Prisoner (Criminals & Captives #1)(85)
I feel her words on my skin, touching every nerve ending, lighting me up. “The day I made you mine.”
“I escaped that day too. I just didn’t know it yet.” She smiles. “Look at you all hot on the journal.”
I trace the line of her jaw with my knuckle. I’ve never let a person this close before, where what they want and need is more important than anything. It’s scary sometimes, how deep I feel that. “Remember what you said? When a person tells their story, it helps to heal them. To make them whole.”
She raises her eyebrows. “And right after, you said that some people can never be healed,” she teases. “Can never be whole.”
“Maybe I was wrong. Not about the healing part, but a person can always be made whole. I know that for a fact. I know it personally.”
She looks up at me now, caught by the seriousness of my tone. She knows I’m not talking about stories anymore, just like she knows she’s mine. Just like she knows I’ll always protect her, even as we move to take down bigger *s than the governor.
She shifts around and snuggles against my chest. I wrap my arms around her like a wall against the world.
The End
THANK YOU!
Thank you for reading Prisoner! We hope you enjoyed the book.
? Would you like to know when our next books are available? You can sign up for Skye Warren’s newsletter at skyewarren.com/newsletter and Annika Martin’s newsletter at annikamartin.com.
? Like us on Facebook here: Skye Warren and Annika Martin
? We appreciate your help in spreading the word, including telling a friend.
? Reviews help readers find books! Leave a review on your favorite book site.
? Prisoner is the first book in a series we hope to continue. In the meantime, you can read Wanderlust by Skye Warren and The Hostage Bargain by Annika Martin or Agaisnt the Dark by Carolyn Crane. Turn the page to read excerpts from those books…
About Skye Warren
Skye Warren is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of dark romantic fiction. Her books are raw, sexual and perversely romantic.
Sign up for Skye’s newsletter:
www.skyewarren.com/newsletter
Like Skye Warren on Facebook: facebook.com/skyewarren
Follow Skye Warren on Twitter: twitter.com/skye_warren
Visit Skye’s website for her current booklist: www.skyewarren.com
About Annika Martin
Annika Martin is a NYT bestselling author who loves writing romantic stories about criminals—some of her tales are dirty and fun (kinky bank robbers!) others are dark and intense (Prisoner collaboration). She also writes sexy, gritty romantic suspense and urban fantasy as RITA-award winning author Carolyn Crane.
Sign up for Annika’s newsletter: www.annikamartinbooks.com
Like Annika Martin on Facebook: facebook.com/annikamartinbooks
Follow Annika Martin on Twitter: twitter.com/annika_martin
Find Carolyn Crane online: http://authorcarolyncrane.com
Also by Skye Warren
Wanderlust
Evie always dreamed of seeing the world, but her first night at a motel turns into a nightmare. Hunter is a rugged trucker willing to do anything to keep her—including kidnapping. As they cross the country in his rig, Evie plots her escape, but she may find what she’s been looking for right beside her.
“Skye Warren will take you into the depths of depravity but bring you home, safe in the end.”
–Kitty Thomas, author of Comfort Food
Excerpt from Wanderlust
I felt tiny out here. Would it always be this way now that I was free? Our seclusion at home had provided more than security. An inflated sense of pride, diminishing the grand scheme of things to raise our own importance. On this deserted sidewalk in the middle of nowhere, it was clear how very insignificant I was. No one even knew I was here. No one would care.
When I rounded the corner, I saw that the lights in the gas station were off. Frowning, I tried the door, but it was locked. It seemed surreal for a moment, as if maybe it had never been open at all, as if this were all a dream.
Unease trickled through me, but then I turned and caught site of the sunset. It glowed in a symphony of colors, the purples and oranges and blues all blending together in a gorgeous tableau. There was no beauty like this in the small but smoggy city where I had come from, the skyline barely visible from the tree in our backyard. This sky didn’t even look real, so vibrant, almost blinding, as if I had lived my whole life in black and white and suddenly found color.
I put my hand to my forehead, just staring in awe.
My God, was this what I’d been missing? What else was out there, unimagined?
I considered going back for my camera but for once I didn’t want to capture this on film. Part of my dependence on photography had been because I never knew when I’d get to see something again, didn’t know when I’d get to go outside again. I was a miser with each image, carefully secreting them into my digital pockets. But now I had forever in the outside world. I could breathe in the colors, practically smell the vibrancy in the air.
A sort of exuberant laugh escaped me, relief and excitement at once. Feeling joyful, I glanced toward the neat row of semi-trucks to the side. Their engines were silent, the night air still. The only disturbance: a man leaned against the side of one, the wispy white smoke from his cigarette curling upward. His face was shrouded in darkness.