And I Love You the Most (This Love Hurts Book 3) Read online

  And I Love You The Most

  (This Love Hurts Book 3)

  W Winters

  Contents

  Also by W Winters

  And I Love You the Most

  Prologue

  1. Cody

  2. Delilah

  3. Cody

  4. Marcus

  5. Delilah

  6. Marcus

  7. Delilah

  8. Marcus

  9. Cody

  10. Marcus

  11. Marcus

  12. Delilah

  13. Cody

  14. Marcus

  15. Delilah

  16. Marcus

  17. Delilah

  18. Delilah

  19. Cody

  20. Delilah

  21. Delilah

  22. Marcus

  Also by W Winters

  About W Winters

  Copyright © 2021 by Willow Winters

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design by Lori Jackson Design

  Also by W Winters

  Read Willow’s sexiest and most talked about romances in the Merciless World

  This Love Hurts Trilogy

  This Love Hurts

  But I Need You

  And I Love You the Most

  An epic tale of both betrayal and all-consuming love...

  Marcus, the villain.

  Cody Walsh, the FBI agent who knows too much.

  And Delilah, the lawyer caught in between.

  A Kiss to Tell (a standalone novel)

  They lived on the same street and went to the same school, although he was a year ahead. Even so close, he was untouchable.

  Sebastian was bad news and Chloe was the sad girl who didn’t belong.

  Then one night changed everything.

  Possessive (a standalone novel)

  It was never love with Daniel Cross and she never thought it would be. It was only lust from a distance. Unrequited love maybe.

  He’s a man Addison could never have, for so many reasons.

  Merciless Saga

  Merciless

  Heartless

  Breathless

  Endless

  Ruthless, crime family leader Carter Cross should’ve known Aria would ruin him the moment he saw her. Given to Carter to start a war; he was too eager to accept. But what he didn’t know was what Aria would do to him. He didn’t know that she would change everything.

  All He’ll Ever Be (Merciless Series Collection of all 4 novels)

  Irresistible Attraction Trilogy

  A Single Glance

  A Single Kiss

  A Single Touch

  Bethany is looking for answers and to find them she needs one of the brothers of an infamous crime family, Jase Cross.

  Even a sizzling love affair won’t stop her from getting what she needs.

  But Bethany soon comes to realise Jase will be her downfall, and she’s determined to be his just the same.

  Irresistible Attraction (A Single Glance Trilogy Collection)

  Hard to Love Series

  Hard to Love

  Desperate to Touch

  Tempted to Kiss

  Easy to Fall

  Eight years ago she ran from him.

  Laura should have known he'd come for her. Men like Seth King always get what they want.

  Laura knows what Seth wants from her, and she knows it comes with a steep price.

  However it’s a risk both of them will take.

  Not My Heart to Break (Hard to Love Series Collection)

  Tease Me Once (September 2021)

  Tease me once... I'll kiss you twice.

  Declan Cross' story from the Merciless World.

  Spin off of the Merciless World

  Love the Way Duet

  Love the Way You Kiss Me (May 2021)

  Love the Way You Hold Me (June 2021)

  With everything I've been through, and the unfortunate way we met, the last thing I thought I'd be focused on is the fact that I love the way you kiss me.

  Extended epilogues to the Merciless World Novels

  A Kiss To Keep (more of Sebastian and Chloe)

  Seductive (more of Daniel and Addison)

  Effortless (more of Carter and Aria)

  Never to End (more of Seth and Laura)

  Sexy, thrilling with a touch of dark Standalone Novels

  Broken (Standalone)

  Kade is ruthless and cold hearted in the criminal world.

  They gave Olivia to him. To break. To do as he’d like.

  All because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But there are secrets that change everything. And once he has her, he’s never letting her go.

  Forget Me Not (Standalone novel)

  She loved a boy a long time ago. He helped her escape and she left him behind. Regret followed her every day after.

  Jay, the boy she used to know, came back, a man. With a grip strong enough to keep her close and a look in his eyes that warned her to never dare leave him again.

  It’s dark and twisted.

  But that doesn’t make it any less of what it is.

  A love story. Our love story.

  It’s Our Secret (Standalone novel)

  It was only a little lie. That’s how stories like these get started.

