Since then, we've spent the last fifteen years in this small town, circling each other and pretending neither remembers how right it felt when we were best friends.

Now she's a single mom and she doesn't need a "broody, grumpy cop" like me complicating her life. No matter how many times her heated gaze scorches my skin, I can never have her in the way I want.

Completely.

So I push her away-but it's for her own good.

Because if she knew the truth of what I did, she wouldn't just have hurt feelings--she would truly hate me.

She has a guarded heart, and it's all my fault.

But I don't have a heart at all. I gave it to Maggie O'Brien a long time ago.