The Brazen (Calamity Montana, #3)

by Willa Nash

I wasn’t settling for contentment. I wanted love. I wanted passion. I wanted a man who stole my breath when he walked into the kitchen. Who kissed me and made the world melt away. Who would make every day an adventure.

How long had it been since a man had stared at me with such lust? Such hunger? Pierce looked at me like he wanted to devour me whole. I’d let him.

“I want Kerrigan because I’m in love with her.” I whipped around at Pierce’s voice, stunned to see him striding down the hallway with Elias in the cradle of an arm. His gaze was locked on Dad as he came to stand by my side. “In your shoes, I’d be wary too. But I don’t need your approval because in time, I’ll earn it. Treat me however you like. That said, I’ve seen Kerrigan cry more tears tonight than she should have. So I’ll warn you, Colton, she doesn’t need me to defend her, but I will. Make no mistake about it, if you cause her any more pain, you’ll answer to me.”

“If you don’t marry him, I will.” Larke came up behind Dad. She looped an arm through his and dragged him away.

“You never liked Gabriel. Maybe our relationship was odd. I can understand how you’d see it that way. But he believed in me. So does Pierce. He doesn’t tell me not to look at a new house. He doesn’t tease me about my blog. He doesn’t continue to offer me a job I don’t want. He doesn’t wait for me to fail with an I told you so on the tip of his tongue. He’ll watch me jump off a cliff because he believes I’ll fly. And I will. I will fly. But you’re so busy standing at the bottom, waiting to pick up the pieces, that when you finally look up, I’ll have already flown away.”