The Help (Kings of Linwood Academy, #1)

by Callie Rose

He’s got the same almost-black hair as his father, although it’s longer and a little more wild. His eyes are an amber honey color, a vivid contrast to his dark hair, and he’s got a long, straight nose, high cheekbones, and angular features.

Of course the hot asshole would have three hot friends. They always seem to move in packs.

Don’t ask me what it is about getting beaten at poker by a woman, but for some reason, it tends to make men horny. Maybe it’s just a last ditch effort to prove their masculinity, who knows.

“Harlow. Breathe, baby. Just breathe. Just look at me and breathe.”

His hands move up my shoulders, and one slides around the back of my neck, threading through the hair at the base of my skull, while the other traces the line of my jaw. I freeze, blinking at him as his thumb skims lightly over my lower lip. He’s staring at it, but I’m not sure he’s really seeing it. His mind seems a million miles away. “It’ll be okay, Harlow,” he murmurs. “No one will hurt you. But you have to trust me on this.”

I never get to finish that sentence, because in two strides, Lincoln closes the distance between us and kisses me. Hard.

It’s not a sweet kiss. It’s not even a hot kiss. It’s more like a natural disaster, a tornado tearing through the landscape, destroying everything in its path and leaving the world as it once existed in ruins. It’s fire. It’s pain. It’s need.

I was wrong before. That kiss downstairs? That was fucking gentle. This is the kind of kiss that steals souls.

“I never fucking told you. I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. But the truth is, Low, I never hated you. I wanted you from the very first second I saw you.”