Between Dusk & Dawn: A Stepbrother Romance (Rosavale Book 1) Read online

  Between Dusk & Dawn

  The Rosavale Series Book 1

  Willa Watkins

  Copyright © 2021 Willa Watkins

  All rights reserved.

  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resembles to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental or has been used in a fictional manner.

  Published: Willa Watkins 2021 ([email protected])

  Cover Design: Teased By Antonette

  Proofreading: Sisters Get Lit.erary

  Note from the Author

  Thank you so much for giving my story a try, and I hope you love it.

  Before you start, there are a few things I’d like you to know. Although this is a standalone in a series, there is a sub-plot that is carried out throughout the entire series (4 books).

  The main plot in this book will have a resolution, but there are some aspects which will be carried throughout the series with answers being provided as the series progresses. However, each book will focus on a different couple with a happy ending for each of them.

  Once again, thank you for reading.

  Much Love,

  Willa

  One

  Navia

  The farms of the Rosavale region were built of the same stone that lay beneath the grass, every building with mottled-gray walls and a slate roof. For the most part, the sparse buildings looked as natural as the sheep and cattle in the pastures. The lanes leading to them were one tractor-width wide with more blind corners than a labyrinth from antiquity.

  North, up a small hill that was a patchwork of green made even more varied by the shadows of passing clouds, stood the Ashford Farm. The furthest from the vale and by far the largest.

  A gentle breeze lifted a few strands of my hair as I leaned against a pilaster and stared at the well-kept fields in front of me. The variation of vibrant colors was almost too intense to be true. I inhaled and the purest air filled my lungs. The scent of cherry trees hung thickly over the more subtle smell of manure.

  After being away for an entire year, I was glad to be home again. As wonderful as being back on the farm was, it was also troublesome.

  Dad was proud that his only daughter, amongst his six children, was the only one to go to college. Not that my brothers didn’t have the opportunity or intelligence to do so. They chose to stay and learn whatever they needed to run the family business from Dad.

  Baron Ashford, my father, owned half of Rosavale and the only people he trusted to run his business were his sons. And after his heart attack, Devan, the eldest of the bunch, took over the management of the Ashford estates. Aiden and Ethan—the twins—followed in Devan’s footsteps, assisting where they could.

  And then there was Talon. Who I could never consider my brother. No matter how hard I tried.

  Because the bonds that entwined our souls were different and deeper than anything I’d ever experienced. Since the first glance, I was sure he was the one.

  It all started as sweet and innocent flirtation, but as we grew older things became complex and complicated.

  Emotions blurred, and the innocence darkened. Through it all, I believed what we had was never fading, imperishable, and too strong to be broken.

  I wished he believed the same.

  A chill settled at the pit of my stomach at the thought of him, and I closed my eyes for a moment. Exhausted of all the pretending and constantly having to wrestle with my feelings. I loved him. I loved him so much it hurt.

  I opened my eyes and descended the steps of the veranda and sat on the last one. Hugging my legs, I looked ahead, waiting for Talon to come home.

  Last year when I left for college, I thought the distance would lessen my feelings for Talon. But it didn’t. Even though we didn’t speak or see each other for that entire year, I couldn’t forget him. And being home brought those emotions back a hundredfold. I could no longer endure the endless suffering and desire hoarded inside me.

  I missed our embraces. The way his arms settled around my neck, and my fingers wrapped around his body. As if he was there, the woody scent of his skin invaded my senses. I remembered our stolen caresses at dusk. And our forbidden kisses at dawn that grew more passionate each time.

  But the guilt that surrounded us prevented Talon from accepting his feelings for me. I understood why. We were raised as brother and sister.

  When I was adopted, at thirteen, I had become part of the family. It seemed that everyone had forgotten that I was not a legitimate Ashford. Even though our parents took me in and gave me their last name, I wasn’t related to them by blood.

  There was an uncertainty inside me that didn’t allow me to fully accept that I was one of them. The Ashfords loved and accepted me, and I loved them with all my soul, but a part of me felt like I was a farce. An imposter who didn’t deserve this lavish life.

  But with Talon it was different. I was unshielded around him. He knew my secrets and my fears, and I knew his. He never saw me as his sister. He never treated me like a sister, or fathered me like the rest of my brothers. Our glances were always lustful and our touches illicit.

  With only a two-year difference between us, we spent a lot of time together. At school, he took care of me. At the farm, he taught me how to ride a horse. He was always aware of what I needed and wanted. It was from him I learned to kiss and to love. It was for Talon, just for him, that my body burned and yearned, and I couldn’t bear to live in that torture anymore.

  The last time he touched me was a week before I left for college. I sought him out in the middle of the night after a terrible dream. Talon had already prohibited me from entering his room. And until then, I had done everything to respect his wishes, fearing that I’d lose him. But that night, when I snuck into his room crying, he saw my despair and faltered.

