I take in deep breath and nod. My eyes revert to Hunter. He stares at the glinting rings on his thumb. “You don’t have to be happy, Hunter. Just be enough.” Without another word, I sidestep him and run up to Max, to my future, to my enough.
END OF BOOK ONE
Sneak Peek of Pure Perception (Web of Deception #2)
Chapter one
“Can we dance for a bit?”
Isabel face contorts into shock. She shouldn’t look so astonished. I’ll use any excuse to touch her again, feel her body rubbing against mine.
“Dance?” She’s smiling, so I know she wants to.
Come on.
Get over here.
Attempting to be blasé and indifferent, I shrug. “It only seems right.” I simply open my arms, she comes right to me. Isabel isn’t conscious of her decision that just ended her marriage before it begins.
She’s mine.
I wrap my arms around her. She nestles into me. I breathe in her hair, her scent. My dick is instantly furious with me. We dance in small circles for a while until I accumulate a plan.
The tables have certainly turned.
If I plant the seed of doubt in her head maybe it will thrive and I’ll win for once. She’ll realize what’s standing right in front of her face.
What else am I to do when my first love doesn’t want me anymore?
MINE.
MINE.
MINE.
Here goes…
“Humor me with a short game, okay?”
She nods against my shoulder.
“What if I told you that your lips were made only to be kissed by me?”
She stiffens in my embrace. “Hunter, what kind of game is this?”
My fingers dig into her sides. “Just humor me, Isabel.”
“What if I told you that I’m happy now?”
Happy?
Yeah.
Fucking.
Right.
Isabel doesn’t do happy.
“What if I told you that I’m too selfish to care?” I really am. Isabel shouldn’t underestimate what I’m capable of; she’ll come out unscathed in the end for it.
Her breath hitches.
Yes, baby.
You finally comprehend what I’m doing.
I’m on a roll here. No need to stop now. “What if I told you that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to have you to myself again?”
She pushes back to look at me, her expression wary. “Even break my heart.”
My girl gets it.
I grin so wide my cheeks hurt. “Even breaking your pretty little heart all over again.” Her eyes widen. She’s caught in my web, and I’m closing in. “What if I told you that you belong to me and I’m willing to sabotage your future with him just to have you in my bed at night?”
Her face blanches. “Hunter, stop. I don’t want to play anymore.”
Taking my time, I scrutinize every feature of her face. She always gets anxious when I do this. Her chest swells and her brows always furrow like she’s trying to read my thoughts. I still affect her. I hold her at arm’s length, smirking and very proud of myself.
“I have a Christmas gift for you.” She looks down at her closed fist.
I let her go in fear that she might slap or punch me again. No doubt that I deserve it. “Really? I feel bad. I didn’t get you anything.” Yet.
“Don’t worry about it. Here…” she seems nervous as she drops three thin bands in my palm.
“Rings?”
Isabel gives me an impish smile that she has perfected. “They’re for your thumb. Read them.”
My eyes turn into slants as I read the fine writing, placing them on my left thumb. “Three little angels.” An intense white-hot too indiscernible to explain pain spreads throughout my chest.
Shit!
“For the babies,” she whispers as if in trouble.
“Isabel. Our dehydrated marshmallows are getting cold.”
Fucking Max.
He isn’t going to let her out of his sight for too long, especially with me around.
She peers over my shoulder and then takes a deep breath like Max has reminded her of the new priorities in her life which isn’t me. Not anymore.
My eyes quickly drop to the rings when her gaze shifts back to mine. I don’t want her to know how much she has just destroyed me. “You don’t have to be happy, Hunter. Just be enough.” Then she runs from me. How can she run from me when she drops a bomb that’s going to annihilate my shattered world?
“You are my enough,” I say, turning just in time to see Isabel walking through with a forged smile on her face. Max closes the front door, cradling Birthday in the crook of his arm.
He gets my girl and my dog!
This isn’t how it ends.
No.
Fucking.
Way.
For those of you who may not know me, my name is Hunter Knight, and I have a story to tell.
Pure Perception (Web of Deception #2)
Coming Soon
Thank you note & About Author
Thank you so very much for purchasing and reading my novel. If you like what you have read please leave me a rating (good or not so good) on Amazon.com and tell a friend or two. I’m on Goodreads. Follow me on Twitter if you like @quiettamichelle
I’m an independent writer from Charlotte, NC, attempting to tell the world my stories. (The rest isn’t all that much significant.) My job is to entertain and distract you from your problems. I promise to give you everything I have in doing so.
I love you Grandma. Thank you for believing in me more than I believe in myself sometimes. You are the origin of everything I am.
Thank you to the rest of my family. Now that you all have read this, you can understand and sympathize why I’m not fully in the present moment all the time (Mother). I have no control over my characters. They demand to be heard.
Dare to dream a dream and pursue.
Until next time, my friends!
Table of Contents
Prologue
Part I
Drowning
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Chapter ten
Part II
Anonymously Known
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Chapter thirteen
Chapter thirteen
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
Chapter twenty-four
Chapter twenty-five
Chapter twenty-six
Chapter twenty-seven
Part III
Revelation
Chapter twenty-eight
Chapter twenty-nine
Chapter thirty
Chapter thirty-one
Chapter thirty-two
Chapter thirty-three
Chapter thirty-four
Chapter thirty-five
Chapter thirty-six
Chapter thirty-seven
Chapter thirty-eight
Chapter thirty-nine
Chapter forty
Chapter forty-one
Chapter forty-two
Chapter forty-three
Chapter forty-four
Chapter forty-six
Chapter forty-seven
Chapter forty-eight
Chapter forty-nine
Epilogue
Sneak Peek of Pure Perception (Web of Deception #2)
Thank you note & About Author
f Deception #1)
Pure Illusion (Web Of Deception #1) Page 32