From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Carrie Ann Ryan comes a new story in her Fractured Connections series…

It all started at a wedding. Beckham didn’t mean to dance with Meadow. And he really didn’t mean to kiss her. But now, she’s the only thing on his mind. And when it all comes down to it, she’s the only person he can’t have.

He’ll just have to stay away from her, no matter how hard they’re pulled together.

Running away from her friend’s wedding isn’t the best way to keep the gossip at bay. But falling for the mysterious and gorgeous bartender at her friends’ bar will only make it worse. Beckham has his secrets, and she refuses to pry.

Once burned, twice kicked down, and never allowed to get up again. Yet taking a chance with him might be the only choice she has. And the only one she wants.

**For fans of Carrie Ann’s Fractured Connections series, Taken With You is book four in that series.**

**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**

Series:

Fractured Connections

Book 4

Can be read as a standalone

Book Type:

Contemporary Romance

Series Reading Order:

Exclusive Excerpt: TAKEN WITH YOU

“You are the person of my heart. The woman of my dreams. The other half of my soul. I’ll never forget why you are mine. And why I am yours. I will do whatever is within my power to make sure that you know I’ll always love you with every ounce of my being. To the last breath in my body. I love you, Harmony. With everything that I am. Be mine. Forever.”

“I love you, Brendon. With every ounce of my soul, with every breath of my being. I hope that one day I will be able to really make you understand exactly how much, and how honored I am to call you mine. We walked through the darkness, and I know that even though we weren’t alone, we were there for each other for a reason. And I will never regret that. You are mine, Brendon Connolly. Forever and always. And I cannot wait to see what’s next.”

I leaned back in my chair and just smiled up at the couple as Brendon and Harmony continued their vows in front of each other and the rest of the wedding guests. We were family in a way, friends in so many more. And I was glad that I was here, even if I’d almost stayed away. After all, I was good at being on the periphery these days. I wasn’t very good at being in the middle of things.

I had been to a few weddings in my time, but never one quite like this. I didn’t think there would ever be one quite like this.

I’d known Brendon Connolly for a few years—off and on in the past. Then a lot better recently. Particularly when he and his brothers came to take over the bar that I worked at to try and make it better. To make it a home again. I had been there for the guy. Just like I had been there for his brothers, Aiden and Cameron, as they attempted to figure out how to make their world make sense after losing their parents and coming back together as a family again.

It’d been interesting to watch them create relationships and then fall in love even when they didn’t mean to. Of course—at least, in my opinion—most people didn’t mean to fall in love. It just happened.

Not that I’d ever actually been in love. Not my thing. It was safer to not form those connections. They only left you fractured in the end.

I resisted the urge to look across the aisle at the bride’s side. At her. There would only be pain and heartache there.

“You may now kiss your bride,” the woman officiating said. Brendon dipped Harmony low, his mouth fastening to hers in a deep kiss that had the rest of the wedding guests on their feet, hooting and hollering and clapping.

I shook my head, standing up with the rest of them as I cheered as well. Then I put my fingers between my lips and whistled, a high, sharp sound that garnered a few looks.

Including hers.

I really should not be thinking about her. Or noticing her.

Though it was hard not to. Especially since she was always…there.

Not in a bad way. She was part of our new circle. The one I hadn’t acknowledged I’d become a part of until I was sitting next to all the Connolly brothers and their women and suddenly realized I was one of them.

Meadow Brown was the same way, just on the opposite side of the connection line.

It was odd to think that, after all these years, I was in the same circle as she—even though I didn’t think she actually knew who I was. Beyond being the bartender and the one who liked to give Brendon shit about his drink-slinging skills anyway.

I was the one with the smiles. The jokes. And that was the image I tried for. I didn’t want them to know who I had been before. I wanted to hide the stains on my hands.

I didn’t want to think about it either.

So I wasn’t going to.

Instead, I pushed those thoughts from my mind, shoved Meadow out as well, and grinned as Brendon picked up his wife and carried her down the aisle.

Of course, the rest of the wedding party had to have fun, too.