And I Love You

<p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>ANDI</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Love and I mean real love is the exception. I know most of us never find it. For me life is about surviving keeping my head above the water while I tell lie after lie so people don't realize how bad it really is. </span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Something changes when his eyes lock on mine. Something in me stirs. He's steady where I wobble. He's quiet where my mind screams. He's a flirt and for the first time I'm finding myself wanting to be one right back. </span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>But I know better than to get close. I'll only weigh him down.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p><strong style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>MERIT</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>She's warmth like I've never felt. I don't date and I don't do love. Most of the time one night is plenty for me. So why have I been mesmerized from the moment she walked through that door? </span></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>She's everything I won't let myself have because she's everything I'll destroy. She's soft kind and blushes with the innocence of a woman entirely unaware of her perfection. She's everything I need and everything I'll ruin myself to protect.</span></p><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(65 65 65 1)>This is the first book in the Mako Bay duet. It features a slow-burn character-driven romance focused on emotional growth and healing after trauma.</em></p><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(65 65 65 1)>Trigger Warnings: substance abuse child abuse drugging sexual assault (not between the main characters) and death. </em></p>