Tether Me Softly

Tether Me Softly

chinemerem osakwe · Ongoing · 41.5k Words

285
Hot
285
Views
0
Added
Add to Shelf
Start Reading
Share:facebooktwitterpinterestwhatsappreddit

Introduction

When Abby Anderson rebels against her father’s plan to remarry, she escapes into the night and surrenders to a passionate one-night stand with a stranger. But her world shatters when she learns the man she can’t forget is Kevin Stone—her soon-to-be stepbrother.

Forced to live under the same roof, Abby and Kevin fight a losing battle against their desire, stealing kisses and moments that could destroy both families. When Abby’s best friend falls for Kevin and the truth threatens to unravel, they’re caught between duty and forbidden love, tethered to each other by a passion too strong to deny.

Chapter 1

Abby’s POV

“Are you even listening to yourself, Dad?” My voice cracked as the words shot out of me, trembling with anger I had bitten back for weeks. Maybe months. It wasn’t weakness, it was rage. The kind that burned my throat raw and pressed tears against the corners of my eyes. “Five years since Mom’s death, and now you’re telling me you want to marry someone else? Just like that?”

The living room felt colder, as though her absence still lived in its walls, and hearing him talk about filling that empty space with another woman—with Nina Stone—was unbearable.

Dad let out a weary sigh, his hand dragging over his face the way it always did when he was tired of fighting me. His shoulders looked heavier than they had this morning, weighed down by too many responsibilities I never asked him to carry. “It’s not just like that, Abby. The company is drowning, and Nina Stone—”

“Don’t say her name,” I cut in, sharper than I intended. My arms folded tightly across my chest, more to hold myself together than to look defiant. “You’re replacing Mom with a business deal. That’s what this is. A contract dressed up in vows.”

His voice softened but carried that steel I hated—the tone that always left me cornered. “I loved your mother. I still do. But I have to protect what she helped me build. If merging with Nina saves Anderson Enterprise, then I’ll do it.”

His words were supposed to sound noble, maybe even romantic in his head. But all I heard was betrayal. My chest heaved as if I couldn’t get enough air in this house anymore. “So you’d marry a stranger for the company, but you’d ignore what this does to me?”

Dad’s eyes softened with guilt, the kind that always chipped at me because I knew he did care—just not enough to stop. His shoulders sagged as though the fight was draining him too. “I thought you wanted me happy.”

A laugh burst out of me, bitter, hollow. “Happy? Or powerful?” The word burned on my tongue. I grabbed my purse off the sofa, fingers trembling so much I nearly dropped it. “I can’t do this right now. I need air.”

“Abby—”

The sound of the door slamming shut behind me cut off the plea in his voice. For a split second, I imagined Mom standing there, arms folded, glaring at him for even daring to think of someone else. But she wasn’t here. She hadn’t been for years.

---

By the time I reached the club, the fury had twisted into something darker, something hollow. Music pounded against my chest the moment I stepped in, drowning out everything except the throb of bass and bodies moving like shadows under colored lights. The air smelled like alcohol and smoke, sweet perfume tangled with sweat.

I pressed through the crowd, my heels clicking against the sticky floor, and ordered the strongest drink I could think of. The first burn of liquor clawed down my throat, leaving behind the faint illusion that it could cauterize the ache in my chest. The second sip made me dizzy enough to pretend it might work.

Mom’s face still found me in flashes. Her soft hands in mine. The smell of her perfume. Then Dad’s voice barged in, dragging reality back like broken glass—Protect the company. Protect the legacy.

I hated it. God, I hated it. Hated the golden cage my last name trapped me in, hated that my life was always tied to balance sheets and board meetings I never asked for. Tonight, I didn’t want to be Richard Anderson’s daughter. Tonight, I wanted to burn.

“Bad night?”

The voice brushed against me, deep and smooth, close enough that it curled under my skin. I turned my head, and the rest of the world slipped out of focus.

He stood there like he belonged to another life entirely—messy dark hair that looked like he’d run his hands through it a hundred times, a sharp jaw that could’ve been carved by shadows, and eyes that made me feel like he could see straight through every wall I had built.

For the first time all night, my anger wavered. My lips twitched into something like a smirk, though it came out shakier than I wanted. “What gave it away?”

“The way you’re drinking like the glass owes you money,” he said easily, leaning on the bar beside me. His grin was maddeningly casual, as though this conversation was inevitable. “Or maybe the way you’re pretending you don’t want anyone to notice you.”

I raised a brow at him, trying to summon my usual sharpness, but curiosity tugged at me anyway. “And you? Do you just walk around analyzing strangers?”

His grin deepened. “Only the ones I can’t stop looking at.”

That shouldn’t have made my pulse race the way it did. It was cliché, stupid even, but when he said it, something in me snapped awake. My heart skipped. My skin hummed.

