Have you ever fake dated your bodyguard? I don't recommend it. 

Especially if he's anything like Erik Wilder: former football player, world class know-it-all and unapologetic grump. 

To be clear, I didn't want a bodyguard (hence the fake dating idea). Most days, I can’t figure out why he wants the job either. We drive each other insane, probably because we’re as opposite as two people can be. 

He’s suspicious, never talks about his past and has the comfort skills of a cactus. I’m a happily ever after kinda girl who knows exactly what she wants out of life. 

Erik’s words might say that the lines have to stay firm between us, but those dark eyes of his? They tell another story when he looks at me. 

He’s just as stubborn as I am, but when our fake dating plan starts to feel a lot more real, it's only a matter of time before his professional walls come crashing down. 

I just have to hope my heart doesn't get buried in the rubble.

Helen. What a sweet name for a girl who is anything but.

The first time I laid eyes on Theo Whitlock, I chased him and his frat boy friends with a bat.
I’m no white knight.

I’m broke. He’s rich. I destroyed his car. He chooses not to rat me out.
I was never supposed to go to college, but especially not one like Savage U, where only the wealthiest need apply. One might call this a lucky break, only I don’t feel so lucky with a drug dealer breathing down my neck, and a gangster threatening to burn my house down.
You have a face that could launch a thousand ships.

Theo and I don’t make sense, but being with him feels good, and I need more than my books and classes to distract me from the chaos and violence in my life.

I know you’re my good girl. Aren’t you, Helen? Tell me.

We’re casual. No complications. We have to be. I’m keeping secrets, and I have a feeling behind Theo Whitlock’s twinkly blue eyes is a whole world of darkness.
Do you think about me?

Too much…

Did I hurt you?

He will...if the other savages don’t get to me first.


(Author's note: This is a dark college romance that explores mature themes and dubious situations. Guaranteed: a badass heroine, bad guys, and a satisfying happily ever after.)

Be brave. Just for sixty seconds. Twenty breaths.

One night changed them both forever.

Their lives shattered, beyond repair, with jagged edges and pieces askew.

Now, Everly has a chance to make things right. To bring healing to the place where everything fell apart. But it means facing the family her father almost destroyed, and the boy with the dark eyes—now grown—who still haunts her dreams.

Just one breath away from having your life ripped out from under you.

The last thing Hayes wants is another reminder of all the ways he failed sixteen years ago. When Everly drives back into Wolf Gap, his only mission is to get her to leave. For his family’s sake, and for his own, those demons need to stay buried for good.

But everything about this woman is a surprise, from her spine of steel to the sanctuary she hopes to create with the land her mother left behind. And Hayes is powerless to stay away.

As a careful friendship sparks into something more, someone watches. And they’ll do anything to tear it all apart…

My instincts had always served me well.
Listening to my gut, the warning voice in my head that told me when to walk away.
I never failed to heed the signs.
Until the day she walked into my office.
I knew she would be trouble, but I ignored the alarm bells.
And then it was too late, and I fell. Hard.
A lie tore us apart, and I thought I’d lost her forever.
But now she’s back—with a secret she’s been keeping.
This time, I’m not letting her go.