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  FIRST ORIGINAL EDITION, JUNE 2018

  Copyright © 2018 by Deborah Bladon

  All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual person’s, living or dead, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  ISBN-13: 9781987524802

  ISBN-10: 1987524802

  eBook ISBN: 9781926440514

  Book & cover design by Wolf & Eagle Media

  www.deborahbladon.com

  To Amanda

  I could not have done this without you.

  Thank you for being there every step of the way.

  Here’s to fifty more books.

  I love you.

  Also by Deborah Bladon

  THE OBSESSED SERIES

  THE EXPOSED SERIES

  THE PULSE SERIES

  THE VAIN SERIES

  THE RUIN SERIES

  IMPULSE

  SOLO

  THE GONE SERIES

  FUSE

  THE TRACE SERIES

  CHANCE

  THE EMBER SERIES

  THE RISE SERIES

  HAZE

  SHIVER

  TORN

  THE HEAT SERIES

  MELT

  THE TENSE DUET

  SWEAT

  TROUBLEMAKER

  WORTH

  HUSH

  BARE

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Epilogue

  Preview of SIN

  Preview of VERSUS

  Thank you

  Deborah’s Mailing List

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Tilly

  I can’t look away.

  I know that I should. I realize that it’s the right thing to do, but my gaze stays locked on the sight that’s in front of me.

  It’s an intricate tattoo that covers the broad left shoulder of a man. The sharp lines of dark ink dip down to curl around his muscular bicep.

  The ink on his skin isn’t the only mesmerizing thing about him. This man is not only tall and dangerously good-looking, but he’s hung. As in, the-largest-cock-I’ve-ever-seen hung.

  The stranger in my apartment isn’t wearing any clothes. He’s completely naked and standing next to the now dead bouquet of flowers that were delivered to me before I boarded a flight to San Francisco five days ago.

  His eyes are closed, his phone is in his hand, ear buds are tucked in place, and he’s swaying slowly to what must be music I can’t hear.

  I should walk over to him and tap him on the shoulder, but I can’t.

  My feet have been planted in this spot, just inside the foyer of my apartment since I got home a few minutes ago.

  My roommate, Lisa, wasn’t expecting me to come back for another three days.

  We don’t keep in touch when one of us is out of town. We barely speak when we pass each other in the hallway.

  Lisa and I are not friends.

  We’re roommates; nothing more and nothing less.

  She has every right to invite a guy over. We only have one unspoken rule. I don’t knock if her bedroom door is closed, and she does the same if mine is shut.

  This is the first time I’ve ever caught a glimpse of one of the men she’s sleeping with. It was worth the wait. This man is ridiculously hot.

  I have to cross the room so I can get to the hallway that leads to my bedroom. I need to do that without the naked stranger noticing me. The last thing I want is to make small talk with Lisa’s lover right now.

  I finally pull my gaze away from him to look down at the hardwood floors. I need to think. I know the sight of Lisa’s latest is jumbling my thought process. It’s understandable though. Who wouldn’t have trouble focusing when an incredibly attractive naked man is across the room?

  “Matilda?”

  I close my eyes when I hear the distinctive rumble of a deep voice. Why does this man’s voice have to sound so damn sexy?

  I’ve never corrected Lisa about my name. Matilda Jean Baker is my full name, so my lawyer used it for the rental agreement I had Lisa sign before she moved in. Almost everyone, other than my boss, calls me Tilly.

  I admit I like that the naked stranger is calling me Matilda, although I’m shocked Lisa bothered to mention me to him.

  My eyes open and I try to focus on the phone in my hand. It’s a stall tactic. I’m hesitant to look up again. I’ve already got a mental image of his body. I doubt I’ll ever forget it.

  “That’s me.” I sigh.

  I hear his footsteps as he nears me.

  Dammit. The naked stranger is almost right in front of me.

  “I thought you were going to be in San Francisco until Sunday.”

  “I came home early,” I say evenly.

  I eye his bare feet. I know eventually I need to look up, but he’s so close now and I don’t trust myself not to stare at his dick. From this vantage point, I’ll be able to see every vein and how wide the crown is.

  “Matilda, are you okay? You’re trembling.” His hand brushes against my shoulder. “It’s freezing outside. Did you come from the airport dressed like that?”

  He’s one to talk. At least I’m wearing clothes. The ripped jeans and old red college T-shirt I’m wearing did nothing to protect me from the blast of winter weather that arrived while I was gone. When I left last week, it was forty degrees warmer than it is now.

  “I’ll make some coffee.”

