I’m a lot of things. The youngest Dixon. Town handyman. Best you’ll ever have . . . you’re welcome. One thing I’m not? The guy who falls in love. When Rae Jacobs enters my town with her ever\-present laptop and caffeine addiction, she offers me a fleeting glance and a simple demand: Don’t fall in love with her. Bold. Assuming. Laughable, considering she isn’t exactly my type. Wasn’t. But she inadvertently shook up my life with her alluring, carefree spirit until I wanted more. Until I made her mine. She’s a habit I can’t quit. A fix I can’t get enough of. Each day brings me closer to saying the three words I’ve always mocked. But with one call, the piled\-high secrets she’s kept start unraveling around her, and I have a feeling the demand that first day wasn’t so simple.

I’m the Dixon who left. Through the good, bad, and worst imaginable, I stayed gone. When I return home after a decade, I’m not surprised by the cold reception from my family... or my brother’s best friend. Emberly Olsen. I spent my childhood tormenting her. Now these days with her feel like the cruelest sort of unintended revenge. We’ve changed. She’s changed. Pure confidence and sensuality, but her pouty lips and heavy-lidded eyes scream contempt. And word around town? She’s untouchable. But after sharing a few drinks, her snide comments turn teasing. Sneers become smiles. Huffs change to laughs. Laughs to moans, sweeter than any sound. Years of animosity ignite into carnal need and passion. We can blame it on the whiskey. I have a feeling we’ll try. But we aren’t that drunk.

I’m the only Dixon brother to step up when our family crumbled. When I took over the ranch, I lost everything, career included. My heart hadn’t been in it anyway. It couldn’t. A girl left with it over a dozen years ago. Now she’s back. Different hair. New style. Kid clutching her hand. Not a trace of the Madison Black I knew. A down-home girl with the sweetest smile and drawl. The rebel with a spirit that glowed so bright. But with one conversation, that girl starts to reappear. One kiss, the years apart fade away. One night, I vow to never let her go again. But some pasts refuse to stay buried. And when the heart-wrenching truth behind her leaving is revealed, it might ruin us all.

I’m the oldest of all the Dixon boys. Yeah, that family. And, yeah, that Dixon. The one with a notorious temper and devastating fists. My family tried everything short of giving up on me, but there’s only one person who can calm me. Savannah Riley Dixon. Girl next door. My best friend. Sweeter than honey and stronger than whiskey. And the answer to my enraged soul. From the moment she came skipping onto our ranch when we were kids, I knew she was my future—my everything. One touch, the fire in me cools. One kiss, that rage melts away. But the girl who’s stood by my side through brawls, cop cars, and kids of our own warned me years ago: One more fight, and she’s gone. For her, I’d do anything. I’d lower my fists. I’d rein it all in. I’d stop the damn world. But when someone threatens our marriage, all I see is red.