“Who Hurt You?”
When Hudson Cage asked those words, I shut him out just as I did the rest of those who cared for me. It’s been a year since I made one of the worst choices of my life but now I am stronger and following the path I’ve carved myself.
As manager of the Cage Resort, I want to bring the company into a new era and show the larger than life family that I am worth so much more than what my father and ex said I was.
Only to do that, I have to deal with Hudson. The man I can’t get off my mind.
And my neighbor in this small town of ours.
We fight more than we speak to one another, and his over protectiveness is starting to become far too attractive. He holds secrets within those stormy eyes and the part of me that knows it’s a mistake wants to dive deep and know more.
When one lack of control turns to another, there’s no turning back from what we could have. Yet the darkness on each of our paths are closing in.
I don’t want to love Hudson Cage, but if we don’t give in and learn to trust, we both could risk losing it all before we even have a chance.
**One Quick Obsession is an enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, small town romance featuring Hudson and Scarlett. Each book can be read as a complete standalone. An HEA is guaranteed!**
Teaser Excerpt:
I moved down the hall towards the back offices. After I slid my key card to get through security, I tried to think about all the things I needed to get done tonight. I wanted to work on my art piece, but it was turning out to be far more difficult than I thought. Maybe I would head down to Harper’s later and work on another mural. That would clear my head. And I liked my brother’s girlfriend. She might seem sweet and innocent, but she could kick anybody’s ass if they ever decided to come and hurt her family. And the Cages were now her family.
I liked her.
I could be doing art. I could be working on my house. I could be doing anything else. Instead I was at this damn resort trying to fix a doorknob that kept getting stuck.
Again, not my job, but if I kept my hands busy, I wouldn’t have nightmares. And that sounded a lot better to me.
When I got to the manager’s office though, I frowned. The door was open, not locked in place like it usually was. Scarlett was damn good with security. She was damn good at most things, which was why we always butted heads. Because I didn’t like her knowing that I thought she did a damn good job. She got all uppity and looked down at me. And I wasn’t in the mood to deal with that.
But she never left the door open.
I slid my hand in my pocket, gripping my knife, as I slowly opened the door fully. She stood there, alone, as I scanned the room, but it took me a moment to let go of the knife.
Because while she was alone, she wasn’t sitting at her desk working.
Instead the image in front of me made my jaw tense, and anger surged to the surface.
Scarlett, in all her beauty, with her light blonde hair flowing down her back, and that icy way she could put down anybody who tried to hurt her, stood in front of her mirror, her main shirt off and over the chair, in only her pants and tank top.
And there were bruises all over her. She pulled up part of her shirt since I knew she hadn’t seen me yet, and the dark bruises turning blue and green there put a metallic taste in my mouth.
“Who. Hurt. You?”
She met my gaze in the mirror, her eyes widening. Her face went deathly pale, before her jaw tensed, and that familiar snarl covered her face. She whirled, sliding down her top.
“Get out!” she yelled as she scrambled for her shirt.
I moved forward, hands at my sides. I was a good foot taller than her, and could scare the shit out of her, but it wasn’t like I could look any smaller than I was. I’d be damned if she didn’t tell me what the hell happened.
“I repeat. Who hurt you?”
She quickly buttoned up her blouse, her hands shaking.
“I’m fine,” she lied. Because it was a damn lie. “I went skiing and hurt myself. I was just checking the bruises.”
I leaned forward and reached out to grip her chin. My breath caught as the bruise on the side of her jaw had only just now revealed itself to me when she turned.
And she flinched. Fucking flinched.
I let my hand drop, and I told myself to breathe. “Don’t fucking lie to me.”
“And maybe you should just get over yourself. I don’t owe you any answers. Get out. You may own this place, but you don’t own me. Get out, get out, get out, get out.”
She repeated the words over and over again, before her knees went weak, and tears slid down her face.
I had never once seen Scarlett Blair crack. Not in all the times that we’d yelled at each other, fought, or poked at each other just because we knew we could handle it.
And that scared me more than anything.
I reached out and caught her before she hit the ground and held her to my chest.
Because I knew exactly who had done this.
About the Cage Family Series:
Seven brothers find out their father had a secret family. Now there are a whole new set of Cage siblings no one is prepared for.
Forced to have dinner once a month to keep the company in tact and not let the small town of Cage Lake go under, the Cages are in for some trouble.
If they fail, thousands lose their jobs and others could lose their lives.
If they succeed…their world will change forever.
Family Secrets. A Family-Owned Small Town. Grumpy Heroes. Unstoppable Heroines.
This is the Cage Family.
When a dark secret derails the family’s plans for the future, the Cage brothers are faced with a new problem:
They aren’t the only Cages in town.
Now there’s double the trouble. Triple the angst. And the Cage family better step up.
Or they might just lose everything.
Including the HEAs they didn’t know they were missing.
You first meet the Cages in Best Friend Temptation. These are Ford’s brothers.
Each book is a complete stand alone with an HEA.
The series is ongoing
About the Author:
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Talon Pack, Promise Me, and Elements of Five series, which have sold millions of books worldwide. She's the winner of a RT Book of the Year and a Prism Award in her genres. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over one hundred novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
Website: https://carrieannryan.com/
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