Pent Up

¿ Julia ¿

Life isn't going great right now. In fact, let's go with "shambles." My job as a pediatric nurse is on the line all because I blew the whistle on an alcoholic doctor. And while he's busy threatening me, my stand-in father is in the hospital for chest pain, my sister is under strict "no stress" orders due to her difficult pregnancy, and I can't tell anyone anything for fear of it getting back to her.

Enter Mateo, stage left: the boy next-door turned Navy Seal badass. When it comes to keeping me safe, he won't take no for an answer. I can't get him off my couch, and the longer he's around, the less I actually want him to go. It certainly doesn't help that every glare he throws in my direction ruins another pair of panties, but I absolutely cannot sleep with my brother's best friend. Nope. That would be really, really bad.

¿ Mateo ¿

I've been in love with Julia Donovan since I was old enough to ride a bike without training wheels. I enlisted in the Navy at eighteen, just so I wouldn't have to watch her pine after my older brother anymore. Injured and pushed into early retirement, I'm back in Sonoma for my first long stretch in eight years.

I had every intention of avoiding Julia. Of settling into a civilian life that doesn't put me in the path of my best friend's little sister. What's that phrase about good intentions? Yeah... I'm well and truly f*cked. I can't possibly walk away and leave her unprotected, not after catching that douche nozzle threatening her. So, I'm glued to her side, even if it means enduring the endless torture of being close enough to taste her and having to keep my hands to myself.