Sloane Dominic Alexander is my late husband's best friend and the last man on Earth that I should want. He's arrogant, dismissive, and up until recently has only ever used those dark eyes of his to look right through me. For the last twelve years, he's taken a sick pleasure in making me feel paper thin, like my entire existence is of no consequence to him at all. But now, things are different. After one drunken night, and a surprisingly sexy act of heroism, he's started to be...nice. Treating me like something other than the physical embodiment of his annoyance, which would be nice if it didn't make me feel all the things I swore to never feel for another man after my husband died. Dominic Sloane Kent is going to be my undoing. What's worse: I think I'm going to enjoy being unravelled by the gold flecks in her hazel eyes and the adorable little way she scrunches her nose up when we're arguing, which we've done a lot of over the past decade. She thinks it's because I hate her, and I've always let her think that because the alternative is...untenable. But something is changing between us, and I don't know how to stop myself from breaking every promise I've ever made to myself regarding my best friend's wife. Promises that include never telling her that there's a long list of things I feel about her, but hate isn't one of them.

Mallory The first time I kissed Christopher Johnson, I knew he would be my biggest mistake. It didn’t stop me from wanting him though, and when the ghosts from my past came barging into the present, it didn’t stop me from agreeing to let him help. It was supposed to be a simple business arrangement, a few months of playing a role that came far too easily to the both of us, but it wasn’t long before it became more. Love. Devotion. Heartbreak in its truest form. Some people say life is for the living, but I say life is for the prepared. For the planners who know that controlling every piece on the board is the only way to get the result you want. To avoid unfortunate complications like having your heart broken by a man past experiences taught you, you never should have trusted in the first place. Christopher There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for Mallory Kent. I think I knew it the first time I laid eyes on her, and it’s remained one of my unspoken truths for the two years that I’ve known her. But I never thought I’d get the opportunity to do anything about it because Mallory is one of those people who doesn’t need anyone. She’s strong, serious, and always in control of every situation around her, which is why the second I see her looking panicked and uncertain in the arms of a figure from her past, I don’t think. I just act. I had no idea that one small decision would lead to this. A fake relationship—designed to solve her problems and mine—turned real. An earth shattering love torn apart by the very forces that led to its conception. Forces that turned me into the source of our destruction. There’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for Mallory Kent, including break her heart to save her soul.

Mallory The day Christopher Johnson decided to kill me, I already knew what it was like to die. I had already experienced it once. Having the life leeched from my body, blood stolen from my veins, oxygen pulled from my lungs. When he decided to walk back into my life, I was in the middle of my third resurrection, healing from the loss of my brother when I was still raw from losing him. It wasn’t going well. I guess the human heart can only stop so many times, can only take so much damage before it questions whether it’s worth it to be revived. My heart is on its last leg, but even that can’t stop me from seizing the chance to have him again. Even if it's just for a little while. Chris Walking away from Mallory Kent is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. The devastation that marred her features that night still haunts me. Refusing to let me forget that the knife I plunged into her heart to protect her had pierced mine as well. Dogging my steps as I walked through my miserable life without her. Coming back had always been a part of the plan. Even as I gave in to the forces hellbent on tearing us apart, I knew we weren’t done. I just didn’t know we’d come back together like this: under a cloud of unexpected grief with the pain of our stolen future lingering just beneath the surface. This time together was never supposed to happen. I hadn’t accounted for it when I started working to clear a path back to her, but I’m thankful for it. For the opportunity to comfort her in a way no one else can. For the chance to hold her until the demons in my life force me to walk away again.