I tried to focus back on my glass, the melting ice clinking as I tipped it toward my lips. “And what do you see when you look at me?”

He leaned in then, so close that his breath tickled my ear. My body froze, betraying me, waiting for his answer like it was oxygen.

“Someone who wants to be touched,” he murmured. “But won’t admit it.”

The words sank into me, heat flooding my cheeks, spilling down my throat. My fingers tightened around the glass until I thought it might shatter. I should have walked away. I should’ve scoffed, rolled my eyes, pretended I wasn’t affected.

But instead, I looked right back at him, into eyes that felt both dangerous and safe. “And if I do admit it?”

His grin stretched slow, knowing, almost wicked. “Then I’ll be the one who touches you.”

The music around us pulsed louder, brighter, like the world was daring me to follow through. The crowd melted into a blur, strangers becoming shadows, and for the first time all day, maybe for the first time in months, I felt alive.

I don’t remember how his hand found mine, only that the second it did, my body reacted before my mind could catch up. One moment we were at the bar, staring at each other like there was no one else in the room, and the next I was following him through the crowd, the heat of his palm tethering me to something reckless and alive.

I should’ve cared. I should’ve pulled back, reminded myself he was just a stranger with a cocky grin and eyes that had no right to look at me the way they did. But I didn’t. God help me, I didn’t. Tonight I didn’t want to be Richard Anderson’s daughter. I didn’t want to be the grieving girl still living in her mother’s shadow. I wanted to be someone wild. Someone who chose sin without hesitation.

We stumbled into a dark corner room at the back of the club, the door clicking shut behind us like the world had been locked out. My breath caught when he pressed me against the wall, his chest firm against mine, his scent all warm spice and danger.

His lips hovered just a breath away. “Still want me to touch you?”

A shiver crawled down my spine, my body answering faster than my voice. “Yes.” It came out broken, needy, more honest than anything I’d said in months.

He didn’t wait. His mouth crushed against mine, and I melted into him with a hunger I didn’t know I had left. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t careful. It was the kind of kiss that stole air, that made me forget where I ended and he began. My fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer, greedy for more.

Every brush of his hands lit fire on my skin. My blouse slipped off my shoulders like it had been waiting to be discarded. His mouth trailed down my neck, each kiss branding me, erasing the last traces of anger and grief.

I thought about my mother for half a second, about how disappointed she would be if she could see me giving myself to a stranger in a club. But the thought was swallowed by the sheer ache in my chest—the need to feel wanted, to feel alive, to feel something.

“Tell me to stop,” he whispered against my skin, though his hands never stilled.

I didn’t. I couldn’t. My nails dug into his back, pulling him closer, desperate, as if keeping him there would keep the rest of the world away. “Don’t you dare stop.”

Clothes became nothing more than obstacles, falling away piece by piece until there was nothing left between us but heat and bare skin. Every touch, every kiss, every ragged breath felt like surrender. My body trembled beneath his, but not from fear. From release. From finally letting go of the anger I’d carried like armor.

When he moved inside me, the world tilted. My breath hitched, breaking into moans I couldn’t hold back. His rhythm was demanding, then gentle, then demanding again, as though he too couldn’t decide whether this was supposed to be about lust or something far more dangerous.

I closed my eyes and let it consume me. The music outside was a muffled echo, but in here, there was only us—two strangers who didn’t know each other’s names, clinging like we’d been searching for each other all our lives.

His hand found mine above my head, our fingers lacing together. The intimacy of it wrecked me more than the heat, more than the pleasure. It was the way he held me like he wasn’t just taking my body, but the broken pieces of me I didn’t show anyone.

The sound of his voice in my ear, low and ragged, unraveled me completely. I let go—of grief, of anger, of every wall I had spent years holding up. My release tore through me, leaving me shaking and clinging to him as though he were the only thing tethering me to the earth.

After, the room was quiet except for our uneven breathing. His forehead rested against mine, his hand still entwined with mine, as though letting go would undo everything we’d just shared.

I should have felt guilt. I should have felt shame. Instead, I felt… full. Alive in a way I hadn’t in years. Like for one night, I had escaped everything—my father, the company, the suffocating expectations.

I didn’t ask his name. He didn’t ask mine. Maybe that was the point. This wasn’t meant to be remembered in daylight.

Last Chapters

You Might Like 😍

His Mission

His Mission

342.7k Views · Completed · Sakz Hussain
Meet Emily Wentworth. Since the death of her father, she's been living a home life full of abuse. It's remained a secret for years until she meets the town's bad boy, Jake Melvin. It doesn't take long for him to figure out her secret.