  I trembled from the aftershock of the nightmare. With a tight hug, he comforted me. My head rested on his chest and his fingers raked through my hair until I stopped shaking. When the panic was gone, another sensation stretched.

  One that was too vicious to resist.

  Talon was my passion. My friend. My forever.

  I vividly recalled the way I had run my fingers through the hard muscle of his abdomen. How my fingers infiltrated his trunks, and I felt the velvety skin covering his swollen length.

  It had taken us a long time to touch each other under our clothes. Our first kiss had been when I was fourteen. Talon swore it would never happen again. But it did. Many times. Then there were years of exploration until the day he cupped my breast under my shirt.

  Although I was a virgin, we had done a lot of things. Always with that cloud of sin and shame looming over us. A secret no one else could know.

  And that night, a year ago, had been no different. I pulled down his trunks and held him as I slid my mouth across his chest.

  He grabbed my hair like he was going to pull me away, but instead he groaned, overcome by the hunger that was our old acquaintance. A passion that consumed us even when our eyes met from across a room. It was a war against what was right between two siblings and what two lovers desired.


  Swiftly, he drew my nightgown over my head and tossed me on the bed. My hair spread out on his sheets when I hit the mattress. Then he straddled me, pinning my wrists with his rough hands.

  He was beautiful.

  His skin was tanned by years in the outdoors, making his hazel eyes even lighter. His blond hair fell slightly over his forehead as he looked down at me. Then he kissed my mouth. His tongue taming mine and I wanted to be ridden like a mare on a warm summer’s day.

  So much lust. So much passion held back.

  He was pressed against my core and I felt his heavy and irregular breathing as I shifted and swayed, wanting him to touch where I throbbed and soaked.

  Many times I begged him to make me his, but Talon always contained himself. Yet that night every spot of my body felt his tongue, his lips, his teeth, and his hands. I turned into a mass of bewildered sensations.

  With the house silent and the family asleep, I came madly in his mouth and took him in mine until we collapsed exhausted on the bed.

  I tried to cuddle, but Talon sat up, ruffling his hair, distressed by what we’d done.

  I didn’t want him to deny what we had. For me, it wasn’t wrong. It was love. It was perfection. I kneeled on the bed and hugged his shoulders. My hair fell over us as my voice came low and desperate. “Don’t fight it, Talon.”

  “How can I not fight it?” He seized my wrists and pushed me away. And his face scrunched up with guilt. “You’re my sister, Navia.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  “But it is!” His golden eyes with a hint of green hues seemed to have a life of their own when they swept down my naked body, contradicting his words. He groaned and rushed to pick up his briefs. Hastily, he put them on and threw my night dress at me.

  The dress hit my chest, then fell at my feet. I stepped over it and closed the distance between us. “I’m not your sister. Just stop this.”

  “Yes, let’s stop this.” He clasped my arm tightly, fighting between desire and the fury of our current situation. Slowly he let me go, bent to pick up my nightgown, and placed it over me like he couldn’t stand seeing me naked. “This has lasted too long. It ends tonight.”

  “It’ll never end. You always say that and push me away, but then you can’t take it and we end up back here. Why not just accept the truth?”

  “Navia, I’m serious.” His face was hard and his squared jaw stiff. “I’m not going to your room anymore and I don’t want you to come to mine.”

  I swallowed. Something in his expression was different, as if he meant the words this time. “But my nightmares, I—”

  “Find someone else to comfort you. This house is full of people. Navia… go to college and forget about us,” he muttered. I opened my mouth to object, but he stopped me. “If you insist, I’ll stop talking to you.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I can and I will.”

  “Face the family with me. Let’s tell everyone, please… I love you, Talon,” I begged one last time. He tensed, then seized his hand around my forearms and heaved me toward the door. “What are you doing?”

  Our rooms were on the right-wing of the house while the others occupied the left. Still, one of them could see or hear us. And neither of us wanted to be caught this way. I couldn’t kick or scream when he opened the door and pushed me into the hallway, naked with only the nightgown slung over my shoulders.

  “Never come back here,” he gritted, staring me deep in the eyes. “It’s over.”

  I watched him shut the door, and the latch clicked as it turned. I knew nothing would make him reopen that door. Shrugging into my nightgown, hot tears poured from my eyes and I staggered back into my room.

  At that point, I still hoped that Talon would go back on his word. But whenever I went to his room, it was always locked. And the pain that consumed me only got worse because he started avoiding me altogether.

  He spoke to me only when necessary and made sure that we were never alone. Eventually, I did the same.

  I missed him. His affection and his touch.

