Sinner (Shelter Harbor #1) Read online

  Sinner: A Bad Boy Next Door Romance

  A Shelter Harbor Novel

  Aubrey Irons

  Contents

  Sinner

  Author’s Note

  Mailing List

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Epilogue

  Additional Content

  Also by Aubrey Irons

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  Four Chapter Preview - Thief: A Second Chance Romance

  Thief: A Second Chance Romance

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Rivals: An Enemies To Lovers Romance

  Rivals

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Epilogue

  Heat: A Second Chance Romance

  Heat

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Also by Aubrey Irons

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  I’m going to make this angel fall from grace.

  She’s my sweet temptation. The apple in the garden. Original sin.

  Prim, proper, preacher’s daughter, saving-herself-for-marriage Evangeline Ellis.

  She’s too inexperienced. Too innocent. Too pure.

  But I’m going to take that pristine purity and I’m going to make it filthy with lust. I’m going to make it mine, and she’s going to beg me for more.

  She’s only in Shelter Harbor for a few weeks. Her father’s already promised her to a man she’s never even met.

  But she’s down the street from my bar, tempting me every time I think about her, and I’m losing my power to resist.

  The hell with the consequences, with her being off-limits, and with her being promised to someone else.

  I’d say someone should have warned her about a guy like me, but then, someone did.

  I warned her.

  If this is sin, take me to hell, because I’ll be damned if I let her go.

  Copyright © 2016 Aubrey Irons

  Cover Design: SupahKawaii Covers

  Photographer: Wander Aguiar

  Cover Model: Andrew Biernat

  Editing: Ellie McLove, Love N Books

  Proofreading: Cassie Dean

  Formatting: Vellum

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, organizations, actual events or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademark status of products referred to in this book and acknowledges that trademarks have been used without permission.

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for review purposes.

  This book is intended for mature, adult audiences only. It contains sexually explicit and graphic scenes and language which may be considered offensive by some readers. Please do not continue reading this book of you are under the age of 18 or are offended by content of this nature.

  All sexually active characters in this work are 18 years of age or older and are in no way blood relations. All acts of a sexual nature are completely consensual.

  To Sister Rosa. I know you’re reading this, you saucy minx.

  Also, to Dusty Springfield, of course.

  Author’s Note

  “The only boy who could ever reach me was the son of a preacher man.”

  -Dusty Springfield.

  This book assumes nothing, and preaches nothing. Though Sinner does touch on the subject of religion, it is not my intent or desire to offend any of my readers.

  Initially, I was undecided about going forward with the religious subject matter - however mild - of this book. But, it was the memory of secretly catching Sister Rosa, my english teacher from high school, reading a Harlequin romance hidden behind a copy of Pride and Prejudice before 5th period that ultimately swung my decision. And if Sister Rosa of all people could still find space in her faith to read bodice rippers, well, that’s good enough for me.

  Because whatever else your beliefs or creeds, I think if you’re reading this book, we can all safely assume that we believe in love, and damn do we have faith in the happy ever after.

  As a quick note: the Shelter Harbor books can be read in any order. While Thief was published first, and does in fact take place before the events of Sinner, they are written to be entirely stand alone stories.

  Also, as a very special thank you, there are some special features included in the back of this new-release edition of this book!

  Ple
ase know that Sinner itself takes up roughly the first 35% of this book file (it’s a full-length, 75k word novel), which means around 65% of the book in your hands is taken up by additional content. Rivals: An Enemies To Lovers Romance, as well as Heat: A Second Chance Romance, immediately follow the ending of Sinner in this book file. I’ve also included a 4-chapter preview of Thief: A Second Chance Romance, which is getting it’s very own re-release on January 9th, 2017 with a new cover and previously deleted scenes.

  Thanks so much for reading, and I do hope you enjoy the sinfully wicked Rowan Hammond.

  Mailing List

  Join the mailing list for ARC opportunities, author giveaways, and new release news. Zero spam.

  http://eepurl.com/bu3-3P

  Prologue

  Rowan

  “Oh, God.”

