Haylie was ready for a change. After her longtime roommate and best friend finally got engaged, she figured now was a good time. It was coincidence that a third-grade teaching position opened in her hometown of Midhaven. There was only one problem. She vowed never to return to this small town again due to the heartache and humiliation she had endured years ago. She got burned once, and now she refused to let any man get the best of her. She knew he would still be living in Midhaven and would run into him from time to time. It was too small of a town not to expect it. None of that mattered because she had erased Waylon out of her life long ago.

Haylie didn't realize how hard it would be to pretend like nothing had happened between them. He still looked sexy as hell, and she did her best to ignore the chemistry that still sparked between them. She should stay away and ignore him. At least, that's what her family and friends kept saying. He broke her heart once, and she'd be stupid to let him do it again.

Waylon was finally content with the direction his life was going after all these years of messing up. He had made a habit of making bad decisions and refused to do that with his son. He had given up on women a long time ago when his first love left him standing in his high school parking lot, broken and ashamed. Nothing could prepare him for the day he walked into his son's teachers' room and saw Haylie standing there, beautiful as ever. She made it clear she hated him, yet he was desperate for one more chance to show her how much she meant to him.