โฆ โฆ โฆ
๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐
๐๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.
๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ.
๐โ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ.
๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต.
๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐
๐โ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐โ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ป๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐โ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ด.
๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ค, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐จ๐ฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
โฆ โฆ โฆ
โฆ โฆ โฆ
โYou came back,โ she said in a breathy voice between sips, eyes peering up at me through her lashes. Her cheeks were flushed from the exercise, and I imagined how the rest of her body would color with the proper stimulation.
โThereโs no place Iโd rather be.โ
โThat makes one of us.โ
โCome onโitโs not so bad.โ
Her eyes leisurely strolled down my torso. โNot so bad today as it was yesterday.โ
โItโs good to see your attitude has changed.โ My lips spread wide in an amused grin. โA couple of hours ago, you were ready to slit my throat.โ I knew what she was doing with her sultry flirting, and I was more than happy to play along.
โAfter I had time to cool down, I realized what you said was true. We did get off on the wrong foot. If youโre going to stay here with me, thereโs no reason we canโt be โฆ pleasant.โ She inched around the counter, closer to where I leaned against the wall, her eyes never leaving mine.
โYour change in outlook wouldnโt happen to have anything to do with me getting you out of here, would it?โ My voice was a low rumble as her hand reached up and gently ghosted down the planes of my chest.
โOf course, it does,โ she admitted. โI know youโre not an idiot, but I also know being ugly to you isnโt going to improve my chances. Believe it or not, I can be rather reasonable.โ
I lifted my hand to a strand of her hair that had fallen across her eyes and placed it back where it belonged, intentionally swiping my fingers across her forehead. I wanted to touch her. Needed to feel the silky softness of her skin.
โI hope you understand, itโs hard to believe someone who is well known for their tricks and manipulation.โ
For a split second, hurt flashed in her unguarded expression before her confident faรงade was back in place. It had been so seemingly genuine, I almost believed it.
The woman was good.
Very good.
โI doubt thereโs anything I can say to change your opinion of me, and I understand that. What Iโm asking of you is to consider that it might be possible for us to work together toward a common goal.โ This time, her hands traced the width of my shoulders as if straightening nonexistent wrinkles, then slid along the contours of my arms.
The sensation of her touch aroused a surprisingly strong urge to flip our positions and press my body against hers. I wanted to cage her against the wall where I could taste and savor her. I shook away the image, knowing better than to get caught up in someone like Morgan.
โAnd what, pray tell, could we possibly have in common?โ I asked wryly. She had my attentionโI would give her that. I couldnโt fathom what might align me to her cause.
Her teeth grazed across her full bottom lip as she peered up at me.
โThe cauldron not only restores life, it restores health, heals the sick and injuredโit could give you back your memories,โ she whispered.
โฆ โฆ โฆ
Read the First Chapter HERE!
โฆ โฆ โฆ
Jill is a Texan, born and raised. She manages the hectic social calendars for her three active children and occasionally spends an evening with her dashing husband. Aside from being an author and a mom, she’s a travel junkie and loves to read when she is not lost in her own stories.
With Jillโs books, you can count on confident heroines, plenty of steamy tension, and deliciously assertive leading men. There are no guarantees in life, but with her books, you know everything will work out in the end. However, a perfect ending would not be nearly as satisfying without a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Jill loves to add plenty of adversity in her stories, creating unforgettably dynamic characters and sneaky plot twists you will never see coming.