The Seduction of Pretty Lies, the first book of an all-new emotionally charged duet from Holly Renee is available now!
Devoted. Loyal. Shameless. The Boys of Clermont Bay had been my protectors for as long as I could remember.
And Olly Warner took the job to heart.
He was intense and all-consuming, and I had been in love with him for years.
Alarmingly handsome and recklessly charming, he attempted to deny there was ever anything between us.
But we slipped over that invisible line, and the moment we gave in, something fractured.
He was leaving regardless, and I couldn’t hang on tight enough for the both of us.
Olly had always been the boy I could never have, but I couldn’t help losing myself in him.
A searing affair, the guarantee of a broken heart, and the desperation of careless promises.
Olly and I were never meant to be, and we had become nothing more than a pretty lie.
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Excerpt
Two Years Earlier
God, she was so pretty.
I clenched my hand at my side to avoid reaching out and touching her.
She was also too young for me and she was my best friend’s little sister, but neither of those things seemed to matter when I was looking at her.
I was always looking at her, but she was looking at him.
Lucas grinned at her from across the table, and a soft blush bloomed across her cheeks. He was one of my best friends too, but I wanted to kill him when he looked at her like that. My stomach hardened as I watched them. I knew I didn’t have the right. She wasn’t mine, but for some reason, she felt like it.
She had felt like it for far longer than I liked to admit.
“What are you up to today, Frankie?”
She pulled her attention away from Lucas long enough to look over at me. “Not a whole lot. I thought I might go for a swim before the party tonight. You’re going, right?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “I’ll be there.”
“Good.” She smiled at me as she leaned against her hand. “What about you, Lucas? Are you going to be there?”
I clenched my teeth as I waited for his response. He always treated Frankie as if she wasn’t important. He treated her like she wasn’t the most important person in the room even though she looked at him like he was the most crucial thing in her life.
“Of course.” He rubbed his hands together as he talked, but he was barely looking at her. “I need to get fucked up or laid tonight.”
Frankie’s shoulder slumped the smallest bit, and she looked away before either of us could see her face.
A face I knew she was attempting to school to hide her hurt.
“Real classy, Lucas.” I rolled my eyes because even though I had been friends with Lucas for what felt like forever, I still didn’t see what Frankie saw in him. I was beginning to wonder why I was friends with him at all. “Come on, Frankie. Let’s go hit the beach before the party.”
“Okay.” She nodded and stood from her seat. “Let me grab my suit.”
As soon as she left the kitchen, Lucas leaned back in his chair and chuckled.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I glared at him.
“What’s wrong with you?” He laughed harder. “You look like a lovesick puppy over Beck’s little sister when you can get any pussy you want in the entire school. Don’t let a piece of ass make you look so pathetic.”
“Don’t fucking talk about her like that.” My pulse was racing as I clenched my fists at my sides. “You have no idea…”
“What are you assholes talking about?” Beck interrupted us as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed an apple off the island.
“Trying to get Olly laid.” Lucas smirked, and my fingers tingled with the urge to knock it off his face.
“It’s about damn time.” Beck wrapped an arm over my shoulder and laughed. “You’ve been a little tense.”
“Fuck you both.” I shrugged Beck off me just as Frankie came back around the corner. She was wearing a simple black bikini, but I couldn’t look away.
“Hey, you ready?” She held a towel against her stomach, and I watched as her eyes flashed over to Lucas before looking back at me.
“Yeah. Let’s go.” I opened the back door and waited for her to walk through. This was Frankie’s house, but I felt like I knew it as well as my own. I practically lived here most days. Frankie walked in front of me, and I stared at the soft slope of her back as she pushed through the back gate and out onto the sand.
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