Years ago, I fell in love with a man named Maximilian Grant: tall, smooth talking, and handsome as hell. He was my everything. Then, he did the one thing he promised he’d never do...he broke my heart. Now, nearly seven years later, I’m happily married to a man who has completely changed my life. But with my health hanging in the balance, I often wonder what his future entails, because I know there is a possibility that he’ll have to live without me. John, my husband, is the love of my life, and I have never questioned our love. Until my past came knocking at the door.

There are things that women want and things that women need. I know deep down, with every fiber in my body, that I need Mr. Ward. He started out as my landscape designer but became so much more. Now, my life is on the line while living with the devil himself. I have been torn down and broken, and I don’t think I can take anymore. The man I need was never the one I married. No, the man I need is the one I was never supposed to have. He’s the one who showed me gentleness, kindness, and true love. Ward would put up a fight for me at any cost.

It started as as a simple search for a landscape designer. I wanted a beautiful backyard for my new home, and my neighbors suggested I look into ward landscaping and design. The owner had no pictures of himself on his website. Just a portfolio of nice outdoor sitting areas, pools, and vibrant gardens that I’d always dreamed of having. Of course, I hired him. I expected to meet an average guy, but Mr. Marcel Ward is far from your average man.

I was never meant to live an ordinary life, and when I’m dropped from the sky into a haunting forest, facing the barrel of an unknown man’s gun, I believe it to be true. Ruler of Blackwater, Caz Harlow, is the man behind the gun. He’s broody, calculating, commanding and, surprisingly, I can hear every thought that runs through his mind. Because I can, he wants me out of his world and sent back to where I came from, so he makes it his mission to find a way.

From New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Shanora Williams comes a forbidden romance about a college woman who helplessly falls for her best friend's father.