She buried the memory of their forbidden summer. He's spent ten years becoming the man she needs.
Emma Collins is drowning. At thirty-seven, she's a widowed single mom fighting to save her family's dairy farm with two young daughters, a herd of 180 cows, and equipment held together by prayer and duct tape. The last thing she needs is another complication—especially not the mysterious, bearded stranger who shows up offering to work for next to nothing.
Luke Bennett has loved Emma since he was eight years old. Their one stolen summer together ten years ago should have been his beginning. Instead, it became his obsession. He's spent years working dairy farms, saving every penny, and waiting for his chance. Now that Emma's husband is gone, Luke is back in Springfield—and he's not leaving without the family he's always wanted.
But Emma doesn't recognize the boy who once declared he'd marry her. She only sees a competent, maddeningly patient man who fixes what's broken, cares for her daughters like they're his own, and makes her feel things she thought died with her marriage. Things she's convinced herself were only good because they were forbidden.
When the truth comes out—about Luke's identity, about the daughter who might be his, about the incredible connection that's haunted them both—Emma will have to choose between the safe life she's built and the passionate love she's denied herself for far too long.
He fell first. He fell hardest. And he's not giving up on his family without a fight.
A small-town, second-chance romance featuring a devoted hero who's been celibate for years, a struggling single mom who deserves to be cherished, secret identity drama, and a love worth waiting a decade for.
