Shae was born to wealth but leaves her hometown and snobbish family to become a nurse. She falls in love with a “commoner,” Jackson, who owns and runs a construction company and embraces the hands-on aspects.

But this isn’t about class wars. Jackson has a personal battle with commitment, brought about by a father who abandoned him and his mother. He’s up front with Shae from the start: he doesn’t do relationships. Shae’s patient and understanding, and willing to give Jack as much time and space as he needs, but as his love for her grows so do his fears of turning out like his father. Will this become a battle both are going to lose?

STORY EXCERPT

Jackson

I sit back and let my gaze sweep across the worn wooden tables and the cluster of regulars scattered under the dim lights. My attention drifts until it lands on her. Shae’s chestnut hair catches the soft glow as she sits at the bar with a man leaning too close. His hand brushes hers in a way that makes her shift subtly as she tries to put space between them, but he follows the movement like it’s an invitation. His hand slides to her thigh and Shae tries to push it away, but he keeps it there and presses it down insistently as his gaze fixes on hers, daring her to protest.

Shae’s posture is tense, and her discomfort is clear even from here. I recognize the guy immediately and the man is trouble. Chris is the kind of man who thrives on taking advantage of unsuspecting women. I down my beer and slide out of the booth. My boots press against the floor with quiet authority as I close the distance.

Shae looks up at me with desperation in her blue eyes as I approach. “You okay?” I ask in a calm tone.

Shae bites her lip, and her fingers twist nervously. “I… I’m fine,” she stammers, but her shallow breaths betray her.

Chris leans back with a smirk. “Relax, man. I wasn’t…”

“You weren’t what?” I interrupt as I step closer, shrinking the space between us as my shadow falls over him. “You weren’t harassing her? You didn’t forcefully place your hands on a woman who didn't want them there…because that’s exactly what it looked like to me.”

His smirk falters. “I was just…”

“Just what?” I press, steady and cold. “Testing boundaries she clearly doesn’t want tested. Explain how that’s okay.”

Chris swallows hard, and a flicker of fear shines in his eyes now. “I… I didn’t mean…”

“You didn’t mean?” I echo him again, letting the weight of my gaze pin him in place. “You don’t corner women, Chris. Step the fuck away, now.” I lean in just enough for him to hear me clearly. “And…if you ever so much as put yourself in the same space as Shae again, you answer to me and there won’t be a warning next time.”

“I… okay… man, I get it,” he stutters as his hands raise slightly in a weak attempt at submission. “I… I…” I let my eyes linger on him, silent and deadly calm, before stepping back slightly.

I turn to Shae. “Would you like to sit with me at my table?” I ask gently.

Shae’s blue eyes meet my gaze, and a small, relieved smile brushes her lips. “Yes… I’d like that,” she says shyly. 

Shae’s shoulders relax fractionally as I guide her toward my booth, hand lightly on her back, protective but not confining. She sinks into the bench seat at my booth and brushes a falling lock of hair behind her ear.

“Thanks… I…” She exhales on the last word and her shoulders ease as if she has only just realized she can breathe again.

I glance back at Chris one last time. His jaw clenches, and a muscle jumps as his eyes drop before he forces a stiff nod.

I sit across from Shae and study her. The worn leather booth almost swallows her whole. She’s all delicate lines and soft edges in a place that has never bothered to be gentle. Five feet, maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet, still dressed in her scrubs from work with a soft cardigan pulled around her like a shield. She smells faintly of clean laundry and a trace of something gentle beneath it that does not belong in a place like this.

Shae tries to sit straight and look composed, like this is just another night out and not something that scraped too close to her edges. Her hands are curled into tight little fists on the table as if she is holding herself together by sheer will. There is a careful politeness to her posture, a learned grace that belongs in quiet dining rooms and polished halls, not here under dim lights and sticky floors. She keeps her chin up, and her blue eyes steady, but the tremor she cannot quite hide tells the truth.

“Why in the world would you come in here alone?” I ask, and the edge in my voice is impossible to hide.

“I was on my way home from work…” She swallows. “I just wanted to grab a salad to take home for dinner. I wasn’t planning on staying.”

I drag a palm over my jaw and lean back, trying to rein in the irritation. “Why would you come in here for a damn salad…if you haven’t noticed, this place can get rough. It draws in some shady people that aren’t known for eating salad.”

Her eyes flick up. “I didn’t know that. I…I’m new in town…I haven’t been here very long.”

I scowl. “Next time, read a few damn reviews before you want to pick up dinner from somewhere.”

