Something needs to change if their marriage is going to work. But how far is too far?
To the outside world, Lia Dahl has it all. Her business is thriving. She has a gorgeous husband and great friends.
Jaxon Dahl is everything Lia had ever dreamed of. Successful, handsome, committed. Marriage should have been the answer to the life she’d always imagined. But three years in and unfortunately, it’s not all smooth sailing. Somewhere along the way, she got lost.
How has she allowed herself to become invisible in their relationship when she is so confident everywhere else? Well, no more.
It’s time for drastic action to get this marriage back on track. This will either be the jumpstart they need or the final nail in the coffin.
He rubbed his hand across his face and tilted his head up to the ceiling. “What a night.”
His face pinched with worry as he stood silently beside her.
“He’s going to be fine, Jax. The doctor said there shouldn’t be any residual damage to his heart and if he looked after himself, he’d be back to normal quickly.”
“Yeah, no, I know. He’s incredibly lucky,” he said absently. “If he’s smart and listens, it sounds like this won’t be anything more serious than a swift kick in the ass.”
They walked towards the car and got in. Jax drove in silence beside her. Damn it, she really should have gone into that hospital room with him. If he wasn’t worried about his dad’s recovery, then something had happened in that room because Jax was locked up tight.
She placed her hand on his thigh. “Talk to me, babe. What’s going on in that mind of yours?”
“Nothing really.” Jax’s hand tightened around the steering wheel as he kept his eyes focused on the road in front of him.
“Talk to me, Jax. I’m here for you and I want to help.”
He flicked a glance at her and forced a tight smile in her direction. “Thanks and I appreciate that more than you know.”
Lia leaned back in her seat and looked out the window. Times like these were so hard. Whenever it came to Jax’s family, he shut down. There was this part of him he never wanted to share with her. And it hurt. They were supposed to be a team, but how could they be when he wouldn’t let her in?
She closed her eyes to ease the tension in her body. This wasn’t about her. This was about Jax and what he needed. How he needed to process things. She kept running those words over and over in her mind on a loop. It just really hurt that when it came to situations like these, what he needed didn’t seem to need was her.
Jax pulled the car into the driveway, and they walked in silence into the house.
“Can I get you something to eat?” Lia asked.
“Nah, I’m just going to grab a shower and head to bed.”
“Do you want some company? I could join you in the shower.”
Jax smiled sadly at her. “Thanks, but let me wash this day off and I’ll be more myself when I get out.”
Lia walked over to him and hugged him. “You don’t have to be any particular way with me, Jax. However you are feeling is fine. You don’t always have to do the strong silent thing you know.”
“Thanks, my parents just always fuck with my head, and I need a minute to myself to let it go.” He kissed the top of her head. “Just let me grab and shower so I feel human again and we’ll go from there, okay?” “Of course.”
Lauren has always been a dreamer, weaving stories to keep herself entertained. Through her stories she can travel anywhere in the world and money is not an object. Now, who wouldn’t want that? Unfortunately, the demands of the real world pushed her dreams to the side for a while.
After talking to her children about going after what they wanted and not letting fear stand in their way, she realized she needed to lead by example and chase her own dreams. She enjoys going hiking, camping and paddleboarding with her husband and two daughters.
Title: Crow Author: Chiah Wilder Series: Night Rebels MC #9 Genre: Contemporary MC Romance
He didn’t know he needed her until she came into his life.
Crow is a Night Rebel, one of the largest MCs in Southern Colorado. A whiskey neat. A rumble of a Harley underneath him. A woman wet and ready for him. Those are his ideas of the good life.
He and relationships don’t mix, especially since the woman of his dreams rode off into the sunset with a rival MC member on his bike. The betrayal and hurt built a wall around his heart that he has no intention of breaking down.
The only women he wants in his life are the ones who know the score: fun without commitment. He likes the variety without the heartache.
Then he sees her and everything changes. Curves that won’t quit, long legs, and a defiant look in her big brown eyes. She’s pure temptation
Angie Morelli is stressed, overworked, and sick of everything, especially men. The man who professed undying love to her was caught with his pants down—literally—with one of her bridesmaids the morning of their wedding. Still reeling from the humiliation, she takes a job with the Housing Department in Alina, Colorado, a town far away from her past life.
When the rugged biker gets in her face when she’s just trying to do her job, she sees red. It’s too bad he’s handsome, rugged, and sexier than any man has the right to be.
Even though neither of them wants to admit it, an undeniable attraction sizzles between them. But she isn’t interested in getting her heart ripped to shreds, especially since she’s just now starting to heal from her pre-wedding disaster.
In addition to the arrogant, sexy biker turning her world upside down, there is a madman stalking and killing people. The residents of the housing project call him the shadow man, and they fear his powers, his strength, and his evil.
All of a sudden, Angie is in the midst of a terrifying nightmare, and no one can help her except the sexy biker with a colossal chip on his shoulder. Will Crow be able to gain her trust and put aside his bitterness to save her?
The Night Rebels MC series are standalone romance novels. This book describes the life and actions of a gritty outlaw motorcycle club. HEA. No cliffhangers.
Chiah Wilder is the author of the successful Insurgents MC series.
Chiah’s love of bad boys has inspired her Insurgents series. She loves an alpha male whose softer side is brought out by a passionate, spirited woman. Steamy, biker romances with rough, sexy bad boys are her guilty pleasure along with brownies, cheddar cheese, and movie marathons.
She is busy writing her next book in the series.
