THIN LINES
BLURB
Calisto Donati
Calisto had never been a fan of pain,
but he found it provided a certain relief.
It was a high that couldn’t compete with
anything else he experienced. That was why he fought bare-knuckled, why he
drove fast, despite knowing he might crash, and why he still enjoyed looking at
Emma Donati—no matter her current status.
Pain felt good.
He might have been a fool for doing so,
but as long as he got what he wanted from it, he didn’t really care.
When he fought, he was given release.
When he drove, he was given freedom. When he looked at Emma, he was given
memories.
All of them brought a certain level of
pain. All three might kill him someday.
Calisto glanced at Emma, taking her in
again when she didn’t know he was looking.
He realized then that only one might
actually be worth dying for.
Emma Donati
Emma kept her gaze on the book in her
lap, pretending like there wasn’t an argument going on across the room. She had
become terribly good at acting like she didn’t hear.
Calisto watched her out of the corner of
his eye while he argued on with Affonso.
She was too focused on Calisto to care
about their fight. His anger. The
tightness of his jaw. Searing soul-black eyes.
The two men were not the same. They
might have shared blood, but their hearts were entirely different. One man
never let her out of his sight when he was nearby. The other acted like she
didn’t exist.
This was what it was like, she realized,
to be in love with someone she couldn’t have.
Calisto Donati would never be hers.
This wasn’t a fairy tale that would end happily.
They weren’t star-crossed. They were
impossible.
WARNING: The first two books in the Donati Bloodlines Trilogy end on a cliffhanger, the third is a HEA.
"Of course I care.”
“A lot more than you
should,” she pressed.
Calisto’s chest
constricted with pain. He’d convinced himself long ago that it was only
imaginary where Emma was concerned. He couldn’t possibly feel something for
someone that didn’t belong to him and that he could never have. He just
couldn’t.
“Thank you, Calisto.”
Those three,
seemingly innocent words struck him straight in his blackened, worn heart.
She’d spoken them so quietly, but surely. Confident, even, like she knew
exactly what they would do to him.
It hurt.
God.
But he liked it.
Calisto liked that
she acknowledged him and what he did. He had needed it, and while every part of
him screamed how wrong it was, it made him feel like a fucking king.
Before Calisto could
think better of his actions, he stepped forward and grabbed the door, shutting
it without even looking out to see who might be watching. Emma’s enforcer must
have been around somewhere, but was he close enough to see?
Calisto was close
enough to Emma that the silk of her dress brushed against his arms. He could
smell the hauntingly sweet perfume she wore, and he took another breath,
wanting to have more of it soaking into his lungs.
“Where is your
driver?”
“Carter is at a
table,” Emma told him softly. “He’s ordering for us. I told him I would invite
you out to eat with us.”
Calisto watched her
mouth move, and the way her two front teeth peeked out through her upper lip.
It was still a goddamn tease. He still hadn’t gotten this woman on her knees
below him like he’d wanted to.
Jesus.
Why was he walking on
this tightrope again with her?
“We can’t do this,”
Calisto murmured.
Emma’s bottom lip
disappeared beneath her teeth. “We’re not doing anything, Cal.”
“We are.”
It didn’t have to be
labeled to be something.
It still was.
“Thank you for
reminding me that I wasn’t alone,” she said.
“You’re not, Emmy.”
“Not when I have
someone who cares watching out for me, right?”
Calisto knew better,
but he snagged Emma’s wrist in his palm and held tight. The heat of her smooth
skin siphoned straight into his bloodstream, like a shot of adrenaline right to
his heart.
It was bad, but it
was right.
It was good, but it
was wrong.
“Right?” she asked
again.
Her green gaze, jaded
with pain and seeking something, watched him with an understanding that he
didn’t know how she had gotten. He’d been careful with her, not wanting to
bring her too close but never keeping her too far away.
Clearly, Calisto
hadn’t been careful enough.
“Right,” he finally
said.
