He would die to protect her. But he would much rather live with her. Forever. Joel has been a protector of people his whole life. Now the stakes have been raised. When his mate offers to protect baby Sam, he has no choice but to volunteer to stand by her side. One look at her luscious curvy body tells him he’d like to lie in her bed too. But this is serious, this is life or death. Yet being around her makes his bear a little unpredictable, and he knows he would rip the head off any man who even thinks about hurting her. Can he control himself, and claim his mate? Chrissie has witnessed, first hand, how a family can be torn apart when bad things happen. It’s a guilt that has followed her around since she was six years old. It’s molded her life, made her the woman she is today—who is not the woman her mother would like her to be. Born into a wealthy family, she should be a society wife, like her sister, instead she works for social services, helping wherever she can. Only this time, she isn’t just changing someone else’s life, she is risking her own. When faced with a choice of who is going to help protect baby Sam, she picks Joel, big and tough, the kind of man you’d want by your side in a fight. The only problem is, the way he looks at her, she’s sure he’s thinking he’d like to be next to her in her bed too. Not happening. No way. Never. Relationships and marriage are her sister’s thing. So why does he make her heart skip, and other parts of her body want to melt right into him? Common sense tells her to choose someone else. But Joel makes it clear he is doing the choosing. And he doesn’t plan on ever letting her go.