Con Man: Complete Series Box Set: A Bad Boy Romance by M. S. Parker Page B

tripped, sending the device skittering into the alley beside me.
    I made a flustered sound and followed after it. The moment I was out of view of the street, I ducked behind a dumpster and pressed myself to the wall. Sure enough, within a minute, I heard broad but light steps at the entrance of the alley.
    Whoever it was paused, and I forced myself to resist the temptation to jump out at them. I needed to be patient. They just needed to come a little closer…
    My shadow took a cautious step into the alley, no doubt concerned as to why it was empty. Then he took another step. I waited a few more breaths until he took a third and final step before I struck.
    I rushed him, charging with my shoulder thrust forward. I hit him in the chest and knocked him back a few steps, throwing him off balance. He was bigger than I thought he'd be, but I knew I could still handle myself.
    Then he straightened to reveal all six and a half feet of the con artist who'd been haunting me all week.
    “Bron?” I gasped, all the air rushing from my body.
    He was even taller looking in person, and his lean form filled out what I recognized as a designer coat. This was him. My best friend. My Broderick.
    My Bron.
    We stood there for a moment, the years weighing heavily between us.
    And then he was kissing me, his mouth hot and hard against mine, years of unspoken feelings, of things lost coming together. It was everything I'd dreamed it would be. It made me feel desire, need...safety. Nothing could hurt me if Bron were here...
    No.
    None of that was real.
    What was real was that I was a federal agent investigating a crime that this man had committed.
    Although I wanted nothing more than to stay in his arms, let him continue to kiss me, touch me, I knew I couldn't do it.
    I pressed my hands against his chest and put a little distance between us. “Bron, what did you do?”
    “What I had to,” he whispered, his face clouded over with guilt and sadness.
    He pressed his lips to mine once more, a gentle, almost chaste kiss. Then he turned and fled. He scaled the tall fence at the end of the alley like it was nothing, and I just stared after him, watching him disappear yet again.
    I'd heard that history was doomed to repeat itself, but I’d never dreamed that its looping would be able to break my heart.
    Again.

    C ontinues in Con Man Book 2. Turn the page to keep reading.

Con Man Book 2

Chapter One

Karis
    I stood there , unable to move, unable to put together a coherent thought. Only his name – Bron – echoed in my mind, a single repetition. My lips still tingled from where his had been just a second ago, first in the fierce sort of claiming that came with unfulfilled passion, and then in the sort of chaste kiss that I'd dreamed of as an adolescent, hiding the crush I'd had on my best friend.
    Meanwhile, he was running away.
    Seeing him haul himself over the fence snapped me back to the world of the living, and I gave chase. I grabbed the fence and hauled myself up and over faster than I thought possible. Heart in my throat, I twisted over the top and barely managed to land on my feet on the other side. I had a moment to be grateful that I never wore heels to work, and then I was off again.
    The pounding of his footsteps echoed ahead of me, but this side of the alley was too deep in shadows for me to see him. Any other day, my long legs and hours of training could have me outpacing most perpetrators, but Bron had six inches on me as well as the benefit of adrenaline that came with being chased.
    I caught a glimpse of him as he turned coming out of the alley and put on an extra burst of speed. It was morning rush hour, and I knew the streets would be packed with people trying to get to work on time. If I didn't get my eyes on him soon, he could disappear into the crowd.
    I couldn’t blame him for running. If I'd been in his position, I would've done the same thing. If only he'd given me a chance to talk, he would've known that I didn’t intend to