Ignited by him merge sec.., p.1
Ignited By Him (Merge Second Generation #1), page 1
IGNITED BY HIM
THE MERGE SERIES, BOOK 4
KYLIE KENT
MCCARTNEY INDUSTRIES PTY LTD
CONTENTS
Please Stalk Me
Foreword
Blurb
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
Epilogue
Epilogue
An Entangled Christmas
Chapter 1
Also by kylie Kent
Acknowledgments
About the Author
PLEASE STALK ME
Come and check out my website and join my mailing list to stay up to date and gain access to bonus materials.
Website & Newsletter: https://www.kyliekent.com/
If you want early access to everything, yes everything come and join my Patreon Group
Kylie Kent Patreon
Want to be involved in discussions and have access to tons of give-aways? Join my readers group on Facebook Kylie’s Steam Room
Facebook: @kyliekent2020
Instagram Follow: @author_kylie_kent_
Copyright ©2021by Kylie Kent
Ebook ISBN 13: 978-0-6452572-1-2
Paperback ISBN 13: 978-0-6452572-2-9
Cover illustration by
RJ CREATIVES GRAPHIC SERVICES
Editing services provided by
Kat Pagan – https://www.facebook.com/PaganProofreading
This book contains scenes of sexual acts, profanity, and violence. If any of these are triggers for you, you should consider skipping this read.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This book is dedicated to the very lovely Bree Porter. Bree, you have been an inspiration to me throughout my journey so far as an author. I know I’m the much older one, but when I grow up, I want to be you! Your mafia romances are unlike anything I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I have devoured every single word you’ve written, and I hope I have done justice with Breanna’s character, based on your badassery and brave soul. Thank you for letting me use your name for this story!!
BLURB
Ash
She’s the unattainable, untouchable. The one I’ve both loved and lusted after from the sidelines.
For years, I’ve kept myself distracted with work, turning my family’s company into an empire.
And, more importantly, I’ve kept my distance. It’s best for everyone.
But when she walks into my club and tries to cheat me out of money, all bets are off.
One way or another, she’s going to pay back what she’s stolen.
Although, it won’t be in the form of cash.
Breanna
I love winning, even if I have to cheat to get to the finish line.
I knew better than to come to this club to play.
I knew he’d more than likely find out I was here.
What I didn’t expect was to see him up-close. I’ve hardly seen him over the last few years.
I wanted him to notice me. To see that I wasn’t a little girl anymore.
And that was my mistake, because he did more than notice.
There is no going back now.
That flame we’ve both been dousing in denial has just been ignited.
Can I really play with fire without getting burned? Or will everything around me turn to ash?
PROLOGUE
Six years earlier
I don’t know when it happened, when I stopped looking at her like a little kid who was just always around. Another younger child for me to protect, like I did with all my cousins. When she was born, Aunt Ella took me to meet her while Emily was still in the hospital.
I was only six, but I vividly remember being drawn in by her big blue eyes. I couldn’t stop looking at her. When I reached out to touch her, Josh pulled her away. I hated him then. I wanted to hold her, but I was told I couldn’t.
I remember thinking it was a stupid rule. I was allowed to hold Lily and Hope when they were born. It didn’t matter though. Because on the drive home from the hospital, Aunt Ella told me that one day baby Breanna would be big enough to play with me and the twins.
I never thought much more of it. By the time I was ten, she was only four, and she’d follow me around everywhere whenever our families got together. Which was often. By the time I was fifteen, she was nine, and she’d stopped following me around by then. She was always with Lily and Hope, or Dominic (Aunt Ella’s son), our mutual cousin. I was glad. At that age, I had better things to do than entertain the little kids, or so I thought anyway.
It wasn’t until she was sixteen that I started to wish she was still following me around everywhere. It’s like she went from being an annoying little kid to the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. The only problem was… she was fucking sixteen. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about those feelings she was stirring in me.
Because now that I’m twenty-fucking-two, I have no business lusting over a damn teenager. She’s not just jailbait, she’s fucking pig-food-bait. I know all about how her father likes to feed bodies to his pigs, or at least he did before Breanna came into the world. I’ve heard the whispers. I also know he wouldn’t hesitate to make me the pigs’ next meal if I touched his little princess.
Not to mention, Breanna’s mum (Emily) is bloody crazy. She’d be just as likely to bleed me dry if I so much as looked at her daughter wrong. I wonder how two of the craziest people I know made someone as remarkable as Breanna.
