Her Forbidden Hero by Laura Kaye My rating: 4 of 5 stars 4 broken hero stars This is a sweet love story of two persons who are meant to be together, but need to learn how to fight their demons and insecurities, to trust in each other, in order to be together.We have Marco Vieri, a war hero who has so many demons and feels so broken that he doesn't believe he deserves happiness, so when Alyssa Scott returns home after college and he start to have feelings for his best friend sister, a girl he used to protect from her drunk father, he feels the need to protect her even from himself. All at once, he saw her through new eyes. And what he saw very particularly wasn’t a little girl. Not anymore. She might’ve been small in stature, but between the long chocolate waves of her hair, the way her V-neck shirt shaped over her breasts, and how those damn jeans hugged her, there was no safe place to look and not think woman. And it was a short trip from that thought to wondering how she would feel under his hands, in his arms. He was a man, after all. A man who had been without the pleasure of a woman these long months while he fought tooth and nail to get back to a shadow of his old self. But the beautiful girl, er, woman standing before him wasn't just any woman. She was his best friend’s little sister. Strictly off-limits. That was guy code 101. Alyssa has been in love with Marco since she can remember, and she tries very hard to show him she’s not longer the little girl who needed protection, she’s a grown woman and is determined to get him to see her with different eyes, but she doesn’t know everything Marco lived in the war, so she doesn’t understand his situation and he’s determined to not ask for help or let her or anybody see how broken he is. Alyssa nuzzled into his back and pressed a kiss against his shoulder. He sucked in a breath, his erection punching against the fly of his jeans again. But it wouldn’t just be sex. Not with her. The ache in his chest and the constriction in his throat, that was about the part of him that wanted to comfort her and be comforted in return, that wanted companionship and a place to belong. It would be about lo— He shook his head, clamping down on the tail end of that thought. Without question, Alyssa would give him everything he wanted and more, but what he wanted was just a bunch of fantasy bullshit for someone like him. It killed him to do so, but he twisted free of her arms and forced himself to face her. Frustration and regret weighed on his shoulders like an anvil. “This”—he waved his finger back and forth between them and swallowed down a river of sadness—“this right here. This can’t happen." Both have problems, different kind of problems, but they’re both stubborn and try to solve their problems without asking for help. What they can deny is the growing attraction between them, Aly knows is not a teenager crush anymore and Marco knows the feeling he has for Aly is not a case of having the hots for his best friend sister, so they have some moments of weakness. Alyssa inhaled and tilted her head to the side, inviting his exploration. He couldn't resist. He licked and kissed up her neck until he reached the soft indentation beneath her ear. He sucked at her there until she was panting in his arms Beautiful story, a lot of heartbreak in the story, but with a sweet ending. It’s written in dual POV, so we get to be in Marco’s head and understand better his problems. Totally recommend it. View all my reviews