Emma took a tiny step
closer, her heels clicking on the tile floor. Her warm breath washed over his
jaw when she tilted her head upwards so that she could stare at him again.
“We’re not doing
anything,” Emma said so quietly that he strained to hear. “Someone has to know
we’re doing something for there to be anything, Cal.”
“I’m not sure if I
want to walk that line, Emmy.”
“Liar.”
Calisto’s jaw ticked.
“I—”
“Liar, you do.
Because you care.”
He didn’t even get
the chance to blink before Emma lifted up on her tiptoes, and pressed her mouth
to his. For a quick second, Calisto was stunned. All he could feel were her
silken lips covering his, and her hand fisting into his jacket. He couldn’t
think beyond the sweet-smelling perfume that reminded him of candied cherries,
or the emerald eyes watching him, demanding he deny her what she was asking
for.
How could he deny
her?
After everything, how
was he supposed to do that?
Calisto was far too
selfish to stop Emma or to push her away. He cared too much.
When she grabbed his
jacket tighter and pulled, making him stumble into her warm body, Calisto was
gone. His one hand landed to her waist while his other tangled into the chignon
at the nape of her neck. He pushed her backward until they came to stop against
the door.
Emma laughed—breathy
and low—against his cheek.
It made him fucking
ache.
CALISTO AND EMMA AREN'T STAR-CROSSED. THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE. READ WHERE IT ALL STARTED IN THIN LIES, BOOK #1 IN THE DONATI BLOODLINES SERIES, #FREE WITH #KINDLEUNLIMITED!
BLURB
Calisto Donati
She was just a woman. That’s what Calisto wanted to tell himself; that’s what he wanted to believe. Emma was nothing more than a woman. There were other women for him to want. To obsess over.
It couldn’t be Emma Sorrento.
Not for Calisto.
She was taken.
She was claimed.
She was not his.
In a few days, Calisto would hand her off, and that would be that. He wondered why it wouldn’t be that easy to let her go.
What good had saving her done?
He had simply taken her from one monster to give her to another.
Emma Sorrento
Emma slid on her mask. All someone would need to do was look close enough to see what was really beneath the sheer falseness of her smile.
At the other end of the table, Emma found her lies staring her right in the face.
He smirked.
And winked.
Calisto Donati was her worst mistake, her greatest shame, and the one thing she still wanted more than anything. Emma could still feel him all over her, long after his touch and kiss was gone. In thirty days, her entire world had changed—he had changed her.
Emma had a feeling that if she played another game with Calisto, she would surely lose.
She had already lost once.
Wasn’t it enough?
WARNING: The first two books in the Donati Bloodlines Trilogy end on a cliffhanger, the third is a HEA.
She was just a woman. That’s what Calisto wanted to tell himself; that’s what he wanted to believe. Emma was nothing more than a woman. There were other women for him to want. To obsess over.
It couldn’t be Emma Sorrento.
Not for Calisto.
She was taken.
She was claimed.
She was not his.
In a few days, Calisto would hand her off, and that would be that. He wondered why it wouldn’t be that easy to let her go.
What good had saving her done?
He had simply taken her from one monster to give her to another.
Emma Sorrento
Emma slid on her mask. All someone would need to do was look close enough to see what was really beneath the sheer falseness of her smile.
At the other end of the table, Emma found her lies staring her right in the face.
He smirked.
And winked.
Calisto Donati was her worst mistake, her greatest shame, and the one thing she still wanted more than anything. Emma could still feel him all over her, long after his touch and kiss was gone. In thirty days, her entire world had changed—he had changed her.
Emma had a feeling that if she played another game with Calisto, she would surely lose.
She had already lost once.
Wasn’t it enough?
WARNING: The first two books in the Donati Bloodlines Trilogy end on a cliffhanger, the third is a HEA.
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Author Info
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time. To keep up-to-date with new releases from Bethany-Kris, sign up to her New Release Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bf9lzD
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a hubby calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something … when she can find the time. To keep up-to-date with new releases from Bethany-Kris, sign up to her New Release Newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bf9lzD
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