Forbidden: King (The Four 4)

King

My brothers think I have a lot of secrets. They have no idea…

My job is to rescue kids who’ve been stolen from their families. I’m good at it and it helps me forget my own ugly childhood, but I’m a grown man now and the family of my heart is all I need.

Except that I haven’t seen them in two years. I walked out of their lives without an explanation. I walked away from him without even saying goodbye. I know how much I hurt him. I know how badly I broke his trust. But even though we’re not related by blood, our family thinks of me as his uncle.

Yet there’s no part of me that thinks of young Giovanni Covello that way. Problem is, I shouldn’t be thinking about him at all, especially since my thoughts have become less and less innocent since Gio turned eighteen. He’s closing in on twenty now and there’s no escaping him anymore because he’s in New York, the place I rest my head. I don’t trust myself around him, yet I can’t stay away, not after learning about the painful nightmares and frightening memories he’s experiencing about his own abduction and imprisonment as a child.

He’s the son of one of my best friends and he’s had a crush on me for years. But I have to leave him alone. I just have to.

Not because I don’t want Gio, but because he shouldn’t want me. I can’t give him what he wants, what we both want.

Not now. Not ever.



Gio

Things didn’t make sense until he came along. Four years ago, he saved me from myself. Now he’s trying to do it again. But I don’t need saving. I need more than that. So much more…

I don’t remember much about the life I lived as a child after I was stolen from my family, but my doctor says I will. Apparently, the wall in my head will come crashing down one day and all the ugly memories of what had been done to me will come rushing back to me.

I haven’t told anyone, but it’s already happening. I just need to get through the computer course I’m taking in New York City so I can prove to myself that I can live an independent life before returning home to Seattle.

My plan is a pretty good one, but I forgot to include one important variable.

King.

He’s supposedly my uncle but I’ve never seen King that way and there’s not even one drop of shared blood between us.

Two years ago, he was my protector and my friend. And then he was just… gone.

He’s back now and wants back into my life, but not to resume our friendship or to act on the attraction he’s finally admitted to having toward me. No, he just wants to keep me safe.

But that’s a good thing, right?

What could go wrong with having the guy I can’t stop thinking about living with me under my own roof?

Answer: Everything.