Kendra Archer has big dreams in life. Ever since she spent her summers volunteering with neglected animals as a teenager, she's wanted to run her own horse rescue center. And with her new job in the Alaskan mountains, she'll be one step closer to making her dream a reality. Jesse Barnes was born a cowboy and will end his days as one. Passions collide when Jesse rescues a mistreated horse who needs specialty care. Knowing he can't do it alone, he calls in the only person who may be able to save the animal—the town's new horse-whispering vet.

Sometimes the worst wounds can’t be seen. Lucas Everett knows that firsthand. It's why he and his former Navy SEAL brothers created the Resting Warrior Ranch. Usually, soldiers show up at their door. But this time, it's Evelyn Taylor—a soldier in a very different kind of war.

Blaze Walker: Notorious bad boy. Star of the hockey team. He spends more time in bed with sorority girls or passed out on frat house floors than he does in classrooms. Which is why he's about to get kicked off the team unless he passes his finals. Me: Girl genius who started college so young that I've just turned eighteen my senior year. Which has made dating while in college pretty much impossible. Blaze and I both have something the other wants. If I tutor him, he'll pass all his exams. And he has a personality so repugnant to me that I can have a no-strings-attached first time.

I’m not a guy who likes to leave the forest much. But I’m driving my grandad’s bus route, while he’s having a hip operation. If I don’t, he’ll lose the career he's loved for 50 years. I’m happy to help the old man out, but it’s a pain in my ass…endless hills, the bus wheezing and spluttering…whining customers…. Then she clambers on, and I know why fate threw this good deed my way.

I'm a city boy, not a cowboy. I'm way out of my league on a horse ranch in Texas. Falling for the sexy horse vet was never my intention. Especially when I find out she could be dating a killer. Sneaking around with her? Not my brightest idea, but someone's got to protect her. It's just one summer. One casual fling. Until it becomes everything but.