FORBIDDEN HEARTS: THE LINE WE CROSSED
For six years, Avery Chen has lived under Julian Hawke's roof. He became her stepfather when she was seventeen—a grieving girl who'd just lost her father, gaining a man who treated her with careful, respectful distance. He gave her stability, paid for her college, asked about her day with genuine interest. He was safety incarnate: distinguished, controlled, untouchable.
She told herself the flutter in her chest when he smiled was gratitude. That the way she noticed his hands, his voice, the silver threading his dark hair, was just admiration for a good man. She buried her crush so deep even she almost believed it was gone.
Until the night she brings Derek home—her mediocre boyfriend who treats her like an accessory. She's had too much to drink at a party, laughing too loud, letting Derek paw at her in the hallway. And she sees it: the flash of something dark and possessive in Julian's steel-blue eyes before his expression shutters back to polite concern.
"Avery. A word. Alone."
That night, nothing physical happens. But everything changes.
Because Julian Hawke has been holding back a hurricane. Six years of watching her grow into a woman, six years of midnight thoughts he's ashamed of, six years of loving her in a way that makes him hate himself. He's kept his distance, been the parent she needed, never crossed the line.
But seeing another man touch her breaks something in his carefully constructed control.
Suddenly Avery notices things she'd trained herself to ignore: how Julian's jaw clenches when Derek calls. How his hand lingers when passing her coffee. How he stands too close in the kitchen, his breath warm on her neck, before stepping away like she burned him. How he watches her with hunger he can barely mask.
Her dreams betray her—forbidden fantasies of his hands, his mouth, his body claiming hers with the intensity he shows everything he does. She wakes aching, guilty, terrified.
By day, every accidental touch is warfare. His fingers brushing hers. His chest against her back when reaching past her. His voice dropping low when they're alone, turning innocent words into unspoken promises.
The tension becomes unbearable. Dangerous. Wrong.
But desire doesn't care about morality. And Julian Hawke has spent six years being noble. His control is finally breaking, and Avery is about to discover that forbidden never felt this devastating—or this necessary.
When you've been each other's safe harbor, what happens when you become each other's storm?