  Ever since I returned home, it was more of the same. The only thing that gave me hope were his glances. Sometimes I caught him staring at me with so much longing that he seemed ready to implode. Every time that happened, I wanted to run and throw myself into his arms. But I would walk away instead. Forfeiting the fight against what we felt and what society deemed acceptable. And I couldn’t have what I wanted the most; Talon’s love.

  I was never ambitious. All I wanted was to live on the farm, to help with what was necessary, and never leave the lands that owned my heart. Just thinking about staying two or three more years in the city, far from my family, was unbearable.

  So I opted not to return to college. Perhaps it was my one act of rebellion. I had always been obedient and done what was required of me because I felt a need to please my family. But not this time.

  Tired of waiting, I rose from the steps. The last sun rays of the day kissed the heathland as the greens and purples melted into gray under the rising moonlight.

  It was getting late and Talon hadn’t come home. None of my brothers had. I figured they would be in the stalls. Talon and Ethan liked to groom their horses before returning home.

  I followed the path toward the stalls where all the horses on the farm were. My hair was up in a high ponytail and dangled, grazing my pink shirt. I greeted two workers who were coming out of the stalls and headed straight to where Talon’s horse was kept. However, he wasn’t there.

  His horse, without a better way of description, was an ugly animal. Half-spotted with brown, gray, and black from a crossbreed. Nobody wanted that horse, but Talon took pity and kept the animal.

  Voices came from a room where saddles, halters, and horseshoes were stored. I followed the sound, moving in slowly as my boots crunched when I leaped over a pile of hay.

  Aiden’s booming and slightly cynical voice was the first I recognized. “I’d love to watch you shake that tooshie,” he said in a laughter-filled tone.

  “Cut it out all right,” Talon hissed. Like the rest of my brothers, he had a timbre that sounded more like a thunderstorm that vibrated right into my chest every time he spoke.

  “Your girlfriend’s a twerk instructor,” Ethan teased. “I don’t believe she hasn’t taught you anything.”

  I held my breath as a pang of jealousy hit my chest.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  With Talon’s words, I expelled the breath I was holding.

  I had heard around town that he was going out with Sammie. A girl who never hid from anyone how crazy she was about him. Suspecting that Talon was seeing another girl had me in despair. It scared me to death knowing that he could settle with someone else. That he would fall in love and forget me.

  “That’s not what she’s been saying.” Another man’s voice spoke. One I didn’t recognize. He must have been a farmworker.

  “She’s not his girlfriend. He’s just getting some.” Aiden laughed. “After all, Sammie is not a girl to be serious about.”

  “She really isn’t,” agreed the farmworker. “She was always smart, that one. I don’t know what happened. But it was fortunate for me and half the men in this town that she lost her way.”

  They laughed, and I was annoyed with such a disgusting conversation.

  “Leave the girl alone.” Talon defended her and it scraped on my nerves. “She’s an adult and does what she wants with her life.”

  “Good for us,” Aiden said.

  They were going to say more, but I ended their party by entering. The boy who was brushing a saddle in the corner was crouched. Aiden, elegant in gray slacks with a white shirt, leaned against a pillar. Attractive and well dressed as always. He looked like a cosmopolitan, urban man. But there was something rustic and hard in his countenance.

  He was tall and muscular. The one who looked most like Talon, both blond and tanned with short-trimmed hair. But his features were more angular and his hazel eye
s were more brown than green.

  Ethan, the tallest of them all, was sitting on a haystack with a smile on the corner of his mouth and his deep eyes shone with life. He had slightly longer hair and an untrimmed beard.

  And finally, my eyes wandered to Talon, who was sweaty and dirty from working on the farm. Wearing boots, worn jeans that clung to his well-built legs and hung just below the hips. He was shirtless, putting all of his ink work on display.

  My favorite was the red horseshoe tattoo with a cowboy hat on it. We all had one. It was the Ashford brand. A symbol of our unity.

  Talon’s one was on his chest, just above his heart. Mine was on my inner left wrist where I could constantly see it. A reminder that I had a family. Even though my real one didn’t want me.

  To avoid my presence, Talon pivoted and dipped his head in the tank of water. When he stood, water dripped from his hair to his broad shoulders. His eyes met mine, and I swear there was a thump in my stomach. My heart sunk and my mouth grew dry.

  “Navia, what are you doing here?” Aiden said, peeling away from the pillar.

  Blinking, I dragged my eyes from Talon to Aiden. I lived on a farm full of men who were overprotective and didn’t approve of me walking around alone after nightfall, which always made me roll my eyes. “I came to see why you were taking so long. I was tired of being alone.”

  I searched unconsciously for Talon. He yanked his shirt, tucked in the back pocket of his jeans, and put it on even though his skin was still wet.

  “Let’s go, then. I was already going home, anyway.” Aiden had a hard, square face but when he smiled, everything softened. Just a little. “You seem anxious. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I forced my lips upward, shifting on my weight. “I just wanted the family together for dinner tonight.”