"I wanted you to know that I..."
She reached out and slapped him, hard. "Don't you dare say it. Don't. I don't need a lesson in lust versus love. I don't need to know that what I came here to find out is real and true. You don't own me and you'll not be controlling me like you did yesterday. Your point was proven. Get the fuck outta my life, Marc Martin."
"Done." He stood and walked to the kitchen, Kari's mom whistling some silly sounding tune.
Lisa swallowed the hot lump in her throat and tapped her fingers on the table before her. She would not cry. She would sooner sell her soul to the devil than let on how much his words, his actions, hurt. She came to find out if he loved her like she loved him.
And it would seem that he did... but he didn't want to just as much as she didn't.
He dropped the bag beside her and opened the front door, looking over his shoulder as she looked over hers. A sad smile brushed across his face as he nodded.
"I think the lesson I've learned is just as much if not more difficult to swallow than the one I taught you. It's all here... waiting and ready, Lisa. Funny thing is, me not wanting to give into it was a fucking joke. I tripped over myself the first night we met. Too bad you didn't." He closed the door, the sound jarring.
She pressed her forehead to her hands and let out a long sob, her heart breaking at the truth. Nothing was ever easy, but maybe it wasn't meant to be.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled toward Kari's mom as the older woman rubbed her back.
"It's okay, baby. When you both grow up a little it will all work out."
"I don't know."
"I do. The most powerful emotion given to mankind will have its way. Go home and heal and when it becomes unbearable to live without him, come back and take what's rightfully yours."
Lisa snuggled into the warm hug of Kari's mom and let her heart breathe for the first time ever.
Love wasn't for the weak, and it most certainly wasn't for her.
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Justified, Part II continues the story
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About the Author
Ali Parker is a contemporary romance writer who is looking to flood the market this year with lots of great, quick reads. For those of you who love a full-length novel, we’ll be boxing up the serial trilogies into a boxset a week after the last release.
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her pen name Zoe Reid!
BAITED
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Rebecca Martin has achieved most things one might hope to by thirty. She is a successful business owner, drives a nice car and is wrapping up the details on a custom built home on the lake. The only thing she is missing is someone to share her accomplishments with.
One man has never been far from her thoughts – Kade McMillian, but his return to town after far too many years of chasing his dreams couldn’t be more poorly timed.
With a younger man demanding Rebecca attention at the office, she has to decide between reconstructing a relationship from her past or diving in deep to something new and seemingly forbidden.
JADED
Have you read Kari (Marc’s sister) & Jake’s story?
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As a photographer for the New York Post, Kari Martin was used to seeing heartache and scandal up close. But one night at the club… her whole world changed.
Heartbroken and willing to call off her wedding, she decides a change is in order and moves from NYC to a small town in Maine, where the average age of the residents there is sixty (or thereabouts). She works to fit in perfectly, and tries like hell not to let anyone find out just how very jaded she’s recently become over the lie called love.
Jake Isaac left Texas quite a few years ago; his heart torn from his chest, and his mind set on being a bachelor forever. Maine would welcome him, give him land to explore and a community to belong to. Getting a job as the coach of the local junior high and serving on the fire department kept him busy — and labeled him a hometown hero — but the truth of his damaged heart was forever hidden.
No one would ever know just how jaded he was about love. That is… until he meets Kari.
BLOOD MONEY
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Kate Jarrett has been around the block a few times, her life nothing more than a trail of failures. After her father dies she inherits the family bar, a place where she’s accepted for who she is and loved for who she’s not. Due to the location of her new establishment, a few friends from her past make themselves welcomed and death shows up at her door.
Jon Peterson is a seasoned officer for the NYPD, his record clean and eyes set on being the youngest captain in the history of the force. When his little brother Adam turns up dead at a bar in the seedy side of town, Jon’s focus shifts. Is Kate involved in what happened to Adam or a pawn in a much larger game? Not interested in drama and hell-bent on justice mixed with revenge, Jon finds the one thing he never wanted – love.
BILLIONAIRE STEPBROTHER SERIES
Eight serials within the series.
Ali Parker writing as Zoe Reid
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