Tempting The Devoted

Avery Creed is Hawthorne University's golden boy—six-foot-six of devotion wrapped in tailored suits, leading Bible study with the same intensity he brings to rebuilding engines. Virgin. Pure. Untouchable. But beneath those gold-rimmed glasses and scripture quotes burns something darker, something he's kept locked away behind prayers and discipline. Then Ember Crowe saunters into his world like a beautiful catastrophe. With her tramp stamp, ruby navel piercing, and a reputation that precedes her, she's everything he should avoid. Loud, feral, and unapologetically sinful, she flirts with everyone just to watch his jaw clench and his knuckles turn white. She doesn't just want him—she wants to ruin him, to crack that pristine exterior and watch the devoted man crumble. What starts as hateful banter in the university parking lot becomes an obsession neither can control. She manipulates. She stalks. She tests every ounce of his faith, whispering temptation in his ear while he grips his steering wheel hard enough to snap it. And Avery? He tells himself he wants to save her soul. But they both know the truth: she's going to make him so much worse. In the shadow of Eternal Fire Apostolic Church, between engine grease and makeup palettes, saint and sinner collide in a slow-burn war of wills where salvation and damnation taste exactly the same. Some devotions are meant to be broken.