badboy

The Sketch of Our Scars Jia is a master of being invisible. To the world, she’s just another quiet girl in the back of the class, but her sketchbook holds the secrets she’s too afraid to speak aloud—especially the pain of her father’s broken promises and the scent of alcohol that haunts her home. Her life of shadows changes the day she meets Jinu, a mysterious boy with a bleeding lip and eyes that reflect a darkness deeper than her own. When Jia finds his lost name tag, she realizes they share more than just a bus ride—they share scars that the world cannot see. Can two broken souls find healing in each other’s silence, or will their secrets pull them further into the dark?

Jade has built her life around silence. She never asked for friends. She wanted quiet. Order. That’s why she took a job cataloging artifacts for a covert agency where curiosity is a job requirement and trust is a liability. The lab doesn’t ask questions. The lab doesn’t need comfort. The lab doesn’t break your heart. Overnight, Aamon appears: a demon who demands respect like it’s law, and treats Jade’s fearlessness like a puzzle he can’t stop studying. He doesn’t ask for favors. He doesn’t offer comfort. But he keeps showing up. As more demons surface and hidden secrets slip loose, Jade has to choose between the safe loneliness she understands and the impossible friendships she never thought she deserved. Because in a world of monsters, the most terrifying thing might be letting someone care. The Sins of Jade is a paranormal romance with religious suggestions, sharp humor, secret monsters, slow-burning tension, and a heroine who learns that survival is easier than being loved.

(trigger warning. This book contains mature themes) ****** "I can't..." she gasped between broken moans, her voice trembling somewhere between pain and pleasure. Every thrust seemed to blur the line between surrender and defiance. Then she whispered a name between her sweet cries ...it wasn’t mine. I froze. A slow, humorless smile curved my lips as the sound of his name filled the space between us. “Raph…” she breathed. I leaned in, my mouth brushing her ear. Feeling her tremble from touch until my teeth nibbled her earlobes hard enough to make her whimper and her fold to clench around my fingers. “Wrong name, Lynn.” I hissed, withdrawing from the warmth of her insides. I felt her body tense. She clawed at my shoulders, a desperate plea in every touch. “Don’t…” she whimpered. Those jade-like eyes unravelled me that moment. I could feel the ache in my trousers. A troublesome little viper. A cruel smile traced my lips hiding my emotions. “You called the wrong name,” I murmured, my voice low, dangerous. “And bad girls deserve to be punished.” Her glossy eyes met mine... so full of confusion, want, and power she didn’t yet understand. If she only knew how close I was to breaking. Because the only name she should be calling… was mine. Lucien. I craved it as badly as the air I breathe. ****** For better or for worse, till death do us part. That was their vows at the altar, but her husband broke them first.. He claims an open marriage is the solution to their childless marriage and that it's to protect her own interests. But all Braelyn sees is a prison built from guilt and lies. One heartbroken night, she stumbles into a karaoke bar and into the arms of Lucien. A man shrouded in mystery, rebellion, and danger. His very presence tells her to run but it also gives her the solace she craved. She never expected to see him again after she ran, forgetting his sinful existence, but life wasn't done making a joke out of her. Lucien isn't just any man, but one who can destroy everything she believes in. The man she was never meant to meet. Her husband's uncle The black sheep of the Volkov dynasty. A man whose desire will ruin her. Lucien knows she can't be his, but he was never a man who respected social norms. He doesn't care about anything but her every sin and touch. All he wants… is her, no matter how sinful it gets.

Series 8 : My Heart \/ My Idol (Main Story) Woo Seok Jin, a poor boy captivated by the life of an artist, grows into a man willing to abandon his former self to chase the highest dream, just to be the G.O.A.T in K-POP industry. Nothing can hold him back from walking this path, not even his loved ones, not even if he must trade his own heart with the devil to stand tall at the peak of Seoul. Series 8 : Top /\ Down (Epilogue) A busker and a thug, both struggling to make ends meet, happened to meet by chance. They were then hired by a Yakuza boss who wanted to enter the idol industry with his daughter as the famous idol, while being hunted by a mysterious killer under the mask of wrath. This led them to become her bodyguards, who profited from rival gangs, and they also had to teach her so that she could take over Tokyo. Author Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/cw/Shekuu The full book will include album songs and OSTs. DEMO : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=914broeIUNM