  But with every lie Allison tells, Dean sees through it.

  She didn't know what would happen. But with all the secrets and lies, she never thought she’d fall for him.

  Small Town Romance

  Tequila Rose Book 1

  Autumn Night Whiskey Book 2 (March 2021)

  He tasted like tequila and the fake name I gave him was Rose.

  Four years ago, I decided to get over one man, by getting under another. A single night and nothing more.

  Now, with a three-year-old in tow, the man I still dream about is staring at me from across the street in the town I grew up in. I don’t miss the flash of recognition, or the heat in his gaze.

  The chemistry is still there, even after all these years.

  I just hope the secrets and regrets don’t destroy our second chance before it’s even begun.

  You Are Mine Series of Duets

  You Are My Reason (You Are Mine Duet book 1)

  You Are My Hope (You Are Mine Duet book 2)

  Mason and Jules emotionally gripping romantic suspense duet.

  One look and Jules was tempted; one taste, addicted.

  No one is perfect, but that’s how it felt to be in Mason’s arms.

  But will the sins of his past tear them apart?

  You Know I Love You

  You Know I Need You

  Kat says goodbye to the one man she ever loved even though Evan begs her to trust him.

  With secrets she couldn’t have possibly imagined, Kat is torn between what’s right and what was right for them.

  Tell Me You Want Me

  Sue’s story is coming 2021.

  Contemporary Romance Standalones

  Knocking Boots (A Novel)

  They were never meant to be together.

  Charlie is a bartender with noncommittal tendencies.

  Grace is looking for the opposite. Commitment. Marriage. A baby.

  Promise Me (A Novel)

  She gave him her heart. Back when she thought they’d always be together.

  Now Hunter is home and he wants Violet back.

  Tell Me To Sta
y (A Novella)

  He devoured her, and she did the same to him.

  Until it all fell apart and Sophie ran as far away from Madox as she could.

  After all, the two of them were never meant to be together?

  Second Chance (A Novella)

  No one knows what happened the night that forced them apart. No one can ever know.

  But the moment Nathan locks his light blue eyes on Harlow again, she is ruined.

  She never stood a chance.

  Burned Promises (A Novella)

  Derek made her a promise. And then he broke it. That’s what happens with your first love.

  But Emma didn’t expect for Derek to fall back into her life and for her to fall back into his bed.

  Valetti Crime Family Series:

  A HOT mafia series to sink your teeth into.

  Dirty Dom

  Becca came to pay off a debt, but Dominic Valetti wanted more.

  So he did what he’s always done, and took what he wanted.

  His Hostage

  Elle finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The mafia doesn’t let witnesses simply walk away.

  Regret has a name, and it’s Vincent Valetti.

  Rough Touch

  Ava is looking for revenge at any cost so long as she can remember the girl she used to be.

  But she doesn’t expect Kane to show up and show her kindness that will break her.

  Cuffed Kiss

  Tommy Valetti is a thug, a mistake, and everything Tonya needs; the answers to numb the pain of her past.

  Bad Boy

  Anthony is the hitman for the Valetti familia, and damn good at what he does. They want men to talk, he makes them talk. They want men gone, bang - it’s done. It’s as simple as that.

  Until Catherine.

  Those Boys Are Trouble (Valetti Crime Family Collection)

  Collections of shorts and novellas

  Don’t Let Go

  A collection of stories including:

  Infatuation

  Desires in the Night and Keeping Secrets

  Bad Boy Next Door

  Kisses and Wishes

  A collection of holiday stories including:

  One Holiday Wish

  Collared for Christmas

  Stolen Mistletoe Kisses

  All I Want is a Kiss (A Holiday short)

  Olivia thought fleeting weekends would be enough and it always was, until the distance threatened to tear her and Nicholas apart for good.

  Highest Bidder Series:

  Bought

  Sold

  Owned

  Given

  From USA Today best selling authors, Willow Winters and Lauren Landish, comes a sexy and forbidden series of standalone romances.

  Bad Boy Standalones, cowritten with Lauren Landish:

  Inked

  Tempted

  Mr. CEO

  Three novels featuring sexy powerful heroes.

  Three romances that are just as swoon-worthy as they are tempting.

