I should have known better than to fall for Raylan Bradbury. There are too many marks against us for it to ever work. He’s older, works for my family, and is my brother’s best friend. Unfortunately, he checks every one of my boxes. He’s gorgeous, funny, and hides a kind, sweet center beneath a surly outer shell—and I have a huge thing for surly guys.

It had been impossible not to grow feelings. When I found the courage to tell the man I’d grown up with how I felt, he shot me down, leaving me to pick up the pieces of my tattered heart and try to move on, just like he suggested. The problem is, when I try putting myself out there, the same man who crushed my heart to smithereens finds a problem with every guy I so much as smile at and sends them running for the hills before I can even get a second date.

But when someone starts leaving threatening messages and letters, Raylan is determined to be my protector, whether I want him around or not. The feelings I’ve been trying to ignore are bubbling back to the surface, and Raylan isn’t making it any easier when he starts looking at me as more than his best friend’s loud little sister.

I’ve always known it was only ever him for me, and I think he may be starting to realize the same, but with danger lurking in the shadows, I worry it might be too late.