True To You by Jennifer Ryan
Series Montana Heat
Genre Adult Contemporary Romance
Publisher Avon Books
Publication Date February 27, 2018
A Montana Man risks everything for the woman he loves . . .
Undercover DEA Special Agent Dawson King spent five months in a Montana prison establishing a fake identity to take down a ruthless drug dealer and put him behind bars. Except there’s a wild card . . . the killer’s beloved daughter. Cara Potter may appear to be on the right side of the law, but King has learned the hard way to trust no one—even someone as tantalizing as the coffee shop owner. She’s irresistible . . . but is she also dangerous?
From the moment he enters her life, King makes Cara . . . nervous. The handsome drifter says he wants to get his life together . . . but there is something about him that doesn’t quite ring true. Cara wants to believe in him, yet she holds back despite the way he awakens dormant dreams and leaves her breathless with his sexy smile, steamy kisses, his every touch.
When the explosive truth comes out and she’s betrayed by the ones she loves, Cara must decide—can she trust her heart, or should she listen to her head?
For the first time in a long time, Cara turned and went after what she wanted and believed with her whole heart that whatever happened was worth it, because letting this feeling go would be a loss she couldn’t live with and not regret the rest of her life. Her heart couldn’t shut off the dreams and possibilities she’d longed for once, lost, but wanted again. With Flash.
She stood in front of his door, stared at the grain in the wood, and sucked in a breath, found her courage, held up her hand to knock, but gasped and stepped back when Flash shoved the barn door aside and held a gun in her face. Again.
He immediately dropped it to his side and raked his free hand over his head. “Cara.” Her name came out on a relieved sigh that held an apology for pointing a gun at her for the second time in an hour. The relief turned to frustration. “What are you doing here? Go home.”
She dismissed the fact he opened the door armed, that he tried to send her away, his bare chest, even though she couldn’t stop staring at the wall of sculpted muscle, and unearthed the desire she’d buried long ago and unleashed it on him.
She closed the distance, went up on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and locked her lips over his. Her body molded to his the second his arms wrapped around her and his hand landed on her ass. His fingers curled over the swell of her bottom and gripped tight, pulling her closer.
That spark between them flared to life as they kissed, his tongue sliding along hers. The ball of heat she carried low in her belly since she met him exploded through her system with every tempting taste of him. She wanted more and slid her fingers through his hair, held him close, angled her head to take the kiss deeper and gave herself over to him.
The flames flashed out the second he pushed her away and ordered, “Leave. Now.” He took two steps back, leaving her to catch her balance as he pulled his hands away from her shoulders. “Please.” The word came out strangled and forced from his throat.
She stared at him, wondering what she’d done. “What’s wrong?”
“This.” He held his hands out, realized he still had the gun in his hand, and tossed it onto the perfectly made bed. All she wanted to do was mess it up with him. She wanted him to let loose his reservations and kiss her again, because when they kissed nothing else mattered but the way they made each other feel.
“How can something that feels so right be wrong?” She didn’t get it. She didn’t understand why he’d kiss her the way he did, the way he wanted to kiss her, and say it was wrong.
The frustration in his eyes and the firm set of his lips came out in the angry swipe of his hand through his hair. “Damnit, Cara. This can’t happen.”
“Why? You want it. I want it. If we’re both willing…” She held her hands up in front of her like holding up an offering.
“I’m trying to spare you.”
That got her attention. She dropped her hands, cocked her head, and looked him dead in the eye. “What does that mean?” Because if he was sparing her a night in his arms, in his bed, and a chance to feel something as real as what she felt between them, she didn’t want or need his sacrifice. She just needed him.
“I’m not staying. As soon as I finish what I came here to do, I’m leaving. That hasn’t changed. It won’t change.”
Her heart cracked, the pain an echo of past hurts, but it didn’t change the fact that she wanted this. She would take tonight, however many nights Flash gave her, and be grateful for them, knowing that right now he wanted this as much as she did, but gave her the chance to back out and save her the pain and heartbreak she’d feel when he left.
She turned and went to the open door, feeling Flash stiffen behind her, hold his breath, and stare at her back everything in him wanting to call her back. That’s how close she felt to him, close enough to understand all he felt and feel it herself.
So she closed the door and turned back to him, knowing going in that this wasn’t forever but right now. Dreams of the future were wishes that may never come true, but right here, right now, she stood before a man she could have all those dreams with for tonight.
Moments like this were rare and sometimes never happened. She wouldn’t walk out on it because she couldn’t keep it. Instead she’d hold on to it, cupped in her hands like the precious gift it was and know that one day, maybe tomorrow, she’d have to let it go but it would always be a memory to savor, a piece of her heart that would remind her, once, she was loved.
Maybe not the forever kind of love she wanted, but loved enough to be told the truth.
Jennifer Ryan is the New York Times & USA Today bestselling author of The Hunted, McBride, and Montana Men series. She writes suspenseful contemporary romances with outrageous plot twists, deeply emotional love stories, high stakes and higher drama. Her stories are filled with love, family, friendship, and the happily-ever- after we all hope to find. Jennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. When she finally leaves those fictional worlds, you’ll find her in the garden, playing in the dirt and daydreaming about people who live only in her head, until she puts them on paper.
