Fixing the home can heal the heartβif you can find all the pieces.
Police officer Samuel Briggs is getting to know the people on his new, third-shift beat, but heβd prefer they not know too much about himβor the painful past that drove him away from New Mexico to start fresh in small-town Stratton, PA.
All he wants is peace, a manageable routine, and time to fix up his project home. Thereβs no room in his broken heart for a new relationship. Itβs crowded with too many memories. But thereβs something about the Dixieβs Cup short-order cook, whoβs flirty one minute, distracted the next, that piques Samβs interest.
Part-time cook, part-time hardware salesman and full-time handyman Rey King lives to workβbut not because he loves it. Relationships? No time. Until one glance at Samβs haunted eyes sends a plumb line straight to his wary heart.
One afternoon of impulsive, no-strings sex begins to grow into a cautious friendship. But when Rey is seriously injured protecting a friend, the cracks in their already shaky foundation begin to show. Falling in love wasnβt in either manβs recovery planβ¦and this time, the risk could be too great.
Warning: Contains one emotionally wrecked cop, one angsty short-order cook, a few too many secrets, some meddling small-town folk, and plenty of hot man-on-man action.