Hard To Love – Emilia Finn

“She’s okay, Doc. She just needed a minute to catch her breath.” His eyes, a perfect replica of Eliza’s bright blue, lock on to mine. His chest lifts and falls, fast, rhythmic breaths expanding his lungs. He keeps a tight hold on the million emotions passing through his body, but his gritting jaw is a tell I’m not sure he even knows he has. The flex and release of muscle in his cheeks gives him away.

“We were just leaving.” Fox snags Alana’s hand and draws her across the room. “Take five.” She claps Ollie’s shoulder and squeezes through the gap of the door. “We’ll be waiting for you when you come out.” “Are you okay?” He stares. Clenches his jaw. He digs his hands into his pockets, only to take them out again and ball them into fists. Release. Back into his pockets. “We can leave if⁠—” “You can come in, if you want.”

I wrap my hands around the lip of the ceramic sink on either side of my thighs. And because he’s just so… perfect, he does exactly as I say. He steps in and closes the door, and crossing the not-very-pretty tile, he comes to a stop about two feet from where I stand. “I don’t want to leave,” I rasp. I mean, I kind of do. But it would be selfish to do so, because the man asks nothing of me except to teach me how to throw a punch.

“We should stay and let Eliza show me some moves.” “What do you want then?” He drags his hands out of his pockets and drops them by his side. “Besides Eliza teaching you something. Tell me what you need, Rose, and I’ll⁠—” “A hug?” I open my arms and wait. Like a friggin’ idiot. “I could really do with one of those.” He closes the two feet between us and crashes against my chest, circling his arms around my torso and burying his face against my neck.

His hot breath bathes my skin, his heart pounds against mine. But Eliza was right. She was so, so right. Hugs are good for us. And a hug from him… “Also, I feel like it’s a little late to ask now, but what the hell is up with your baby sister flattening a grown man in the ring? You didn’t think to mention that in all the time we’ve known each other?”

Chuckling, he slides his palm over my back, warming me through my hoodie. “I didn’t mention it already?” “Absolutely not. I’m sure ‘my sister is a fighting machine obligated to register her body with the U.S. government as an actual weapon’ is something I’d remember. Did you know she has eight abs?” I pull back and look into his eyes, but I don’t pull away.

Copyright © 2026 Emilia Finn All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below: [email protected] ISBN: 978 1 923515 14 7 (paperback) ISBN: 978 1 923515 15 4 (hard cover) Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously.

Names, characters, and places are products of the author’s imagination. Cover Design:- eBook and Paperback: Amy Queue @ Q Design Hardcover: Emilia Finn Cover Photography: Eric McKinney Editing: Brit @ Bookish B Editing Proofreading: Lindsi Labar First printing edition 2026. Beelieve Publishing, Pty Ltd PO Box 407, Woy Woy, NSW, 2256 Australia www.emiliafinn.com EMILIA FINN, the ROLLERS logo, the CHECKMATE SECURITY logo, STACKED DECK logo, and INAMORATA are all trade marks of Beelieve Publishing, Pty Ltd OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Looking To Connect?

Foreword Author’s Note HARD TO LOVE ROUND ONE ROUND TWO ROUND THREE ROUND FOUR ROUND FIVE ROUND SIX ROUND SEVEN ROUND EIGHT ROUND NINE ROUND TEN ROUND ELEVEN ROUND TWELVE ROUND THIRTEEN ROUND FOURTEEN ROUND FIFTEEN ROUND SIXTEEN ROUND SEVENTEEN ROUND EIGHTEEN ROUND NINETEEN ROUND TWENTY ROUND TWENTY-ONE ROUND TWENTY-TWO ROUND TWENTY-THREE ROUND TWENTY-FOUR ROUND TWENTY-FIVE ROUND TWENTY-SIX ROUND TWENTY-SEVEN ROUND TWENTY-EIGHT ROUND TWENTY-NINE ROUND THIRTY ROUND THIRTY-ONE ROUND THIRTY-TWO ROUND THIRTY-THREE ROUND THIRTY-FOUR ROUND THIRTY-FIVE ROUND THIRTY-SIX ROUND THIRTY-SEVEN ROUND THIRTY-EIGHT ROUND THIRTY-NINE ROUND FORTY ROUND FORTY-ONE ROUND FORTY-TWO ROUND FORTY-THREE ROUND FORTY-FOUR ROUND FORTY-FIVE ROUND FORTY-SIX ROUND FORTY-SEVEN ROUND FORTY-EIGHT ROUND FORTY-NINE ROUND FIFTY ROUND FIFTY-ONE ROUND FIFTY-TWO ROUND FIFTY-THREE ROUND FIFTY-FOUR ROUND FIFTY-FIVE ROUND FIFTY-SIX ROUND FIFTY-SEVEN ROUND FIFTY-EIGHT Epilogue Also by Emilia Finn OceanofPDF.com LOOKING TO CONNECT?

Website Facebook Newsletter Email The Crew Did you know you can get a FREE book? For a sexy, fun, fake-dating romcom, grab your full length, completely free story at www.emiliafinn.com or HERE OceanofPDF.com FOREWORD Hard To Love contains domestic violence themes, medical trauma, and medical procedures. OceanofPDF.com AUTHOR’S NOTE The cat will be fine! This is just temporary. Also, the rooster will probably die soon. Question: Do the same ‘don’t kill the dog in romance books’ rules apply when the dog is actually an ugly, tyrannical rooster instead?

Just wondering… OceanofPDF.com HARD TO LOVE LOVE AND WAR BOOK 3 OceanofPDF.com ROUND ONE OLLIE “Pedestrian versus vehicle. Female. Early to mid-twenties. Motor vehicle won.”

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 9fe067c884fa4c5d
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 5,686,244 bytes (5.423 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781923515147, 9781923515154
• Pages: 475
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 825.31 minutes
• Total Words: 165,062
• Total Characters: 893,312
• Average Words per Page: 347.5
• Average Characters per Page: 1880.66

Most Frequent Words

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