My Brother's Forbidden Sanctuary

My name is Orion Blackwell. I'm twenty-six. I have two forbidden territories—my past, and my best friend's little sister, Lyra Whitmore. The first time I met her, she'd just turned nineteen. Tall, with those almond-shaped eyes, she stood timidly behind her brother like fragile porcelain. I warned myself to keep my distance, not to invite that kind of trouble. But fate seems to love a joke. A drink, a dinner, a late-night drunk fumble to steady her—step by step, the space between us shrank until it was beyond my control. Tonight, she told me she'd just been dumped and asked me to watch some unbearably boring romance film with her. I said yes. And then I…