Book excerpt: After some major soul searching and hitting rock bottom, Master Chief Dean “Striker” Teller finally comes home to LA. He needs to pick up the pieces of his life and try to find his path outside the Navy SEALs. His first order of business is to handle all the loose ends from his mom’s death and he and his brother’s inheritance, including some mystery surrounding how a load of cash got beneath the floorboards of his family home. One of those headaches is a rundown motorcycle dealership located in an expansive building he decides to renovate. While he is home, he runs into his high school sweetheart, SWAT Officer Ophelia Barr and sparks start to fly all over again. But there is a lot of baggage from their past that has to be waded through and much that has happened to him since he was kicked out of the SEALs before he can be at peace. As he tries to track down the origin of the secret money, Dean gets sucked into more than he bargained for. Ophelia joined the police academy straight out of high school after Dean had enlisted in the Navy, effectively making it difficult for them to continue a relationship. She has never been able to really forget her first love. But she has a job to do on the mean streets as a member of SWAT. When her cases begin to overlap with Dean’s pursuit of the truth, she wonders what a former U.S. Navy SEAL is doing mixed up in the investigation. But Dean had kept all his secrets close to the vest, never involving her in his home life, and their painful parting haunts her. She’s falling for him as hard as before, but can he really come home again and be the man she needs him to be to give them even half a chance at happiness?