I have sworn off all men...until I met him. After ending an eight year relationship, I have decided never to marry again... or date for that matter. My mission is to fix the shell of a woman my ex-husband created. Fresh start with new hobbies, new friends, and a new outlook on myself. What it definitely does not include would be falling in love. Then I walked into the gym, the one my new friends recommended and there he was. He stood there at the welcome desk and he was everything my ex wasn't. He started teaching me things my ex couldn't dream of. With passion I had always thought was out of reach. Showed me there is a possibility of having someone who was so completely in tune with me. My mind. My body. My soul. That was until a blast from his past shows up and threatens all we have started to create together. Will he fall in line with them? Or will he show exactly how different from my ex he is, and stay true to me?

He’s my brother’s best friend, my boss, and frenemy…And I think I love him. Tragedy struck when I was five years old that created an unbreakable bond between us. He’s the one I go to for everything… before my brother, my friends and absolutely before my parents. When I was little, I stated I would marry him one day. But, after my sixteenth birthday he stopped taking my calls and texts like he used to. Creating another hurt, I just didn’t want to face. In the end, I tried to let it go. After all, every time someone got close, they ended up hurting me. A couple years later our parents die, causing the rollercoaster that is our relationship to start up once more. He is there, again, as if nothing had changed. When trouble hits my door, he’s the one there to bail me out. He hired me at his growing business. As time goes on the tension between us grows. What I never counted on was him to act on the subtle looks he had been giving. Never expected him to give into the tension that had been growing between us. But then he does and it is explosive. Yet, the only thing he won’t do is kiss me. Won’t admit that there is more to us, than attraction. Long ago he made a promise to my brother. One he refuses to break… even at the expense of breaking my heart. I’m sick of it all. When an opportunity drops in my lap, I take it and run away. Now I can’t help but wonder… Will he follow me? Or will he be like everyone else and break me?

There’s only one guy I can’t have. And he’s the one I fell for. My best friend. At seventeen, almost eighteen, I found myself homeless and running from dangers one couldn’t even fathom. That’s when I met him. My best friend. It started with a box of food I stole, to him saving me. Twice. Me running away. Him finding me and offering me a place to stay. He says it was to keep me safe, but maybe as time goes on, it is something more? As years went by, he slowly burrowed himself inside my heart. He became my person. Yet, with every joke, hug, phone call, and interaction, I’ve found that I want him more than just my friend. Then in the blink of an eye, he gets hurt, almost killed, protecting someone close to us. Once more, I find myself living with him—this time to help him recover. Stolen glances and lingering touches make me think there may be something more, a chance there is some truth to what everyone around us says. His feelings may, in fact, reflect mine. And when a horrible date goes completely awry, the truth comes out. He claims me as his. Life couldn’t have been sweeter. That is, until a man from our past comes back with a vengeance, endangering our friends and loved ones. The two of us do everything we can to protect them. This time is different, though, because come hell or high water, we will get rid of him for good. Hopefully, leading to us finally getting our happy-ever-after.