Emily is suddenly thrown from one world of danger and uncertainty into another. The two teens ride the rollercoaster of love, unbelievable betrayal and heartache.
The Biker's Fate

The Biker's Fate

631.1k Views · Completed · Piper Davenport
"You are absolutely my fucking woman, Dani. Got me?"
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Dani," he pressed. "Do you get me?"
"No, Austin, I don't," I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. "You confuse me."
He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
Badass in Disguise

Badass in Disguise

265k Views · Completed · Sherry
"Everyone out," I commanded through gritted teeth. "Now."
"Jade, I need to check your—" the nurse began.
"OUT!" I snarled with enough force that both women backed toward the door.
Once feared by Shadow Organization that drugged me to replicate my abilities into a more controllable version, I had escaped my restraints and detonated their entire facility, ready to die alongside my captors.
Instead, I woke up in a school infirmary with women arguing around me, their voices piercing my skull. My outburst froze them in shock—clearly they hadn't expected such a reaction. One woman threatened as she left, "We'll discuss this attitude when you get home."
The bitter truth? I've been reborn into the body of an overweight, weak, and supposedly dim-witted high school girl. Her life is filled with bullies and tormentors who've made her existence miserable.
But they have no idea who they're dealing with now.
I didn't survive as the world's deadliest assassin by allowing anyone to push me around. And I certainly won't start now.
To protect what’s mine

To protect what’s mine

322.7k Views · Ongoing · Winter Rowe
Amalie is more special than she ever thought possible. Why would the twenty-two-year-old think any different after she has been told she’s nothing for her whole life by her family? Adoptive mother of a three-year-old, Ama has been locked up by her family for the past seven years. But everything changes when her old friends, the Alpha twins, Markus and Calyx, take over the Moonstone pack. Finding out that the twins are her mates, she is a white wolf, and has a connection to the Moon Goddess, is just icing on the cake of her life is a huge mess. Ama just wants a normal life with her mates and protecting her pup, but life rarely gives us what we want. She is thrust into world that she no longer remembers and has forgotten her. Amalie is charged with protecting those closest to her. But she has her own past to overcome as she heals and attempts to move forward. Will she come out alive or lose herself along the way? After all, someone has to be pulling the strings, why not pull her along for the ride?
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride

197.5k Views · Completed · Riley Above Story
On the day Evelyn thought Liam would propose, he shocked her by getting down on one knee—for her stepsister, Samantha. As if that betrayal wasn’t enough, Evelyn learned the cruel truth: her parents had already decided to sell one daughter’s future to a dangerous man: the infamous War God Alpha Alexander, who was rumored to be scarred and crippled after a recent accident. And the bride could’t be their precious daughter Samantha. However, when the "ugly and crippled" Alpha revealed his true self—an impossibly handsome billionaire with no trace of injury—Samantha had a change of heart. She was ready to dump Liam and take Evelyn's place as the family daughter who should marry Alexander.
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother

470.7k Views · Ongoing · Harper Rivers
Falling for my boyfriend's Navy brother.

"What is wrong with me?

Why does being near him make my skin feel too tight, like I’m wearing a sweater two sizes too small?

It’s just newness, I tell myself firmly.

He’s my boyfirend’s brother.

This is Tyler’s family.

I’m not going to let one cold stare undo that.

**

As a ballet dancer, My life looks perfect—scholarship, starring role, sweet boyfriend Tyler. Until Tyler shows his true colors and his older brother, Asher, comes home.

Asher is a Navy veteran with battle scars and zero patience. He calls me "princess" like it's an insult. I can't stand him.

When My ankle injury forces her to recover at the family lake house, I‘m stuck with both brothers. What starts as mutual hatred slowly turns into something forbidden.

I'm falling for my boyfriend's brother.

**

I hate girls like her.

Entitled.

Delicate.

And still—

Still.

The image of her standing in the doorway, clutching her cardigan tighter around her narrow shoulders, trying to smile through the awkwardness, won’t leave me.

Neither does the memory of Tyler. Leaving her here without a second thought.

I shouldn’t care.

I don’t care.

It’s not my problem if Tyler’s an idiot.

It’s not my business if some spoiled little princess has to walk home in the dark.

I’m not here to rescue anyone.

Especially not her.

Especially not someone like her.

She’s not my problem.

And I’ll make damn sure she never becomes one.

But when my eyes fell on her lips, I wanted her to be mine.
Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions

266.1k Views · Ongoing · Elizma Du Toit
Some bad decisions come back to bite you. Literally.

After finding out her boyfriend cheated, the last thing she expected was to stumble across a wounded man in an alley. And definitely not one with fangs. But thanks to a mix of cocktails, shame, and her questionable life choices, she takes him home. Turns out, he’s not just any vampire—he’s a king. And according to him, she’s his fated mate.

