Retaliate by Kristin Harte

Title: Retaliate

Series: Vigilante Justice #2

Author: Kristin Harte

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Release Date: March 15, 2018
 

The second book in the Vigilante Justice series features a dangerous second chance romance... 

He loved her…and lost her 

Justice is still under attack, but it’s been quiet. At least, until I get a phone call saying a resident needs help. Not just any resident either. The grandmother of the woman who ripped my heart out of my chest over a decade before. One trip up the mountain, and my worst fears—and biggest hopes—are realized. Anabeth’s back and just as captivating as she’d always been. But when she faces off against a Soul Suckers rider, I’ll have to do more than protect her. I’ll have to figure out a way to win her back. Because there’s no way I’ll ever let her go again. 

She’s never gotten over him 

Fourteen years after leaving Justice for what I thought would be the last time, I’m forced back to say goodbye to the only family I’ve ever known. The town’s as small as ever, and being there is just as painful as I remember. The memories of big hurts and bigger mistakes won’t leave me alone…and neither will my ex. I’m still attracted to Bishop Kennard—even more than I was as a lovesick teenager—but he’s a man now. A tough, brutal man who will stop at nothing to protect me. 

Too bad he’s the one who needs protecting…from the things I did that caused me to leave him behind in the first place.

“I want the whole story, Anabeth.” Bishop began to pace, his steps long and loud. Stomping almost. “I deserve that much. You never gave me a fucking reason why you left.”

And I never would because to admit what I’d done would break him. Break us forever. A sob ripped through my chest, racking my body hard. “I can’t. You’ll…” 

“I’ll what?” Bishop lunged and grabbed my arms, holding me up, staring down at me in a way he never would again if he knew. If I told him. With care and compassion and feelings so strong, I could almost believe he’d forgive me. But he wouldn’t. I couldn’t even forgive myself. “Tell me, Anabeth. What is it you think I’ll do if I know?”

“You’ll hate me,” I snapped. “You’ll never see me the same way, and I can’t. I just…”

Bishop stood solid and firm, waiting for me to finish my sentence. Watching as if hoping I would keep talking, but I was done. Out of words. Battlements restored.

Hating myself, knowing he wouldn’t stop pushing me unless I made him, I said the only thing I could think of to end the conversation. “Katie’s waiting on the boxes.”

Bishop reeled as if I’d slapped him with my words. I didn’t back down, staring right back at him as he gaped at me. As his own walls came crashing down, his face going from hurt to pissed in two seconds flat.

“You ruined us, Anabeth,” he said, his voice empty and lifeless. “Whatever happened—whatever you’re keeping from me—it destroyed us both. Don’t you get that? I should know what took you away from me. I should know why my heart’s been broken for fourteen goddamn years.”

But the words wouldn’t come. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t ever tell him, wouldn’t ever bring that pain to his door. A broken heart was nothing in comparison, so I simply shook my head and pressed my lips together as the tears flowed. As I collapsed under the grief and self-hatred that I carried every day. As I watched him shut down.

He grabbed a box of signs and headed for the stairs, leaving me behind. 

Alone.

Always.

(ON AUTHORS PAGE)

Kristin Harte started off as a chemistry major in college but somehow ended up writing romances featuring ex-military heroes and the women who knock them to their knees…literally and figuratively. She likes drinking in the shade, snuggling under a warm blanket on a cold evening, and researching how to blow things up. Her children know nothing of what she writes, and her husband just hopes he’s not at their Chicago-ish home the day the government shows up to confront Kristin about her Google search history. 

When not writing good men doing bad things, Kristin can be found writing paranormal romance as Ellis Leigh or co-writing naughty novellas as London Hale.

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