  Forsaken, (A Dark Romance cowritten with B. B. Hamel)

  Grace is stolen and gifted to him; Geo a dominating, brutal and a cold hearted killer.

  However, with each gentle touch and act of kindness that lures her closer to him, Grace is finding it impossible to remember why she should fight him.

  View Willow’s entire collection and full reading order at willowwinterswrites.com/reading-order

  Happy reading and best wishes,

  Willow Winters xx

  And I Love You the Most

  USA Today best-selling author, Willow Winters, brings you an all-consuming, sizzling romance featuring an epic antihero you won’t soon forget.

  Some love stories are a slow burn. Others are quick to ignite, scorching and branding your very soul before you’ve taken that first breath. You’re never given a chance to run from it.

  That’s how I’d describe what happened to us.

  Everything around me blurred and all that existed were his lips, his touch …

  The chase and the heat between us became addictive.

  Our nights together were a distraction, one we craved to the point of letting the world crumble around us.

  We should have paid more attention; we should have known that it would come to this.

  We both knew it couldn’t last, but that didn’t change what we desired most.

  All we wanted was each other …

  This is the final book in the This Love Hurts trilogy.

  This Love Hurts and But I Need You must be read first.

  To my readers who wonder,

  “What happened to you that you write like this?”

  I found others like me, and that was enough.

  “It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.” ―Philip K. Dick

  Prologue

  Run. Just run.

  The trees over the fence are brutal as their bark scratches down my right forearm. Branches whip at my face and I nearly impale myself on the spiked iron rail at the top of the fence before releasing it and dropping down. The hot blood smeared across my skin is more than enough evidence that damage has been done, but I don’t even flinch. Dried leaves lash out at me as I scramble through the brush, the twigs littering the ground crunching beneath my feet as I fall.

  Oof. Biting down on my lip I silence the cry that threatens to be ripped from me on impact. With a racing heart and tears pricking at my eyes, I force myself to move. I can’t look back and I can’t stop.

  Everything’s on fire, every weak muscle inside of me screaming with agonizing pain. I imagine this is what it’s like to die, and that very thought keeps me moving.

  Run. Just run.

  The cries from the new boy are still vivid in my mind. It was only moments ago and I swear they still echo in my ears. His shrill scream rings clearly in my head, tainted by my heavy breathing as I draw in a lungful of air that’s far too cold.

  He won’t last. They’ll be back.

  He should have run like me. The thought stays trapped at the back of my clogged throat as my bare feet almost slip on the damp grass before crossing onto the hard mud along the brick wall of some apartment building. I unlocked it. I tried to grab him but he only cried, whimpering on the floor and refusing to move.

  My heart races as I glance one way and then the other.

  For the first time since I swung the shovel, I stop. I stop for only a second, and his cries mix with another small boy’s wail.

  Marcus. The burn of tears is unmistakable now as they streak down my face. His voice haunts me still. The way he cried but tried not to … I’ll never forget it. I may be a child, but if I live through this, I know I’ll never forget. Some memories are stained into who you are. The core of your soul is forever changed as a result.

  My head is swarming with horrid memories and amid the nightmares is his smile, his consoling smile that everything would be all right. The images don’t line up with the reality. His whispers that everything’s going to be okay clash with the screams that prove it’s not.

  It’s not all right. And it’s because of me.

  From somewhere deep within the weak voice whispers to run, but my small hand clings to the worn brick on the edge of the building I’m tucked behind. As if holding onto it will keep me from being seen. The tight grip doesn’t allow me to escape. For a moment, I consider turning back and yelling at the boy I left behind. The door was unlocked and open. If he’s still there …

  They’ll kill him too. They’ll do so much worse than that.

  A staggered breath doesn’t fulfill any need for oxygen. The memories suffocate me, knowing what they’ll do if he doesn’t run like I did. I can’t move an inch in the freezing cold. The wind howls as I stare down a row of houses lining the quiet street.

  In my mind, we were so far away from anyone who could help. But as I steady my breath, I see nothing but houses. I can’t remember if we screamed for help, but I know we screamed in pain. If only I’d screamed l
ouder. My chest is hollow and my head dizzy.

  They were so close. So many people. Several cars are parked along the street.

  One is missing a tire, and as I stare at it, my gaze is caught by two men perched on a stoop.