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AVAILABLE: Friday, February 6th
Brick lives by one rule. Protect the club at all costs.
As Devil’s Crown MC’s silent, iron-willed Sergeant-at-Arms, loyalty is his armor and violence is his language. He doesn’t fall in love. He doesn’t take an old lady, and he never lets anyone close enough to matter. Until Tessa Hart.
Tessa is a social worker with a dangerous habit of caring too much, especially about one at-risk teen the Iron Serpents want to use as leverage. When her life is threatened, Devil’s Crown assigns Brick as her personal protection. He was built to be her shield, not her salvation. But danger has a way of blurring lines.
As rival MCs circle and threats close in, the bond between Brick and Tessa ignites into something fierce, forbidden, and impossible to ignore. Claiming her makes her his weakness. Losing her would destroy him.
Now Brick must choose between the code he’s lived by his entire life and the woman who has become his everything.
“Look at me,” he murmured.
She did, slowly and trustingly. Brick felt something crack open inside him.
He dipped his head. Not fully. Not yet. Just enough that his lips brushed hers once, a question. When she answered by rising onto her toes, pressing more firmly into him, Brick lost the last of his restraint.
Their mouths met and the kiss that had started slow, turned deep. It was unbearably tender. She slid her hands up his chest and gripped his cut like she needed him to stay right there.
Brick kissed her again, this time with the hunger he’d been fighting from the moment he met her. He cupped the back of her neck with his hands, guiding her gently, keeping her close without trapping her.
Tessa let out a soft sound against his mouth. It was a small, breathy sigh and Brick nearly groaned.
She pulled back a fraction, breath shaky. “Brick…”
He rested his forehead against hers, fighting for control. Fighting not to devour her whole.
“You sure?” he asked, voice barely more than gravel. “Tell me now if you want me to stop.”
Tessa didn’t hesitate, not even a second. That was his girl.
“I want this,” she whispered. “I want you.”
Brick closed his eyes, exhaling like he was releasing years of tension. When he opened them again, his gaze was darker, softer, entirely focused on her.
“Then I’m staying,” he said, quiet but absolute.
She smiled and tugged him gently toward the bed. Brick followed, not like a man giving in, but like a man choosing something he’d tried too hard to deny.
They sat on the edge of the mattress. Her knee brushed his. Her fingers traced the ink on his forearm. Brick ran his thumb over her lower lip, marveling at how soft she was.
He kissed her again. Slower and more intense. She slid her hands around his neck, drawing him closer until their bodies fit perfectly together, warmth meeting heat in a way that made Brick’s pulse roar.
