The North name is a heavy burden. Two things I learned young—the best way to keep my head on is to keep my head down, and . . . never fall in love.

But I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress.

Lillian came into my life swinging. Mistaking me for my abusive twin brother, she greets me with a swift kick to the balls and a busted lip. Then she really shakes up my world.

She needs her job, but she needs a break just as much. And nothing silences my demons as efficiently as playing the hero.

To protect her from my jerk twin—her boss—I take her on a business trip and quickly learn that she's different. Blunt. Honest. Intriguingly strange. I'm transfixed, so when she unknowingly sinks a multimillion-dollar deal, I don't speak up. Something my family won't forgive.

Now, I have a choice to make. I can go against my own blood and burn the North legacy to the ground, or play it safe, commit to my self-imposed rules and predestined future. Choosing her would ruin my life as I know it, but I'm starting to wonder if a life without her is worth living.