My life was fine. Good even. I spent my days working in my garage and my weekends kicking back with my brothers, biological or chosen. Finding an infant abandoned on the side of the road while walking home from the bar was not in the plans.

I may have taken the little thing home with me that first night, but I was drunk, and she was helpless and alone. I felt the need to look after her, to protect her, even after she was put into the system.

Meeting the stunning, curvy woman who had become the caregiver was a welcome surprise. It made keeping an eye on the little girl so much easier. So easy, I was no longer sure if it was just the baby I was coming to see every day or if it was Maeve.

Maeve was only supposed to be her caregiver while they straightened out next of kin, but the longer she was in that baby’s life, the longer she was going to have me in hers.

I bonded instantly with the helpless little baby, but my bond with Maeve… that came out of nowhere. Did we have something real, or was our connection only temporary?

The opportunity of a lifetime was before me. A full historical renovation of the Delano Library to bring the building back to its original glory – and show this town my ability to be a unique master craftsman in the process.

I didn’t need some uppity history major nerd babysitting my construction project as the historical preservation designer. I didn’t need her sunshine personality trying to bring color to my gray life.

Still reeling from my breakup with my high school sweetheart, the last thing I was looking for was to get caught up in another relationship. Besides, Claire DeLuca wasn’t sticking around my small town of Calla Bay when this project wrapped up. She’d be off to the next historical renovation while I’d be here.

But my heart doesn’t get the same memo as my brain and now I’m in danger of losing myself to her – and then losing her when our time is up.

The police are in on it. That's the only explanation.

But I am the police, and I've got my eye on them now.

After wrapping up the biggest case of my career, I should feel...something. My small town doesn't see murder very often, so when all the pieces to find the perpetrator fall into place, it's a slam dunk to get this criminal off the streets. He's maintaining his innocence, but who wouldn't when faced with a murder charge?

When my brother's best friend, Wesley Winters, is brought in by the defendant to clear his name and new evidence comes to light - evidence that was covered up - I have to consider the worst...maybe we did get the wrong guy. And when Scarlett Hart is being threatened, simply because of her association to me, it's up to me to keep her safe. And I won't let anyone or anything stop me from protecting Scarlett.

If only I could protect my heart from her.

I never expected to find myself back in my hometown of Calla Bay. Not after I was humiliated and made a fool of by my brother’s best friend. Sebastian Devereux made me feel things I had never felt. I gave him everything, only to find out it was all part of a dare.

Eleven years later, now my life that I had been so proud of in New York City was crumbling. I had lost my job and my friends. Worst of all, I had lost my sense of self. Taken from me by the person I thought was supposed to love me.

Being back in my childhood bedroom, jobless and alone, was not on my life’s bingo card, so when my brother Luke gets me a job working for none other than Sebastian Devereux, I’m in no position to say no. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. He can keep his dimpled smile and charming words. They don’t affect me like they did when I was a naive eighteen-year-old.

If I have to keep repeating that to myself every day like a mantra, reminding me not to let him get too close, then that’s what I’ll do. I fell for his charm once already; it would be stupid to do it again.

So why do I find my heart opening up to the one person it never should?