Unmarked Magic

There's a reason I don't kiss. Because to kiss is to feel, and I can't afford to feel anything. So I keep it simple. Detached. Controlled. Everyone sees the smile, but I feed the lie. That's how it's always been. Then a fire tears through my home in Cutters Cove, and suddenly I'm living under the same roof as my longtime friend, Scarlet—the woman I buried my feelings for years ago. The arrangement is simple: I help around the house and slide her free drinks at the bar in exchange for a bed. Easy. Until the botanical I've been taking for years gets destroyed, and the carefully built walls around me begin to crack. Because I need that botanical more than I need air. Life gets worse when one night at Jinxed, Scarlet steps in pretending to be my girlfriend, saving me from a surly brunette who won't take a hint. She presses herself into my space, smiling like she belongs there… then kisses me. I'm so far gone I can't think straight. Now I know exactly how she tastes, and it's a problem I can't afford. She's my friend. My roommate. And now my biggest complication. Forced to live together, the line between what I want and what I allow myself to want is starting to blur in ways I can't control. Scarlet doesn't date friends. I don't date ever. But the way she looks at me when she thinks I'm not watching says something entirely different. And I'm running out of ways to ignore it. The more I push her away, the more I want her. But it can't happen. Because the truth I'm hiding isn't just dangerous. It's hunger. And if Scarlet finds out what I really am… she won't just walk away from me. She'll run. And I'm not sure I'll survive either outcome.
 

Unmarked Magic ends with a HEA for the main characters. This book can be read as a standalone.