Chapter One

Emma Ellison has spent her entire life dreaming of New York City.

Not because she hates her Tennessee hometown. Not because she's running away. But because some part of her has always believed her future is waiting among the brownstones, bookstores, and bright lights of Manhattan.

When she and her four sisters finally spend a summer in the city to fulfill their late mother's dream, Emma is determined to experience everything New York has to offer.

She doesn't expect Noah Russo.

As a trusted executive protection specialist, Noah's job is simple: help keep the Ellison sisters safe while they navigate a city they've never known. Stay professional. Stay detached. Stay in the background.

It's a system that's worked for years.

Until Emma.

The aspiring author who talks too much, asks too many questions, and somehow turns every ordinary day into an adventure. The woman who insists on hidden coffee shops instead of chain stores, writes story ideas on receipts, and refuses to let Noah remain invisible.

For Noah, getting attached has never ended well.

For Emma, New York has always been the dream.

But somewhere between summer mornings, subway mishaps, Broadway lights, and quiet conversations about grief, both of them begin to wonder if home might not be a place after all.

Maybe it's a person.

A sweeping, slow-burn romance about finding where you belong, learning to be seen, and discovering that sometimes the future you've always wanted includes someone you never expected.