Emily’s been watching me like a damn hawk all night. Have you ever had to sit across from the one you want, but can’t have? All the while, surrounded by your family and friends, and having to act like everything is fucking hunky-dory. It’s a fucking nightmare. I need to find a way to rid myself of these thoughts.
I can’t be thinking about a sixteen-year-old like this. It’s not fucking normal. I have no intention of ever acting on these thoughts, but just having them is making me feel like a predator. I should not be in the same room as this girl, let alone sitting across from her.
It doesn’t help that she’s wearing a scrap of black fabric she’s passing off as a dress. She’s purposely reaching over or bending forward, giving me a full and clear view of her cleavage, which for sixteen is already fucking well-developed.
Turning away from her, I tune into my cousin Lily and listen to her drone on about the university party she went to on the weekend. Lily’s just started university, although hearing about her going to parties sounds more like her twin sister’s idea of fun. Lily’s always been more the stay home and read a book kind of kid.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Breanna get up and walk over to another table. Where the hell is she going? She hugs and sits down next to some teenage douchebag. I’m about to jump out of my seat and drag her ass back to our table, when Lily grabs hold of my arm. She winks at me, then calls out over everyone’s chatter.
“Hey, Josh, who’s the guy Breanna’s getting all cosy with over there?”
I’ve never seen the man move so fucking fast. He’s out of his seat and storming towards his daughter. Two minutes later, Breanna is sitting back at the table. Right across from me. I want to know who the fuck the kid is. Is it her boyfriend? For the life of me, I can’t figure out if it’d be better if she did have a boy at her side. Maybe these thoughts I’m having would be easier to ignore if she belonged to someone else. Or maybe I’d fucking kill him…
Breanna crosses her arms over her chest, and my eyes immediately fall to her cleavage. Fuck me, I’m going straight to fucking hell. It’s a shame my Uncle Bray couldn’t convince the twins to join the nunnery. I really could have used the family connection to wash me of the sins I want to commit with the girl who is way too young for me.
“Problem?” She smirks at me.
“Yes, there is. A huge one,” I admit, while attempting to adjust myself in my pants without drawing attention to it.
I need a distraction. I need to get these thoughts of Breanna out of my fucking head. Work, that’s my escape. It’s nearing nine p.m. I now have an excuse to leave this dinner.
“Mum, I gotta go to the club. Thanks for organising all
“Ash, you know you can take a night off. It’s your birthday.” My mum tries to reason with me.
“I could, or I could go to work and do what I’m good at. Making money.” I smile; it’s really fucking hard to say no to my mum.
“Zac, tell him he should stay.” Mum turns to Dad for backup. Great, there is nothing my dad won’t do for Mum. If she says jump, he’d be the one reaching for the stars.
“Ash, your mother wants you to stay. You should stay a while longer. The club will still be there in another hour.” Dad uses his don’t fuck with me voice. Great, I guess I’m staying.
“Fine, I’ll stay for a bit. Shove over, squirt.” I pick up my little sister, moving her along to the empty spot to the left, and take the seat between her and my mum. Ava’s just turned twelve, but I swear she thinks she’s twenty already. Is that…? “What the hell? Who the fuck let you wear makeup?” I yell, probably louder than I needed to.
“Ash, I’m twelve. I can wear makeup if I want to.” She puts her hand on her hips. I turn to Dad. Surely, he is not okay with this.
“Are you really letting her out of the house like that?” I question my parents.
“It’s a little bit of lip gloss and blush. It’s not a big deal, Ash.” My mum rolls her eyes.
“Not a big deal? It may just be a bit of lip gloss today, but what about tomorrow? The next thing you know, it will be miniskirts and boyfriends!”
“Ew, Ash. No, I don’t like boys. They’re gross,” Ava says.
“Don’t worry, Ash. Any boy who comes near Ava will have to go through me first,” my little brother Axel chimes in, holding his fists up.
“Thanks, Axe. I’m glad someone around here cares enough to save our sister’s virtue,” I grumble.
“Okay, we are not having this conversation. Ava knows she’s not allowed to date until she’s thirty. At least,” Dad grunts.
“Axe, have you been taking lessons with Uncle Bray? Dad’s gone soft, so it’s up to us to keep Ava away from boys.” I laugh and dodge the slap my dad was about to give the back of my head.
