, literally and metaphorically.
The goon pushed the metal deeper against my spine and I counted to three in my head. As soon as my internal voice whispered, ‘one’, I spun around, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting it behind his back until he let out a piercing scream and the firearm clattered against the pavement. I might be trying to claw my way out of the life of crime I’d been born into and live a more normal, law-abiding life, but the insidious part of my soul relished his painful cry.
The dark beast within me threatened to trample over all my good intentions, and a list of ways to break the hitman now kneeling before me in agony trickled through my mind. I tightened my hold on his arm just a fraction more and wrenched it back a little higher before I pulled my phone from my back pocket with my free hand and hit the number one contact on my speed dial.
Another anguished scream tore from the man’s mouth before I could utter a greeting. “Quiet, Joe. This is important business.”
“Fuck, Nate, what the hell did you get yourself into this time? You’re supposed to be lying low until the trial.” Deputy Xavier Brower’s frustrated and exhausted voice echoed across the line and managed to irritate my nerves that were still pulsing with adrenaline at the latest attempt on my life.
The nearly animalistic howls ramped up another octave, and I sighed. He was going to wind up attracting a hell of a lot of attention that I wasn’t in the mood to deal with. I released his wrist, brought my knee up to his face and slammed it into his nose. Once he was flat on his back, I lowered my hand in a perfect slice against his carotid artery and he passed out before I’d even straightened my stance, grabbing my phone from the ground where it had fallen in the brief mêlée.
“Still there, Deputy X?” Although the assault had been brief, the events leading up to it combined with the actions to make my breathing slightly labored. It had been a long-ass time since I’d done any hand-to-hand combat, either in training or out in the world. I was clearly getting too soft.
An annoyed exhale was his first response, punctuated by a weighted silence. “Yeah, I’m here. Send your location and restrain the guy. If you’re going to live long enough to testify against your mother and her crew then we are going to have to hide you away.”
They were words I’d known were coming for a long time, but I’d deluded myself into believing I wouldn’t have to hear them until after the trial came, right on the heels of that statement. “Pack your bags, Nate. You’re going into witness protection.”
Coffee, chocolate, and books make up Lily’s world, often all three at the same time. Whether reading or writing she is a sucker for an over-the-top happily ever after… only following an appropriate amount of pain, of course.
When she is not writing or reading (which is not very often) she enjoys exercising her right brain in non authorly ways such as creating mosaics, crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, and taking one man’s trash to create something new. But never, ever ask her to draw something. That is a beast best left alone.
You can find Lily on her website here, and follow her on Pinterest and Instagram.
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