I came to grieve in private. The thing that has lived in these walls a hundred years has other ideas.
My grandmother died in March. I have not unpacked her photos. I have not painted the kitchen. I have not, by any objective measure, processed the loss. What I have done is move into the cliff cottage on the Dunmore Coast, fire the old glassblowing studio, and start cracking jokes at the empty corners of a house the village calls haunted with a perfectly straight face.
The empty corner started talking back on the third night.
His name is Vesper. He has occupied the dark of Cairn House since before my great-great-grandfather laid the first stone. He has not had a body in more than a century. He has watched a hundred years of women come and go from this house, and not one of them ever looked back at him.
I look back the first time I walk through the door.
He is undone. He is reverent. He is terrified of his own want. So am I. The difference is, I have jokes. He has the entire architecture of the house — which means there is nowhere I am alone, and nowhere the dark is not paying attention.
A scorching paranormal romance with a shadow entity, creative anatomy, and a heroine who speaks to the dark.
Features: Shadow entity, Hidden in plain sight, Forced proximity, Obsessive protector, Ancient being/mortal, Dark paranormal romance
Content Note: This book contains strong sexual content, paranormal elements, possessive/obsessive relationship dynamics, and isolation themes. Intended for adult readers (18+).