Chiah would love to hear from you. You can contact her at: chiahwilder@gmail.com
Join the Chiah Wilder Newsletter to get the scoop on new releases, previews, free short stories, and a whole lot of other exciting goodies: http://eepurl.com/bACCL1
It started as a joke. After all, I’d never pretend to date a woman just to get my mom and sister off my back.
I would, however, pretend to date her to get her ex-husband off hers.
Now the two of us, the wilderness warrior and the wedding planner, are stuck sharing a very small tent. I had no idea how fast things would heat up in here, or how hard it would be to keep my hands—among other things—to myself.
I also didn’t guess how quickly the news of our “relationship” would spread to my big, nosy family.
We can’t “break up” yet, because she’s planning my brother’s wedding and I’m his best man. Through venue visits, DIY disasters, and Vegas trips, we’re thrown together, and the chemistry’s off-the-charts. But the kicker is, I feel like she gets me.
Maybe that’s what scares me the most. I’m still reeling from the loss of my wife, and she’s still hurting from her ex’s betrayal. There’s no way this can ever be real.
I’m about to holler out that all the camping trip attendees need to gather ’round when I notice Jessa looks absolutely fucking miserable.
Yup, I’m looking at her again.
She’s a few people away from me in the circle. Her head’s ducked and her body language screams that she wants to disappear. Which I don’t understand, because when we left the staging area, she was bummed that her friend was bailing, but still seemed basically game. I admired her spirit—a lot of people cancel when their friends bail out. But since then something has obviously killed her moxie.
I want to know what.
And for fuck’s sake, I don’t want to want that.
Even all hunched up, Jessa’s prettiness and presence unsettle me, and I’m hit with a strong memory of that night at the Love for Books literacy fundraiser when I looked up and saw her. She was standing across the room, smiling and talking, eyes bright, lips red, slim body just curvy enough under her long black gown to make my own body come to life.
It was uncomfortable, like the feeling when pins and needles come back into a numb limb.
I didn’t want it, or the tug I felt, the sharp desire to walk across the room and steal her attention away from whoever she was talking to.
I looked away from her and refused to look at her again.
And when she said hi to me at the food table a half hour later, I was a dick to her.
Non-redeemably.
I’m thinking about all that—Jessa smiling, talking, waking me up with her aliveness, and then how she froze when I blew her off at the food table—when I hear a voice say, “Hey, Jessa.”
I raise my head to see the couple that we had to stop for. He’s a white guy dressed in what Portland hipsters think people wear in the woods, and she looks like she just came from the gym, but that’s not what makes my blood freeze.
I know him.
How do I know him? I haven’t put it together yet.
“Hi, Reuben,” Jessa says, her voice small and tight.
Jessa knows him, too.
“I don’t think you two ever officially met,” Reuben says. “This is my girlfriend, Corinna.” He turns to the woman beside him. She’s pretty in that way that a lot of guys go for: blond, blue-eyed, busty, and polished. She’s just a little too plastic for my tastes.
Jessa, standing on Reuben’s other side, is a hell of a lot more beautiful. Not that anyone asked me.
I’m not the most emotionally savvy dude on the planet—after all, I spend a lot of my free time alone with a knife—but even I can tell that something seriously ugly is going on here. The two women haven’t stepped forward, not even a millimeter, to greet each other. Or even looked at each other, really. Jessa looks like she’d like the earth to swallow her. And I get the strong feeling I’m about to find out why.
Reuben turns to Corinna. “Jessa’s my ex-wife.”
Oh, shit.
That’s why Jessa’s mood flatlined. Because when Reuben and Corinna got on the bus, Jessa realized she was about to have to spend three days with her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. And if Amanda’s intel is sound, Reuben cheated on Jessa…
I don’t think you two ever officially met.
Oh, fuck. Could that guy be any more of a dick?
My hands ball into fists, and it takes everything I have not to bury one of them in his smug, asshole face.
“Nice to meet you.” Jessa’s voice is even smaller and tighter. And I’m not gonna lie, it hurts my chest to hear it. I know divorce isn’t the same as death, not by a long shot, but that woman is hurting, and I’m way too familiar with that feeling.
Reuben rocks back on one foot, his arms crossing. Now I remember him from one of our parties. He wore a jacket with elbow patches and black-rimmed glasses. No joke.
A smug look settles on his face. “Jessa. Are you here by yourself?”
Afterwards, I’d wish I’d just punched him, because it would have been smarter than what I do next. Propelled by a force stronger than good sense and a lot faster-acting, I take a step to the side.
“She’s with me.”
And I drop an arm around Jessa Olsen’s slim, warm shoulders.
Then I look up to discover my sister and brother staring at me like I’ve grown another head—
Which honestly, would have probably surprised all of us—me included—less.
USA Today bestselling author Serena Bell writes contemporary romance with heat, heart, and humor. A former journalist, Serena has always believed that everyone has an amazing story to tell if you listen carefully, and you can often find her scribbling in her tiny garret office, mainlining chocolate and bringing to life the tales in her head.
Serena’s books have earned many honors, including an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, Apple Books Best Book of the Month, and Amazon Best Book of the Year for Romance.
When not writing, Serena loves to spend time with her college-sweetheart husband and two hilarious kiddos—all of whom are incredibly tolerant not just of Serena’s imaginary friends but also of how often she changes her hobbies and how passionately she embraces the new ones. These days, it’s stand-up paddle boarding, board-gaming, meditation, and long walks with good friends.