One elite school. One dead student. Two boys who can’t stand each other… and can’t stay away. Welcome to Blackwell Academy. The most prestigious high school in the country, where the rich are powerful, the powerful are dangerous, and everyone is playing a role in the chain. At the top of the chain? The Glass Circle……six untouchable students born into legacy, wealth, and corruption. They are feared, worshipped and corrupt to the core. One night, one of them, ends up dead. What happens when Ash Rivera….a quiet, scholarship student from the slums of the city…witnesses the one thing he was never meant to see? He wasn’t supposed to be at that party. He wasn’t meant to see the body fall from the rooftop. He wasn’t meant to survive it. He definitely wasn’t supposed to catch Dominic Vale’s attention. But one wrong night changes everything. Now Ash is the only witness to a murder, and someone knows he saw too much. They want him silent. “Keep your mouth shut, Rivera. Or you’ll be next. You don’t belong here…and you’ll die trying to." But the real danger isn’t the killer. It’s Dominic Vale…..Blackwell’s golden boy and Ash’s sworn enemy. Because Dominic has his own secrets and obsessions. And why does he keep saying: “Ash Rivera is mine. No one touches him… no one… except me.” As Ash digs deeper into the truth behind the Glass Circle, one thing becomes clear: Love is dangerous. And the truth… might get you killed. Content Warning: This novel contains mature themes, including strong language, dark romance, psychological tension, steamy scenes, and emotional triggers. Reader discretion is advised.

Most people get isekai’d by walking in front of a truck. Violet got hit by one while sitting on her own bed. Before she can even process the fact that a semi-truck met her face, she’s dragged into a new world by a frantic System Guide named Angus. Her consolation prize? A "New Player Welcome Bonus." One single, premium gacha pull to help her survive. She didn’t get a holy sword. She didn’t get a healing dragon. She pulled the Demon King. He is the SSS-Rank Calamity. An ancient being of pure destruction. He is arrogant, he is terrifying, and he is regrettably, distractingly gorgeous. He is also wearing a gold necklace that binds him to Violet’s will—and he takes that personally. The super unbreakable necklace ensures he can't kill his master, but the Demon Lord seems to view that more as a suggestion than a requirement. Her survival plan is simple: 1: Don't die to the monsters. 2: Don't die to her own familiar’s malicious compliance. 3: Absolutely, under no circumstances, tell the murder-god that he looks hot when he’s angry.

WARNING: Some mature content!!! 18+ This is what you call Urbantasy.. Fantasy in an urban setting with a strong female lead. Chapter 1 preview at the end of the SYNOPSIS! ૮ ྀིᴗ͈ . ᴗ͈ ྀིა ===== Galathea Brooks spent her life surviving quietly -- counting inventory, enforcing rules, keeping her head down inside one of the most powerful art institutions in the city. It's a simple life because paint doesn't talk; power doesn't notice people like her. and names are just names. -- That is... until a painting remembered her. When ancient works buried beneath Artemis Art Gallery began to respond to Galathea's presence, she becomes the center of the system that's older than the building itself. A system that cataloged her long before she knew it existed. Her name is not a coincidence. It is a KEY. Cael Alexander, on the other hand, has always understood control. As Artemis' immaculate but dangerous CEO, he manages secrets like no other. He knows the gallery and its bowels more than anyone. He knows what's hidden; he knows what's awaken. What he didn't expect, however, was Galathea. As archaic works of art start to stir, boundaries fracture -- between observer and artifact, power and possession, restraint and desire. Every choice Galathea makes draws her deeper into fate that doesn't want permission... only acknowledgement. Mind you, awakenings don't ask when you're ready. ======= CHAPTER 1 sneak peek! ======= The air between them tightened like a rope. Cael leaned closer, head tilting slightly, pulling at her waist again, smugness softened into something sharper and quieter. His eyes flicked to her lips then back to her eyes as if asking for permission he didn't need. Hunger of a different kind pumped through Cael. The hunger that Galathea unmistakably recognized as it pressed hard against her lower abs, forcing through the fabric as if it can tear through. At the sensation, Galathea's mouth parted before she could stop it. Her whole body screamed at her to either shove him away or close the last inch between their lips herself.