A flush rises in her cheeks, blooming soft and warm, and the sight hits me low in a way I shouldn’t acknowledge. She looks impossibly pretty, slightly flustered, a little shy, and far too easy to want.

“I was just grabbing dinner,” she scoffs. “Didn’t think I would need a full risk assessment.”

“No one thinks they do…until they do…” I answer in a gentler tone this time. “But people like Chris…that’s the type that hangs around here…They look for someone trusting and alone.”

Her shoulders drop a little, and when she meets my gaze again, there’s more honesty than defensiveness.

ADULT EXCERPT

Shaelynn

My hand reaches for the car door at the same time Jackson brushes against it. We collide, and his large body presses hard against mine. I gasp as the heat of him presses into my chest. His arm snakes around my waist to steady us, and I can feel the unmistakable hardness of his cock pressing thick and hot against my thigh. My pulse jumps, and a rush of heat pools in my pussy, and I can’t stop the shiver that runs down my spine.

His scent hits me like something wild and magnetic, and my fingers drag over the line of his forearm, gripping and testing, lingering longer than appropriate. My breath hitches as his dark eyes lock on mine, smoldering, consuming, and making every inch of my skin ache. I can feel the wild pulse in his neck, and the way his chest rises and falls with a labored rhythm that mirrors the ache building inside me.

My hands roam over Jackson’s muscular chest and he shifts. The scrape of denim against my thighs, and the brush of his shirt over my palms, sets my nerves singing. His large hands grip my hips and slide lower, cupping my ass with deliberate force. He pulls me flush against him, making sure every inch of his rock-hard cock is pressed against my pussy, and the heat radiating from his body leaves me trembling with need, caught between surrender and desire. A low, ragged moan escapes me as his cock presses against my clit.

Jackson growls out. “Fuck.” The sound is rough and hot, and sends a jolt straight through me.

His teeth graze the shell of my ear. “Shae… I want you so fucking bad it’s killing me. Every little sound you make has me dying to bury my big cock inside your wet pussy right here, right now.”

“Oh my God…” I whisper, breathless, caught between shock and want.

Jackson’s lips brush my neck, and his voice drops, raw with need. “I’m so close to fucking you hard enough to make you scream my name into the night. Get in your car, Shae, or I swear I’m taking you right here on the hood.” He grinds into me impossibly harder, relentless and feral, as his dark eyes blaze with the kind of hunger that makes me feel crazy.

My own body betrays me, responding to him with a wild, desperate desire I’ve never felt before as my hands fist in his shirt. My mind short-circuits with every brush of his lips, and press of his hips. His hand trails between my legs, hovering just above me, teasing the promise of touch.

“Is your pussy wet for me?” His voice is thick and husky.

I nod my head as my pulse races and suddenly a thought hits me like ice water to the face. I’m about to surrender myself in a parking lot to a man I’ve met twice.

I push him back a little. “I…I’m not… I’m not going to… lose my virginity in a parking lot!” The words tumble out faster than my brain can catch them, and heat rushes to my cheeks the instant they leave my lips. 

My stomach knots and my heart hammers against my ribs as I realize exactly what I just said. Jackson freezes, and his dark eyes widen as the raw hunger in them flickers with surprise, and for a heartbeat, my words hang between us like a live wire.

Jackson steps back abruptly and shakes his head. “Shit… Shae,” he mutters, and reaches for the car door, pulling it open with careful precision. “Go home.”

I press my hand to the door and hesitate. “I… I like you, Jackson,” I admit, small but honest. “Maybe… maybe we could… get together again…maybe have dinner together?”

The intensity of his earlier desire still simmers beneath the surface, but there’s steel to his tone as he steps closer, and rests one hand on the roof of the car. “You’re a good girl, Shae. Smart, sweet…fun as hell,” he says, and the corners of his mouth twitch with an almost apologetic smile. “But I don’t do that…I… shit…I don’t date. Ever.”

I bite back a gasp. “Wait…what? You would have…?” My voice catches, disbelief, hurt and fury mix together, and my hands ball into fists at my sides.

Jackson’s jaw tightens, and his dark eyes meet mine for the barest second, as if he’s just realized the full impact of his restraint. “Fucked you? Yeah…but you’re a virgin, Shae. That’s a line I don’t cross. Please…go home.” His tone is soft but his words hit me in the gut.

I shake my head, anger flaring through the remnants of my desire. “So, I’m good enough to fuck,” I spit out. “But not good enough to go on a date with?”