Page 10 of The Fear (The Hillers of Barratt County #7)

Oh, holy tuna fish. Grady Hiller knew how to kiss. Hala had to admit, she didn’t have a great deal of experience, but she wasn’t a virgin, and she had been kissed before. Enough to know when the guy kissing her definitely knew what he was doing.

Grady knew what he was doing. From the first touch.

Yikes.

Her lips were even tingling. His hands weren’t straying where they shouldn’t, and she definitely hadn’t given him permission to kiss her. But…she was glad he was.

He was the first man to kiss her in years. Since that day her own boyfriend had tried to force her to do what he wanted. She’d fought him and he’d gotten angry. Violent. Then Hudson had just been there in time to make him stop.

Her brother had been with a friend of his that day, doing a talk to the pre-law students.

They’d walked over to her apartment near the law school to take her to lunch.

They’d heard her yelling for her boyfriend to get off her, that she’d said no.

Hudson and Mac had broken down the door to get to her.

Hudson had nearly killed her boyfriend that day, especially when he saw the marks on her face, on her neck.

Her ex had gotten six months but hadn’t served a day in prison for what he’d done.

Hala had retreated a bit after that. She was better now—but she’d never forget. She had been leery of men ever since.

Finding a guy she could trust—it was so impossible.

But it had been so close. The trauma of that day had impacted her forever. She knew how trauma worked.

She’d been nervous when alone with a man ever since. She had trusted her boyfriend. More than she had any guy before. And he had betrayed that trust in the most elemental of ways. She hadn’t risked dating again. Until Luis.

Luis hadn’t made her feel like this.

She just now felt like she had put a good part of it behind her. Luis had been a good start.

But…while there wasn’t any fire there with Luis…she felt surrounded by flames now.

With Grady Hiller.

That was just completely insane.

But…Hala kissed him back.

Then…he was pulling away, cursing almost too loudly, and stalking off down the hallway to hide in his man cave once again.

Leaving her behind, watching him, and wondering what in the world had just happened.

Except…Grady Hiller was insane.

That was the only real explanation.

And Hala was just as crazy, too.

She…probably should never kiss Grady Hiller again.

No matter what.