Book excerpt: For years, I’ve shut off my emotions, too scared to bare my heart to someone else. Because the last female I trusted, broke it into pieces and scattered it around for me to pick it up. Work is the only thing that kept my head sane. That is until she walked in. She was no longer a shy teenager, but a beautiful and confident woman. I should’ve known resisting her was impossible. But, it happened too quickly for me to comprehend. Arianna Swanson lights my dark world with a simple smile. I see her and I see hope. My heart doesn’t hurt when I’m around her. But she is off-limits. My cousin’s best friend. I should’ve stayed away because she deserved better. I tried and succeeded until one day, her lips whispered my name. I’m not the man she needed while nursing a broken heart, but I am drawn to her like a moth to the flame. Then, I caught the web of deception around her and that brings out my protective instincts at full force. And I realize I’m exactly the man she needs now. *** Both Arianna Swanson and Orlando Cortez were burned by their first love. They run in the same friend circle and when they run into each other again, they find something familiar in each other's eyes. Pain and anguish. Follow the journey of Arianna and Orlando, where they learn to love again while facing a scandal that might rip them apart and put their trust to test. This is a standalone HEA romance novel with no cliff-hangers