  The words drip like honey from her lips — a hushed, gasping prayer to the darkness surrounding us.

  Her fingers dig into my skin, her legs tighten on my hips, and her eyes go wide — big blue pools blinking up at me. I move in, my lips grazing the hollow of her neck, groaning as I inhale her heat and her scent and her whispered moan. Her chest rises and falls against mine, and the silver of the cross nestled between her breasts catches my eye.

  A sharp reminder of the sin we’re committing.

  This girl is my vice.

  She’s sweet temptation. The apple in the garden. Original sin, writhing beneath me, clutching at my shoulders, and letting my name fall from her lips.

  And this is so wrong. Even I know that. She’s too inexperienced for this. For me.

  Too innocent. Too pristine. Too pure.

  She’s got no business with a guy like me. And I’d say someone should have warned her, but then, someone did.

  I warned her.

  She ignored that warning, and now? Now I’m going to show her how dirty it is down here with the sinners. I’m going to take that innocence all over again. I’m going to take that purity and I’m going to make it mine.

  I move from her neck and sear my lips to hers. It’s a hard, punishing, kiss. It’s penance.

  Absolution in advance of the sin.

  I pull away, my hand sliding up to cup her jaw. The gasp hitches in her throat — her lip twists and half-catches between her teeth and I fucking growl.

  I want this, consequences be damned.

  Her being off limits be damned.

  Her being promised to someone else be damned.

  The fact that she’s way too pure, way too good for me, and way too good in general be damned. In no rational world should I be talking to a girl like this, much less between her thighs with her legs around my waist and my cock poised to claim her innocence.

  But then, we left rational behind long ago.

  “Please,” she whispers, begging me, like I’ve fucking dreamed of her doing.

  My pulse jumps, my hand tightens in her hair, and the hunger roars up inside of me as I somehow hold myself literally inches away from her sweet heaven.

  “Last chance, angel,” I growl into her ear, groaning when she gasps at the ferocity in my voice. “Last chance before there’s no coming back.”

  She nods, her fingers tightening against my skin, her body arching to meet mine, and her eyes burning into mine.

  “I need you to fuck me, not give me a lecture.”

  My eyes narrow as her eyes glint fiercely and mischievously up at me. She knows what she’s doing. She’s baiting me. Pushing me. Tempting me.

  Fuck, she’s been tempting me since the day she walked into my life.

  “So, are you going to? Or are you just going to keep talk- oh…”

  Her words fail, and the moan catches in her throat as I press against her — not inside, but right there, waiting to slip in.

  She swallows, her eyes wide and that sass from a second earlier failing her.

  Our eyes lock, and she nods. “Do it.”

  Her legs around my waist, the silver cross between her breasts, the pure innocence on that face — it’s more than I can handle, and it’s more than I can resist.

  I brace myself, ready to slide all the way in.

  Ready to take her.

  Ready to claim her, and mark her as mine.

  “Oh God, Rowan”, she breathes into the darkness, like a whispered prayer.

  Muscles tense as I ease my hips forward, the head of my cock grazing against the sweet, slick heat between her legs…

  And that’s when I hear the metallic click of the hammer being drawn.

  That’s when I feel the cold steel of the gun against the back of my head.

  And that’s when it all comes crashing down.

  Chapter One

  Evangeline

  I shouldn’t be here.

  I need to be here, of course, to get the key so that we can get into the rental house when my father gets back from the church. But that doesn’t mean I should be.

  I shouldn’t be anywhere near a place like this, actually.

  I look at the single key in my hand, poised at the lock, and then glance up at the front of the dingy building I’m standing in front of. It’s red clapboard, with white trim, and large sign that reads “O’Donnell’s” across it, with a little green shamrock where the apostrophe should be. It might’ve been charming in some past era, but the dinginess of the sign, the general dirtiness of the building, and the grime on the windows takes any semblance of that away.