  My head darts up when he makes that announcement. Who offers to make a pot of coffee at two a.m. when they’re wearing nothing and their lover is probably waiting in her bedroom for another round?

  My gaze skims over his smooth chest until it lands on the faux fur blanket he’s wrapped around his waist. His left hand is resting on his hip, the blanket’s edges bunched into his fist.

  “I didn’t startle you, did I?” He looks down and into my eyes. “It’s dark in here. You probably didn’t even notice I was standing over there until I said your name.”

  It’s not that dark.

  He’s unaware that I was staring at him when I first walked in. That means I won’t have to awkwardly try and explain to my roomma
te why I was checking out her nude lover.

  At least now he’s grabbed the blanket from where it’s usually placed over the back of the leather couch. I use that blanket to wrap around myself when I watch my favorite shows in the evening. Now, I’ll always think about the fact that it touched his naked body.

  I shake that thought from my head. “I should get to bed. It’s been a long day for me.”

  He nods. “I understand. There’s nothing better than sleeping in your own bed after a trip.”

  I reach to pick up my suitcase before I head toward my bedroom. He’s wrong. The only thing better than sleeping in my bed after my trip to San Francisco would be sleeping next to him. Although, after seeing him naked, sleep would be the last thing I’d want to do.

  “It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Matilda,” he calls from behind me.

  The pleasure is all mine. It’s technically all Lisa’s. She’s the one who gets to enjoy what I just saw.

  With any luck, I won’t hear the two of them together. After the week I just had, the last thing I need is a reminder that there are men in the world who know how to a fuck a woman raw.

  I have no doubt that the naked stranger in my living room is one of them.

  Chapter 2

  Tilly

  “Pay attention, Frannie,” I scold my identical twin sister as I adjust my phone in my hand until my face comes into full view of the camera. I hate video chatting, but it’s one of Frannie’s favorite things to do. She tells me she misses my face. I tell her to look in the mirror and she’ll see exactly what I look like. “I need to call Maya. Can we talk later?”

  Frannie shakes her head from side-to-side. That sends her long brown hair tumbling over her shoulders. We may be twenty-five-years-old now and live on opposite sides of the country, but we still share the same hairstyle.

  One visible difference between us is Frannie almost always has her blue eyes rimmed with a dark liner to make them pop. I opt for a sheer shadow and two layers of mascara.

  It’s barely past the crack of dawn in San Francisco, but my twin already has her hair styled and her makeup applied, even though the most pressing thing on her schedule today consists of a visit to the zoo with her husband, two daughters, and our parents.

  “I’m still upset that you left early.” Frannie takes a sip of coffee from her World’s Greatest Sister mug. It was a birthday gift from our older sister, Maya. I got one just like it, along with one of a matching pair of white T-shirts with the words ‘Happy Birthday to Two’ printed across the chest in pink font. Frannie is wearing hers now. I stuffed mine into the bottom of my suitcase where I’ll leave it for eternity. “Why do you need to talk to her? Does it have to do with the reason you ditched us?”

  I didn’t ditch. I took off because I’d felt completely out of place. Frannie married her high school sweetheart, Grant, before she finished college.

  I was the odd woman out at our birthday dinner and my parents both made a point of mentioning it every chance they could.

  There wasn’t an extra bed at Frannie and Grant’s place, so I ended up stuck on the sofa bed at my parents’ condo. Waking up each morning to weak coffee and a discussion on how to find a husband gets old after five days.

  It didn’t help that my high school sweetheart and Grant’s friend, Boyd, dropped by Frannie’s house for a piece of birthday cake. My parents called it fate when they saw our hands touching. I called it an accident since it happened when I was handing him a slice of cake on a small dessert plate.

  It’s not like I’m going to live the rest of my life single and alone. I have a few decades left to find my soul mate. I wish my parents could see that.

  Since they can’t, I called the airline, switched my flight and left San Francisco with an excuse about needing to get back to my job as a vet assistant at Premier Pet Care.

  Work is not part of my plan this week. I’m going to spend the rest of my time off pampering myself with bubble baths and window shopping.

  “You’re zoning out, Tilly.” Frannie leans toward the screen of her tablet. “What’s going on? You left in a rush and it’s the middle of the morning there. If you needed to get back to work, why aren’t you at the clinic?”

  Dammit. I’m obviously still not thinking about anything other than Lisa’s lover.

  “I really need to talk to Maya. I was about to call her when you called me. ”

  The corners of her lips dip into a slight frown. I know she wants me to confide in her but I can’t. If I tell Frannie that I saw a hot stranger without his pants on, half of San Francisco will know about it by noon.

  She can’t keep a secret and I don’t need the added burden of having to explain to my dad what happened last night.