“Yep, sure have. I’ll be able to take you soon, Ash.” Axe chuckles. The kid is nine. I always said my parents got bored when I started school, so that’s why they had Ava and Axel. I’m about to finish my business degree at uni, and Ava’s just starting high school. Part of me wishes I was at school with her—that way, I’d be able to make sure no jerks were hanging around.
“You do know Ava looks just like Lyssa, right, Zac?” Aunt Reilly asks.
“Yeah, thank God,” Dad jokes.
“So, you remember how hot you thought she was twenty-three years ago? How you couldn’t keep your hands off her? Imagine how many guys are going to be all over little Ava here when she’s older.” Aunt Reilly and Mum laugh. I, however, do not.
“Reilly, when I need your opinion, I’ll ask for it. And FYI, my wife is still fucking hot as hell, and I still can’t keep my hands off her.” Dad follows up by kissing my mum like no one’s watching.
“On that note, I’m out. Thanks, everyone. Catch you around.” I bend down and kiss Ava on her forehead. “Stay away from boys,” I whisper to her, before I walk around the table and hug the women, and shake the hands of the men. It’s the one excuse I can use to touch her.
I make sure I save Breanna’s hug for last, probably lingering longer than I need to. And squeezing tighter than necessary. I bury my head in her hair and inhale the scent of raspberries. Then I close my eyes, trying to embed this moment in my memory. This is the last time I’ll touch her. I need to keep myself the fuck away.
CHAPTER 1
“Mr. Williamson, we’re preparing to land. We should be touching down in approximately twenty minutes. Can I get you anything?” The blonde hostess, who’s been trying to gain my attention all night, bats her eyelashes and waits expectantly.
I’m not sure what it is she’s fucking expecting. That I take her into the galley and fuck her senseless? Sure, everyone in this first-class cabin might be asleep, and if she weren’t a blonde, I might have taken her up on the unspoken offer. But I don’t fuck blondes. Haven’t touched a blonde for over six years.
“No, thank you.” I lean my head back and close my eyes. Hopefully, she’ll get the message and leave me the fuck alone.
Every time I see a mass of blonde hair, I see her. Breanna McKinley, the one girl who’s always on my fucking mind. The one I have been avoiding. At all costs. For the past six years, I’ve buried myself in work.
I’ve expanded my family’s nightclub in Sydney, branching out and opening The Merge in every capital city around the country. It’s been great for the business, but it also gets me out of Sydney as much as fucking possible, giving me excuses to miss as many family gatherings as I can get away with. The few I have been forced to attend have been pure torture—the cruel reality of being near her and not being able to touch her.
She never makes it any easier. I swear she lives to taunt me with the little dresses she wears. And the whiff of fucking raspberries I get whenever she walks past torments me with the unattainable. No matter how much I want her, I can’t have her. She’s my cousin’s cousin. She’s practically family. And you don’t shit where you eat.
There was a time I thought differently, so sure that once she turned eighteen, I’d claim her. To hell with the consequences and all that. I was certain, when she was old enough, I’d finally be able to make her mine. She’s twenty-two now, and I’m still waiting for the right time. It just never seems to come.
Maybe I should have asked for a whiskey. Rubbing my eyes, I try to get her image out of my head. Fuck, I’m tired. This isn’t the first time I’ve caught the redeye from the other side of the country. It won’t be the last either. You’d think, with the amount of flying I’ve done, I’d be used to it. I’d be able to sleep on planes. But I can’t seem to ever put my mind at rest. Not when I’m in the air.
I pull out my phone and open my emails as the plane descends into Sydney. I briefly check the sender and subject line of each, not bothering to open a single one until I see a message from Chase, my best mate, who moonlights as my second in command. He’s the one person on my payroll who I trust ninety-nine percent.
Trust is a fickle thing; you can never trust someone one hundred percent. And if you do, you’re a bloody idiot. People are assholes, greedy fucking assholes, who always want something from you. I blame my mother for my trust issues. She was betrayed by her best friend, and all over jealousy and money. She warned us: it’s those closest who can hurt you the most. I don’t think she’s ever gotten over that incident.
The only people my mum said we should trust with absolute certainty are her and my dad. The loyalty those two have for each other is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Or experienced. The lengths my dad will go to for my mother are immeasurable.
Don’t get me wrong, I trust my parents to always have my back no matter what. You couldn’t ask for a better, more stable, caring set of parents than the ones I’ve got. They both love unconditionally, openly, and really would do anything for me and my siblings.