She saved his life. Now her future belongs to his world. Dr. Emilia Conti is a brilliant trauma surgeon drowning in debt and grief. One violent night, she breaks every rule to save a dying man with a gunshot wound—never expecting to see him again. Until she does. Alessio Lombardi is the ruthless heir to a powerful crime dynasty, a man who survives by control and calculation. Owing Emilia a life debt he refuses to release, he draws her into his dangerous world with an offer she cannot walk away from: protection, freedom from her debts, and safety… in exchange for becoming his wife. What begins as survival becomes a battle of wills. As secrets surface and betrayal closes in, Emilia is forced to choose between blood and loyalty, morality and devotion. In a world ruled by power, love is never gentle—and trust can be fatal.

For three years, Sienna loved a man who would never choose her. Alessandro Castellano kept her tucked away in his penthouse like a secret he was ashamed of—expensive gifts, whispered promises, and late-night confessions that felt real until morning came and he went back to his fiancée. Sienna told herself it was enough. That what they had was love, even if it lived in the shadows. She was wrong. The night she overheard him confirming wedding details with Vanessa, laughing about honeymoon plans while Sienna waited for him in silk lingerie he'd bought her, something inside her finally broke. Not dramatically. Not with screaming or thrown objects. Just quietly, like a door closing on a room she'd never enter again. When Alessandro walked in and saw her packed bags, he didn't believe she'd actually leave. "You'll be back," he said, so certain of his hold on her. "You always come back." But Sienna didn't come back. Six months later, she's not the same woman who cried in his elevator. She's built a life without him—a real career, real friends, therapy sessions that taught her she deserved more than crumbs from a man's table. She's even dating Dante Moretti, the charming businessman who looks at her like she hung the moon and doesn't hide her from the world. There's just one problem. Dante is Alessandro's biggest rival, and he knows exactly who Sienna used to be. Alessandro's perfect life, meanwhile, is crumbling. His marriage to Vanessa is a cold business transaction that leaves him hollow. Every woman he looks at reminds him of Sienna. Every night feels empty. He thought he could have it all—the socialite wife his family demanded and the woman who actually made him feel alive on the side. Turns out, you can't have it both ways. When he sees Sienna again at a gallery opening, transformed and glowing on another man's arm, something primal awakens in him. She's not his secret anymore. She's not his at all. And for the first time in his privileged life, Alessandro understands what it means to lose something irreplaceable. He'll do anything to win her back. Burn down his marriage. Destroy his reputation. Fight his own family. Prove he's not the same coward who let her go. But Sienna's not the desperate girl who waited by the phone anymore. She's found her power, her voice, her spine. And watching Alessandro grovel? There's a dark satisfaction in that she probably shouldn't enjoy as much as she does. The thing is, hearts don't follow logic. Chemistry doesn't care about self-respect. And when Alessandro looks at her with those desperate, hungry eyes and says, "I was a fool, and I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you"—part of her wants to believe him. Part of her still loves him. But love isn't always enough, is it? Not when trust is shattered. Not when Dante's offering her stability and devotion without games. Not when Alessandro's vengeful soon-to-be-ex-wife is determined to destroy anyone he cares about. Sienna has to choose: the dangerous, intoxicating man who broke her heart but might have actually changed, or the safer path with a man who's never made her cry. Except Dante has secrets too. And Sienna's about to learn that sometimes the person who seems perfect is just better at hiding their flaws. In a world of billion-dollar business deals, family expectations, and old grudges, Sienna's caught in the middle of a war she never asked to fight. Both men claim they love her. Both men want to possess her. But this time, Sienna's not anyone's prize to win. This time, she gets to decide her own worth. And whoever ends up with her heart will have to earn every single piece of it—because she's done giving herself away to men who don't understand what they have until it's gone.

