With marriage, there are things you can and can't live with. Harry, my abusive husband, made that clear enough when he beat me like a dog, forced a miscarriage on me, and tried posing me as a hostage to my father's notorious biker gang, The Reapers. I was lucky enough to get out of my marriage in one piece but it's only a matter of time before he picks up my trail and hunts me down. Blackjack swears he'll kill him the second he steps foot in town. I know he means well but there's something about his stare when he tells me I deserve better.

Simple. Neat. Orderly. A place for everything, and everything in its place. Karmen Handel's life growing up had been anything but quiet and simple. A deadbeat father, a mother who never wanted her, and a grandmother who could care less created the perfect recipe to ensure Karmen built a wall around herself and never let anyone in. When her past comes back to haunt her, Karmen has no one to help her. Until Nickel. 

First rule of being a nanny? Don’t fall for the single dad, even if he is smoking hot. But that’s exactly what happens when grumpy small-town sheriff Asher Whitlock reluctantly hires me to take care of his daughter for the summer. Neither of us is thrilled with the arrangement, but he’s desperate for help, and I need the money for grad school this fall.

I'm the guy whose name brings fear into the hearts of even the hardest men. They call me Cross because I've killed enough men to fill a cemetery, and I never saw any problem with that - until a woman I hardly remember brought my 11-year-old daughter that I didn't know existed to my doorstep and left her for me to take care of. At first, my daughter was a complication I didn't need, but now I'll do everything I can to raise her right. I'll even stay away from her hot-as-sin guidance counselor Roxanne, who makes me feel like I'm 20 again, and not pushing 40.

Beautiful. Intriguing. Strong. Independent. Everything a man like me craves in a woman, Rylynn has. Except she's Rhys' daughter. He's made it clear within the brotherhood that she's off limits. But rules are meant to be broken. It's a specialty of mine. She's a young woman, but her eyes spark with knowledge beyond her 19 years. She's my strength and my biggest weakness. She's also the first person I ever held who meant more than my cut.