  O’Donnell’s is, as they say, a dive bar.

  I wrinkle my nose at the smell of stale beer, glancing down at the smashed glass on the sidewalk beside my sandaled feet. I shift over a few inches, careful not to let the hem of my white dress brush against the dirty wall of the bar.

  Again, I shouldn’t be here. Sandaled feet, white sundress — father-approved of course in both length and modesty — the silver cross my mother gave me three years ago for my eighteenth birthday hanging by a small chain around my neck.

  ‘Out of place’ doesn’t quite cut it.

  But again, I’m here for a reason, and it isn’t to stand outside here wrinkling my brow at all the reasons I’d never be caught dead in a place like this. I slip the key into the door lock, turn it with a click, and step into the dim interior of the bar.

  And I thought the outside was dirty.

  The inside is a dump. I gingerly step over another smashed bottle, side-stepping a puddle of something that smells like rubbing alcohol as I glance around the empty bar.

  “Hello?”

  There’s no response, so I call out again.

  “Hello? Hi, Rowan? I’m here for the key?”

  The key to the rental house. That’s all I need here and then I am getting myself away from this place as quickly as possible. I pocket the key that the Reverend Jacob Hammond — friend of my father’s and the whole reason we’re here — gave me to his son’s bar.

  I shake my head. A reverend’s son who owns a bar? One that looks like this?

  Now that’s an interesting one.

  “Hello?” I sigh as I call into the silence again, glancing around the room. Turned off neon signs, framed posters and jerseys for some sort of sports team, a paper flyer advertising live music every other Friday night.

  Reverend Hammond assured me that his son knew I was stopping by to get the key to the rental house of his where my family and I will be staying while we’re in Shelter Harbor these next couple of months.

  Months, yikes.

  It feels weird, thinking of it like that, even if I knew it was happening for a while now. I’ve known about it ever since my father’s old friend from seminary school asked him if he’d like to relocate up to Massachusetts for a few months to help oversee the opening of a ministries outreach and homeless shelter in the next town over. And seeing as my father’s church was still closed due to damage from the fire over the summer, he’d jumped at the chance.

  “Where there is sin, so shall be I. For His flock is my duty to tend.”

  And so we’re here. Me, my mother, my father,
and Chastity, a girl my age and the daughter of one of my father’s parishioners, ready to roll up our sleeves and help.

  “Months” does seem like a while, but then, a few months here will be exactly what I need after the breakup.

  Well, “breakup” is what my father and mother keep calling it, even if I’d prefer to call it “Joseph leaving me for someone else while I was off doing missionary work”. I might not be very experienced when it comes to fiancés, but apparently, it’s hard to keep one when you’re off doing outreach in South Korea.

  Even if father’s been firm that I should have done more to make sure things were “copacetic” with my future husband.

  But now I’m back. Back with a very useless degree in theological studies, short a fiancé — and a job for that matter — and living with my mother and father in a strange new town for the next few months while he works on this project with Reverend Hammond. On the plus side, Shelter Harbor, north of Boston, does seem like a very sweet town, however different it is from Christ Redeemer Township, Georgia.

  A nice town, that is, aside from this place.

  “Hello?” I call out again, wrinkling my nose at the smell of stale beer. I step further into the dim, empty interior. I glance behind the bar before ducking down the back hallway.

  “Hello? Rowan? It’s Evangeline.” I frown as I step down the hall towards a half-cracked doorway. “I’m supposed to get the key to the rental house from you?”

  For a moment, I think I hear something, and I stop. “Hello?”

  I frown at the silence again. Where is this guy? And what on earth is a minister’s son doing in a place like this?

  The sound comes muffled again from behind the half-cracked door, and I curiously move down the hallway towards it.

  “Rowan?” I push the door open and start to step inside when I suddenly freeze.

  Oh. My. God.

  The man is completely naked, sprawled across a sofa against the wall of what must be an office of some kind.

  My eyes go wide, somehow unable to even look away as my hand flies to my mouth