•⋅⊰∙∘☽✼☾∘∙⊱⋅• Senior year was supposed to be Noah Valentine's glow-up. New wardrobe. New reputation. This was finally his chance to prove he wasn't the same awkward boy bullies could easily prey on. Then his mom got remarried... And his new stepbrother turned out to be Adrien Fell. Rich. Arrogant. Straight. Gorgeous of course, is determined to ruin his year all over again-except when he's glaring at his dates, interfering with his plans, or (annoyingly) acting like he actually cares. Enemies? Definitely. Step-siblings? Unfortunately. Attraction? ...Yeah, that's the goddamn problem. Between jealous exes, revenge plots, family secrets and obsessed stalkers, Noah's's "best year ever" is spiraling out of control. But maybe-just maybe-the boy he was never supposed to want is the one who's been waiting for him all along. [MATURE CONTENT, EVENTUAL SMUT] (What to expect) •Family murder mystery •Enemies to lovers •Forced proximity •Yandere stalker •Eventual smut (very graphic) •Taboo relationship •GL side couple •Love triangle •Extremely slow burn •⋅⊰READER CHALLENGE⊱⋅• sorry, guys...I had to take this down because I'm running out of stockpile chapters and I'm currently too sick to create more...but I'll put it back up when I get enough chapters... thank you for the support.

Heartbroken, Kiara flies to London, where she stays for three years, rebuilding her life and creating a career in the legal world. However, when she's diagnosed with a terminal illness that is said to claim her life within three years, she decides to return home to spend the last days of her life with her family. The unexpected happens when she discovers that her house is occupied by a man named Debbie, and her patience is tested beyond reason. Debbie is a stubborn, annoying, and misogynistic person who goes about hating on every woman. Surprisingly, he finds himself unable to hate Kiara and pursues her, hoping to cure his condition. On the other hand, Kiara finds herself falling in love again, something she didn't think she was still capable of doing, given her past and her current state. She'd given up the fight, she'd come to terms with her fate, she was prepared to die. But now she wants to fight, she wants to live. "Wait, who are you?" "I should be asking the question." He backed. "I live in this house." He lived in her house. Then who was Debbie? If she was to remember, she was supposed to share the house with her. So who was this guy? "This is my house." She replied. "And all I remember is that I should be sharing it with Debbie. She just left. So who are you?"  He gave her a knowing, yet etched with mockery, smile. "Princess." He said. "Debbie is me." 

“That child is mine. And so are you,” he commanded, his viper-green eyes pinning her in place. Grace couldn’t believe that he—Carlos Benjamin, her new CEO and eight years her junior—was the father of her unborn baby. “You can go back to that deadbeat you call a husband, or you can come with me and have everything.” ===== For the last five years of her marriage, Grace Preston, 32, believed she was broken. She couldn’t have a child, and her deadbeat husband, Charles, never let her forget it, calling her useless while she worked tirelessly to fund his failed acting career. He didn’t just break her spirit; he shattered her trust by cheating on her with her own sister. Heartbroken, Grace fled to her office late one night, seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle. She wasn’t alone. A beautiful, blond-haired man was there, nursing his own wounds. He never told her his name, but he offered her a night of oblivion. Fueled by whiskey and a desperate need for revenge, she gave in to her darkest desires, pulling the willing stranger into her web. In her drunken haze, she thought, “If my husband can have his fun, then so can I.” She never worried about protection, convinced she was barren. Until a month later, when a positive pregnancy test trembled in her hands. Grace Preston, the ‘barren’ wife, was pregnant. In a single night, the stranger gave her what Charles couldn’t in five years. Now Carlos has made his claim, pulling her into a world of immense power and lethal secrets. Will Grace escape her toxic marriage only to be trapped in this captivating young billionaire’s golden cage? Or is trading one prison for another a mistake that will cost her more than just her heart?

[MATURE CONTENT WARNING: 18+ Only. Heavy Smuts, knotting, possessive themes, and dub-con.] “I knotted you thrice today, little liar. Tell me… is the game still worth it?” In the pro leagues, Omegas aren't allowed to play. But Kayden Vale entered the hockey world anyway, pretending to be an Alpha. Living on suppressants, he has one goal: Win the Cup. But he also has one massive problem: Rhys Calder. Rhys Calder is the Alpha Captain of the Nothern Avalanche. He hates Kayden for being "too pretty" for the ice. The world sees them as two Alphas always at each other’s throats, but they don’t see what happens when the lights go out. Behind locked doors, their hate turns into a different kind of heat. It was supposed to be simple: Teammates on ice, fuck buddies in the bedroom. No feelings. No strings attached. Rhys thought he was with a cocky Alpha. Then he found out the truth. Instead of turning Kayden in, he claimed him. What started as a physical release has twisted into dark obsession. Enemies to rivals-with-benefits to something far more dangerous: love. What happens when the world discovers their forbidden secret? #BL #Omegaverse #SportsRomance #RivalsToLovers #SecretIdentity #PossessiveAlpha #Smut #Hockey #ForcedProximity #EnemiesWithBenefits#Mpreg#Erotica

