Been In Love With You

By Tina Martin

A mini, cliffhanger series full of suspense, family drama, love and heartbreak...

Meet Elias (Eli) Leaumont - a New Orleans police officer. He's secretly in love with the woman who saved his life. The woman who has been his best friend for four years, Natalie (Allie) Romain.

Natalie thinks the world of Elias. He's special to her and no one can get under her skin like he can. She loves him dearly, as a friend, and made it clear to him, years ago, that she would never date a cop. However, they spend so much time together, most people already think they are a couple.

Then there's the way Elias looks at her...

What Natalie doesn't know is, Elias considers her much more than just a friend. He considers her HIS. But when he thinks she's interested in his brother, Solomon, his behavior becomes erratic and obsessive. And then there's the emotional and physical damage he sustained from being shot while on duty, four years ago.

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Book 1 - Been In Love With You
Book 2 - When Hearts Cry...coming soon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tina Martin
• Release date: Jul 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310666117

Tina Martin

TINA MARTIN is the author of over 80 romance, romantic suspense and women’s fiction titles and has been writing full-time since 2013. Readers praise Tina for her strong heroes, sweet heroines and beautifully crafted stories. When she’s not writing, Tina enjoys watching movies, traveling, cooking and spending time with her family. For more information, visit www.tinamartin.net

Book preview

Been In Love With You

The Love of Elias Series

Book 1

TINA MARTIN

Copyright © 2022 Tina Martin

Published in the United States of America

First Published in 2015/Revised Edition Published July 2022

BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU

All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or distributed in any format including photography, recording information storage and retrieval systems without the prior written permission of the author. With the exception of small blurbs for book reviews, no part of this book may be uploaded without written permission from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real people, names, places, things or events are a product of the author’s imagination and strictly coincidental and are used fictitiously.

This eBook is for your personal enjoyment only and protected by copyright laws. It may not be resold or given away to someone else. Please respect the hard work of this author. If you would like to share this book with another person, purchase an additional copy. If you are in possession of this book and didn’t purchase it, please return it and purchase your individual copy.

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A little background on this story: Been in Love With You is book one of a six-book series. Each book continues to the next, so the finale is only achieved in book six. Each story is like an episode in a TV series – you need the entire series to get a complete story. Also, this is a romantic suspense/mystery kind of book. It deals with depression, alcoholism, self-worth issues and the like. With that being said, it is a love story. These books were previously published under the Mine By Default Mini-Series back in 2015. I have since revamped these books and decided to publish them under The Love of Elias Series. All book titles have remained the same. If you’ve already read this series, there’s no need to purchase this book.

Synopsis:

New Orleans police officer, Elias (Eli) Leaumont, is secretly in love with the woman who saved his life. The woman who has been his best friend ever since that life-changing day. Four years in, their friendship is stronger than ever, bonded by an event that neither of them will ever forget.

Natalie thinks the world of Eli. She loves him dearly – as a friend – and made it clear to him years ago that she would never date a cop. However, they spend so much time together, most people already think they are a couple.

Then there’s the way Eli looks at her...

What Natalie doesn't know is, Elias considers her much more than just a friend. Jealousy consumes him when he thinks Natalie is more interested in his brother, Solomon. His behavior becomes obsessive. And then there’s the emotional and physical damage he sustained from being shot while on duty, four years ago.

Chapter One

Natalie smiled softly against her pillow, awakened by the musky, woodsy smell of rain, entering her bedroom through an opened window. The hissing of the torrential downpour matched the sound of a sizzling skillet as its well-formed drops played a melody against the windowpanes. Rumbles of thunder played bass in the background. Oh, what a sweet sound to hear first thing in the morning. Nothing was more tranquil than this – nature at its finest, the morning waking up from darkness and her peak of relaxation at its highest. Natalie closed her eyes, pulled in the scent like the nature addict she was, then breathed out slowly. This was bliss.

She hadn’t known it was going to rain. From the news reports she watched before bed, the weatherman didn’t know it was going to rain either. If he’d gotten the report right, she would’ve opened her bedroom window before sliding between the covers and turning out the lamp on her nightstand. But she was glad he opened it – her new best friend, Elias Leaumont. Tragedy brought them together four years ago. They’d been friends ever since. Close friends.

She knew Elias was in bed with her. Behind her. Watching her. She couldn’t see him. There were no parts of him touching any parts of her, but she knew. Along with the therapeutic smell of rain, she smelled him – the strong, masculine scent of him – pheromones that had become deeply embedded in her nostrils. A smell she was accustomed to. One she grew to love just as much as she loved him. One that, like nature, relaxed and calmed her in every way. She smiled again, thinking of him.

Before his injury, Elias Leaumont was every woman’s dream – so she heard. He was that guy, the kind of man women fought over, clamored to be next to, and felt privileged to know. His confidence was out of this world. Standing tall at six feet, three inches, he had a powerful set of legs and thighs that could constrict around a woman like a python. His massive arms could hold a person captive. Muscles on top of muscles weren’t a requirement to be a police officer, but he went above and beyond - truly New Orleans’ finest. His eyes were darker than the deepest abyss and always looked intense, even when he was calm. He kept his black hair cut close, but Natalie had seen it grown out to a sea of curls throughout the years. His skin was light, as creamy as the combination of espresso and steamed milk. At thirty-six, he was single and that’s the way he wanted it. At least that’s the way he preferred to live his life before the shooting.

Now, Natalie didn’t know what he wanted, and she had a strong suspicion he didn’t know either. All she knew was what she’d witnessed firsthand – Elias didn’t date. She couldn’t recall an instance where she’d seen him with a woman, and he didn’t seem bothered by being single. That was so unlike the old Elias. Let him tell it, he used to date women all the time, and he was smart enough to know when a woman was getting too close. He didn’t do clingy, and he wasn’t the relationship type. He liked his freedom more, the same freedom he had now.

Rotating her body to turn towards him, Natalie’s eyes connected with his. Almost instantly a soft smile bloomed on her face. She moaned quietly, still waking up but the rain wanted to bait her back to sleep, something she didn’t mind at all. She batted her eyelids before closing her eyes again, hypnotized by the mesmerizing rain.

Mmm, she moaned, then opened her eyes, looking at Elias.

Elias was lying there quietly, his gaze unwavering