Now, she’s stuck with an overprotective, brooding bloodsucker who keeps rescuing her, a growing list of enemies who want her dead, and an undeniable attraction that’s making it very hard to remember why falling for a vampire is a terrible idea.

Because if she’s not careful, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll lose her humanity.
“Burn those who burned me!”

“Burn those who burned me!”

130.4k Views · Completed · Toddria Holiday
Follow several different stories of betrayal and revenge as the main characters finally seek justice and payback of those who betrayed them!

Burn those who burned me is an anthology book circulated on truth; justice; and REVENGE!

Story #1 The Ballad of Rabena Price.
Story #2 The rebirth of Clara Granger
Story #3 The violin of Graceland Teague
Story #4 The list for Josie Taylor

Story #5 COMING SOON!
THE ALPHA'S NANNY.

THE ALPHA'S NANNY.

157.9k Views · Ongoing · Fireheart.
‘She’s my daughter’s nanny. And my mate.’

Lori Wyatt, a shy, broken twenty two year old with a dark past is given the deal of a lifetime when she is asked to be the nanny of a newborn who lost her mother at childbirth. Lori accepts, eager to get away from her past.

Gabriel Caine is the Alpha of the revered Moon fang pack and the CEO of Caine Inc. A drunken one night stand leads to the birth of his daughter and he finds her a nanny following the death of her mother. When he meets Lori, he finds out that she is his mate and vows to protect her from his enemies.

The two of them cannot stop the instant attraction between them. Lori, who believes she is unworthy of love, cannot explain why the powerful billionaire is after her and Gabriel who is totally smitten with her is unsure of how to be totally honest with Lori about him being a werewolf.

Fate has brought them together and now together they must fight for their love, amidst the conflicts between packs and secrets that Lori’s past holds.

Will their love survive?
Nanny and Her Four Alpha Bullies

Nanny and Her Four Alpha Bullies

412.3k Views · Completed · Eve Above Story
Chloe's underclass mother is married to a billionaire, and she transfers to an elite school to become the first female werewolf warrior.But her origins make her a thorn in the side of the school's four ruling brothers.They have to take a little baby girl, less than a year old, to school.But the baby girl resists everyone ...... except Chloe.So Chloe, a new adult, is forced to become the baby girl's nanny and live in the bullies' dormitory?
I Am His Wolfless Luna

I Am His Wolfless Luna

363.1k Views · Completed · Heidi Judith
Ethan's fingers kept rubbing back and forth on my clitoris, while his penis kept jumping inside my body. Every joint on my body is sore and screaming for the next orgasm. All too quickly, I feel that electric tension winding tighter, a mounting pressure that threatens to shatter me. My hips lift involuntarily, urging him to continue his exploration, silently pleading for the release I’m so close to tasting.

Ethan also kept emitting deep roars in my ear, 'Damn... I'm going to cum... !!!' His impact became more intense and our bodies kept making slapping sounds.

"Please!! Ethan!!"


As the strongest female warrior in my pack, I was betrayed by those I trusted most, my sister and my best friend. I was drugged, raped, and banished from my family and my pack. I lost my wolf, my honor, and became an outcast—carrying a child I never asked for.

Six years of hard-won survival turned me into a professional fighter, fueled by rage and grief. A summons arrives from the formidable Alpha heir, Ethan, asking me to return as a wolfless combat instructor for the very pack that once banished me.

I thought I could ignore their whispers and stares, but when I see Ethan's emerald-green eyes—the same as my son’s—my world tilts.
Mermaid Thighs

Mermaid Thighs

84.1k Views · Completed · amy worcester
“Good morning, fam. This is my uncle Owen, everyone calls him Reese, because that’s his last name and the military is weird like that. He likes thick girls and freaky sex.”


Forty-three year old Helen is newly divorced and trying to find herself. For the first time in her life, she is not under the control of a man. With an absentee father, an abusive step-brother and a manipulative ex-husband, she's had the perfect trifecta of bad men.
Along with learning to live life on her own, she's trying to help her three children. Jaxon is struggling with his sexuality. Jolene is discovering that her perfect marriage is far from perfect. JD is just trying to get through high school and into the Navy.
Fifty-two year old Owen Reese returned to his hometown after twenty years in the Navy. He started a small business that has made him a millionaire over the past decade. With his own daughter grown and living a life of her own, he thought his days of parenting were behind him. But he is now raising his sixteen year old niece while his sister is deployed with Doctors Without Borders.
And now, the cute, plump receptionist from his accountant's office is everywhere he turns. Not that he's complaining; he's dying to get his hands on those lovely, lush mermaid thighs that haunt his dreams.
Nothing seems to go right for them. All of his many sisters are constantly interfering. Her children worry about her so much that they are almost obsessive. And she just wants to be happy. And skinnier.

Warning: include an abusive relationship