The sun does not rise. My desolation begins here. No moon shines in the blackness. Only a pair of green eyes pierce my dark, incinerating my heart. I did not know love could be so painful before you. Tell me, will the dawn come for us one day? Will it rise inside us? Tell me, what am I? The prey? Or the killer? The sun isn't rising, Soldier. And I fear the dark. But I make you a vow: I will light up this darkness with the burning pyres of those who ruined me. The sun won't rise; the apocalypse will come. Yet, I will still look for you everywhere. For one truth remains: Even if I am condemned to eternal night, I will never forsake you.

Katherine Blaire has worked six grueling years to rise to the top of the banking world of Manhattan. Confident, voluptuous, and ambitious, she's nearly within reach of the promotion that will help to finance the college education of her autistic brother. She needs but one account- the account of Anthony Marvin, arguably the most influential and dangerous man in New York. Anthony "Tony" Marvin doesn't just own hotels and nightclubs. He controls both legitimate and underground empires as the heir of the most notorious mafia family in the city. Tony is ruthless, heartbreakingly handsome, and untouchable until Katherine enters his club with the business plan and with an unwavering refusal to back away from him. When Tony offers Katherine something she cannot refuse —a night with him in exchange for the contract —she storms out, humiliated and outraged. But Tony is interested in the woman who had the strength to say no to him, and Katherine finds herself drawn into a dangerous game of power struggle, desire, and growing love. As their relationship grows stronger, Tony's father, the ruthless mafia kingpin Thomas Marvin, will do whatever it takes to eliminate what he sees as his son's greatest weakness. Surrounded by enemies and with Katherine's entire family in danger, she and Tony must decide if their love is worth risking everything — including their lives. In a world in which love is the ultimate vulnerability, can a banker and a mafia prince redefine the rules of power?

Life was normal. Chaotic, messy, fun. Until she met Hardin Briggs. Six feet two, with a face that made it impossible to look away. Piercing blue eyes that seemed to see through everything, perfect jawline, define nose, dark lashes that shouldn't belong to a guy, lips worth losing your mind over—and that faint, impossible smirk. For someone like Luna—wild, reckless, impulsive—he was too magnetic. Part of it was the mystery, the unreadable edge that kept her up all night. But it wasn’t just him she was drawn to. It was the danger. The closer she got, the more her life was in danger. And when she discovered the secret world he lived in—missions that could kill, enemies who didn’t forgive, contracts signed in blood, people watching from the shadows, and a life where trust was a weapon—it was already too late. She was in too deep. She thought she knew herself. But... some feelings don’t just change you. They consume you. And Hardin was something she wasn’t ready for.

