Behind His Wedding Ring

"You're too young, too close to danger... and that's exactly why I can't stay away." - Nathaniel Halden

When Elena Marlowe, nineteen, watches a moving truck pull into the house next door, she expects nothing more than new neighbors and a little noise.

She doesn't expect him.

Nathaniel Halden-thirty-six, married, and far too dangerous to look at twice.
A firefighter with quiet eyes and a past no one in Blackridge Hollow talks about.

From the moment he sees Elena standing barefoot on her porch, something in him snaps awake... something he thought he buried years ago.

He shouldn't watch her.
He shouldn't want her.
He shouldn't crave the girl next door like she's the only air left in his lungs.

But he does.

And Elena feels it-every stolen glance, every excuse he makes to be near her, every shift in his voice when he says her name.

His wife notices.
The town whispers.
And Elena can no longer tell if Nate moved to Waverly Lane to escape his past...
or to start something he was never meant to touch.

Because once Nate wants something, he doesn't let go.
Not of his past.
Not of his secrets.
And certainly not of her.