A protection detail brought me to small town Lucy Falls. A murder-for-hire contract keeps me here.

I've been alone for a long time, and as an enforcer for the East Coast Irish, I'm okay with that—right up until the day I meet Emery "Cotton" Bishop. Emery is a girl with secrets in her eyes, and attraction sparks between us from the start.

It's nothing I anticipated. It's nothing I wanted. And it's complicated by an unexpected new kill order from my boss—for Emery herself.

Why would anyone want to assassinate this woman with shadows in her eyes? Why is she so afraid? All I know is that there's no way I can kill her without learning the truth. Not while everything in me yearns to protect her, instead.

When a second assassin is dispatched to do the job I'm struggling with, I do the only thing I can think of . . . I kidnap her.

For a while, a remote cabin in the wilderness offers refuge—even if it's at the expense of both of our hearts. What will happen, though, when my kill order catches up with us, and there's nowhere left to run?

Contains mature themes.