The ties binding the heart to the past can be the hardest to cut.

More than a year after the car crash that killed his partner and nearly killed him, Paul Gordon thinks it may be time for a new place, new people, a fresh start. He arrives in Willow Bend, South Carolina, with a single bag in one hand and the deed to a house he's never seen in the other, hoping this will be the perfect place to get on with his life, alone and anonymous.

Between working two jobs and caring for his ailing mother, Cory Saunders is just trying to survive. He lives a hand-to-mouth existence, somehow managing to pay a caregiver, feed himself and keep the rickety house from falling down around them. Barely.

When Paul catches sight of Cory in the diner where Cory works, it's lust at first sight. And for a while, their intense physical attraction is enough. But as it starts to blossom into something deeper, reality rears its head. Cory has no time for a relationship, and Paul's not sure he's ready to give his heart again.

Fate, however, has its own ideas about the best path to healing.

This book has been previously published.

Warning: Healthy servings of m/m lust, salty language, and a will-they-or-won't-they romance.