Laurel

From the back cover

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Alora Serano is a therapist with a gift for healing broken minds-but she never expected to be forced into marrying one. Her husband, Laurel Morretti, is a powerful CEO with a sharp tongue, colder eyes, and a past he keeps buried in silence. Their marriage is nothing more than a calculated transaction between two families-but beneath the formalities and tension lies something far more dangerous: chemistry. From the moment Alora enters Laurel's world, he makes it clear-he didn't ask for a wife, especially not one with eyes that see right through him.

"You're wasting your time trying to fix me, mia cara," Laurel mutters one night, jaw clenched, eyes dark with everything he refuses to say. "And yet, here you are... letting me in, inch by inch," Alora replies softly, holding his gaze. He smirks, the edge of something darker curling at his lips. "You like how my fingers make you feel, don't you, Alora?"

Their dynamic is a storm. Passion tangled in pain. One moment, they're at each other's throats, the next, they're pressed against the walls in breathless silence, trying to pretend the desire doesn't mean anything. But it does. Every glance burns. Every accidental touch leaves a mark. Alora never meant to fall for a man who weaponized distance, and Laurel never expected a woman who could unravel him with just a look.

"You don't get to touch me like that and pretend it means nothing," she snaps during one of their many arguments. His voice is a low growl as he steps closer. "And you don't get to look at me like that unless you're ready for the consequences."

As Alora digs deeper into his psyche, she uncovers the wounds he's buried for years-wounds he never let anyone see. But love isn't easy, not when trauma lurks in every corner and trust feels like a luxury neither of them can afford. When Laurel's demons rise to the surface and Alora begins to break under the weight of loving a man who might never be able to love her back, the line between devotion and destruction begins to blur.

"You make me want to believe in things I swore I never would again," Laurel whispers against her skin one night, vulnerable and raw for the first time. "And I want to be the reason you finally do," Alora breathes.

Their story is messy, complicated, and maddening-but also intoxicating, healing, and unforgettable. In a marriage born out of duty, they discover that sometimes, the person you were forced to marry becomes the only one who can truly set you free.

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