**She came to steal a plant. She left utterly destroyed and completely his** Aria Chen is a woman who wears many masks: brilliant hacker, underground artist, medical prodigy. But none of those identities can save her dying mother from a rare disease with only one cure a nearly extinct medicinal plant called Vitalis Radix, cultivated exclusively on the private estate of billionaire CEO Damien Blackwood. Desperate and running out of time, Aria does the unthinkable: she infiltrates his fortress-like mansion as a maid under a false identity, planning to steal the plant and vanish before anyone discovers the truth. The plan is simple. "Get in. Get the plant. Get out." Until she meets him. Damien Blackwood is power incarnate ruthlessly intelligent, devastatingly handsome, and dangerously observant. From their first encounter, the attraction between them is explosive, undeniable, and completely forbidden. When he makes her his personal maid, Aria thinks she's been given the perfect access to complete her mission. She has no idea he's been waiting for her. He knows exactly who she is. And he's going to make her pay. But his punishment won't come in the form of police or prosecution. It comes in whispered commands in the darkness. In his hands claiming every inch of her virgin body. In the way he teaches her that pleasure and control are two sides of the same coin. "You're mine now. Every hole. Every moan. Every desperate whimper when you beg me to let you come." Aria is a virgin who's never experienced desire, never understood her own body's capacity for pleasure. Damien becomes her sexual awakening and her complete undoing. He introduces her to a world of dark eroticism she never knew existed remote-controlled vibrators she must wear while serving his dinner guests, sex in his office while he's on business calls, punishments that leave her marked and aching and desperate for more. She becomes addicted. To his touch. To his dominance. To the way he makes her body sing with pleasures she didn't know were possible. Every encounter pushes her boundaries further. Every night in his bed pulls her deeper into obsession. He's possessive to the point of madness, jealous of every man who looks at her, determined to own not just her body but her very soul. "When I'm done with you, you won't remember your own name. You'll only remember mine." As Aria falls deeper into Damien's web of dominance and desire, her mission becomes impossible to separate from her feelings. Her mother is dying. Time is running out. But every night in his arms makes her question what she's willing to sacrifice. When he finally catches her in the greenhouse, hands covered in soil and guilt written across her face, the confrontation is explosive. "Did you really think I didn't know? That I haven't been ten steps ahead this entire time? You played your game, Aria. Now it's time for mine." Betrayal. Rage. Raw, punishing sex that blurs the line between fury and passion. READER WARNING: This is a DARK EROTIC ROMANCE with explicit sexual content including: ** Virgin heroine's complete sexual awakening ** Dominant alpha hero with possessive/obsessive tendencies ** Power dynamics and consensual control (employer/employee) ** Public sexual situations and exhibitionism elements **Use of sex toys for control and pleasure ** Punishment scenarios (spanking, discipline) ** Intense jealousy and possessiveness ** Morally gray characters who make questionable choices ** Explicit language and graphic sexual scenes ** Pushed boundaries (always consensual) ** Emotional intensity and angst This book contains a GUARANTEED HEA but the journey is dark, twisted, and absolutely filthy. If you want safe and sweet, this isn't your book. If you want a billionaire who plays dirty and a heroine who learns to crave it, "Welcome to Blackwood Estate. where every rule is meant to be broken, every boundary is meant to be pushed, and love is the most dangerous game of all."

Lyra’s project was stolen when she was young, ruining her dreams. She joins the police academy to never feel powerless again. Years later, she meets the thief, now a smart criminal. They fight and tease each other, hating one another at first. Forced to work together against mafia and corrupt cops, they slowly move from enemies to lovers. Secrets come out, walls fall, and they finally fall in love.

“What are you doing here, you pervert?” she snapped. He blinked, clearly offended.             “Pervert? Can’t I get a better nickname?”             “Mr. Pervert?” Her expression hardened, while Yoongi pouted like a scolded child.      “You followed me, didn’t you?” she accused.                          “No.” She stepped closer.           “So what? You came for my attention? Or to see my skirt fall again? Or my lips on yours?” Her voice lowered dangerously. “Or maybe to tell the shop owner I’m your girlfriend so you get a discount?”     She moved forward. Yoongi moved back.         Until his broad back hit the cold white wall. “N-No…” he stammered.               “Then why are you here?” She slammed her palm beside his head, trapping him.     Update daily don't forget to comment vote and share Love y'all

He’s her stepbrother, her sin and her biggest mistake waiting to happen. Catherine Brown thought moving in with her mother’s new husband couldn’t be harder until she met the cold, arrogant and sinfully attractive Julian Vaughn, her stepbrother. He hates her, teases her and gets under her skin everyday. He’s everything she should stay away from, off-limits and untouchable. But when his anger turns into something darker and hungrier, when he looks at her like he wants to ruin her innocence, Catherine realizes danger has a new name. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t stop wanting the one man she’s not supposed to have. When hate turns to desire, who’s really in control? EXCERPT✨ “You’ve never had sex before?” Julian asked, disbelief flickering in his eyes. Catherine hesitated, then nodded, staring at the floor instead of him. He bit his lower lip, trying to rein in the thoughts crowding his mind. Goodness, she was too innocent for her own good. “So all you did with your previous boyfriends were just kisses and smooches?” She immediately stood, her cheeks flushed. “There are no boyfriends,” she blurted. “I’ve never even been kissed. Please don’t laugh at me.” Laugh? Hell no. Julian wasn’t laughing. He was fighting the urge to pull her close. Knowing she’d never been touched only made his hunger worse. She didn’t realize he’d moved until his breath brushed her ear, his voice dropping low and dangerous. “Catherine, just say the word and I’ll show you what it means to be touched by a man.” Her heart stuttered in her chest and he could hear every beat.