  He’s as old-fashioned as they come and in his world, a woman should be living at home until she’s married.

  Frannie did. Maya didn’t. Instead, she moved across the country to New York City. I followed.

  “Fine.” She takes another sip of her coffee, waving the mug in front of the camera. “I am the world’s greatest sister. I know you feel closer to Maya because you two live in the same city, but I love you as much as she does.”

  That tugs at my heart. “I love you too, Frannie. You know that I do.”

  “I know.” She tilts her head to the left. “I’m here if you need me. You can tell me anything.”

  I can’t.

  How do I tell her that I when I woke up this morning I could hear the distinctive sound of a man’s voice? I got out of bed, opened my bedroom door a crack and caught sight of the black-haired, blue-eyed, tattooed sex god from last night walking shirtless around my living room talking on a cell phone.

  He was only wearing jeans. No shirt, no shoes, just sexiness for days.

  I didn’t say anything to him. I went back to bed and by the time I got up thirty minutes later he was nowhere to be seen.

  I might have spent that half hour taking care of myself with my battery-operated boyfriend while thinking about Lisa’s lover.

  I shouldn’t feel guilty about that, but I do.

  “Tilly?” Frannie’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “You’re drifting away again.”

  I smile. “I’m jetlagged, Fran. I’ll call you tonight. Have fun at the zoo today.”

  “Have fun doing whatever you ran back to New York to do.” She leans closer to the screen before her voice falls to a whisper. “Or whoever you ran back to do.”

  Before I have a chance to say another word, she ends the video call by blowing me a kiss.

  I immediately dial Maya’s number but she doesn’t pick up. I curse under my breath and call Julian, her fiancé. He’s always told me to reach out if I can’t get in touch with Maya, but it rings straight to his voicemail too.

  I stifle a frustrated scream, race to my bathroom and jump into the shower so I can track down my older sister. I need to tell someone what I saw last night before I burst.

  Chapter 3

  Tilly

  “Wait, what?” I stare at Maya’s lips. “Say it slower this time, Maya. I think I heard you wrong. “

  “I hope I heard you wrong. “Maya’s fiancé, Julian Bishop, turns from where he’s standing in the kitchen of their apartment. His hand runs through his black hair. “Maya, tell me that you didn’t just say that you agreed to let Sebastian move into Tilly’s place.”

  She shrugs. “I did, Julian.”

  “Why?” He stalks toward where we’re standing near the doorway. “Maya, we talked about this repeatedly. I love you more than anything, but you can’t change fate.”

  She kisses his cheek. “I have told you for months now that Tilly is perfect for Sebastian. This is my way of testing that theory. It benefits Tilly and Sebastian. She can cover rent and he has a place to live. For now, they’re just roommates.”

  Her words float over me in a haze of confusion.

  I’m still stuck back where she told me that the man I found in my apartment last night is Sebastian Wolf. I didn’t get a chance
to explain that I saw every inch of him before she blurted out that she agreed to let him move in with me.

  She’s been trying to set me up with the naked sex god for almost a year.

  I’ve never been interested in him because he’s a police officer. Technically, he’s a homicide detective.

  I’ve already dated three members of the NYPD and not one of those connections progressed past the second date. I had nothing in common with any of them.

  Besides, he’s Julian’s best friend. I’m still getting to know Maya’s future husband. I don’t want to risk putting him in an awkward position. If I get involved with Sebastian and it ends badly, it could impact my relationship with Julian and my sister. I can’t let that happen.

  I always assumed I’d meet Sebastian in a suit at their wedding, not nude in my living room.

  Maya owns my apartment. When she moved in with Julian, she gave me the go-ahead to do whatever I wanted to with the place. That included renting out the second bedroom.

  Since I’ve lived there, I’ve always been the one to seek out roommates, I’ve vetted them and I’ve handled the signing of the rental agreements.

  It was different with Lisa.

  Maya is a real estate broker and Lisa happened to be one of her clients. She was going through a messy divorce when she and her soon-to-be ex-husband contracted Maya to sell their apartment.

  Since I was looking for a roommate at the time, Maya called and asked if I’d be willing to live with Lisa.

  I asked one question in response. “Can she pay half of the rent?”

  When Maya assured me she could, I sent the rental agreement to Lisa’s office. She signed and by the end of that week, she was moved in.

  She committed to renting the extra bedroom for a year. She still has five months to go.

  “What about Lisa?” I scratch the back of my head. “Is she sharing a room with him? It’s a two bedroom, Maya. The master bedroom is mine and Lisa’s bedroom is the other one, so where is he supposed to sleep?”