Desperate to keep her neighborhood community center open, Gwendolyn Sinclair seeks out Xavier St. James, her childhood friend...and brother of her dead fiancé. Xavier possesses the funds necessary to keep the center open, but he offers another bargain—a devil's bargain: submit her body to his pleasure for seven days and the building doesn't close its doors. Left scarred from an accident, Xavier is bitter, resentful and alone. When Gwendolyn reappears in his life, need and loneliness overrides conscience and he proposes an arrangement she can't afford to refuse. With the woman he has always wanted—but could never have—finally in his bed, he hungers for more. Her heart. But could she come to love a beast?