Page 171 of All The Happily Ever Afters

“I love you too.”

Read Willow’s sexiest and most talked about romances in the Merciless World!

Ruthless, crime family leaderCarter Crossshould’ve known Aria would ruin him the moment he saw her. Given to Carter to start a war; he was too eager to accept. But what he didn’t know was what Aria would do to him. He didn’t know that she would change everything.

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A KISS TO KEEP

A KISS TO KEEP

W. Winters

It started with a kiss. A single kiss that shook me to my core. A kiss to silence me, and a kiss to numb the pain.

I took his hand and in turn, he took me away. I thought when we ran away, we’d never have to look back.

I was wrong.

I think Sebastian knew, and so did I, that he’d be pulled back into this life one day. There was no way we could have gotten our happily ever after. Scars don’t ever fully go away, and this sinful place is etched into our flesh.

I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive him for bringing me back here. Even when he kisses me the way he does… no kiss can take away this pain.

He’s still my everything, but I don’t know how we’ll survive this.

A Kiss to Keep is an extension of Chloe and Sebastian’s story, A Kiss to Tell. Although it can be read on its own, it’s recommended you start with A Kiss to Tell.

PROLOGUE

Chloe

Iremember the hum of the engine. It’s funny how that’s what stayed with me all this time. We took off in the shadows of the night, with what little bit we had that was worth taking with us and we drove away as fast as we could.

We didn’t stop running, not for a long time, and I didn’t have to ask him why.

No one leaves that place and gets away with it.

Crescent Hills is nothing but sin and misfortune. It’s designed to keep every soul trapped there in a fog of devastation. I grew up surrounded by violence and agony. Living in fear and in anger. The constant turmoil kept me fighting, but I knew I would never be anything more than a name on its list of victims. That’s the truly unfortunate part. I never wanted to call it home, but back then, I knew I’d never have another.

Until Sebastian.

He was always the only one for me, because he stained my lips with his and scarred my skin with his burning touch before I ever considered letting a boy touch me. Well, any boy other than him. No one else could have compared.

It all started with a kiss.

He followed me behind our high school. I didn’t know it and I never would have guessed he felt even a fraction of what I’d felt for him. He had to have though, because that unfortunate day, I turned around after crying so hard and there he was. I was embarrassed to be inside with the other kids, so I hid outside, trying to suppress the shameful tears. The second I heard him, the second I turned around to see who’d followed me, Sebastian pushed my back against the brick wall and crushed his lips against mine.

Stunning me. Stealing my breath from me. Forcing me to think of him. Which was worlds better than being consumed with the tragedy that plagued me. That moment changed everything.

Because he kissed me, and I never forgot that kiss.

Because I took his hand and he led me away.

A sad smileplays at my lips as I rest my cheek against the cold glass. It was freezing cold when we ran away over a decade ago. We were barely more than kids then. Time’s changed us so much. But it can’t change everything.

It’s fitting that it’s bitter cold now that we’re returning.

Now that we’re going back into the nightmare.

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