Chief Petty Officer Joe Hazard defines the phrase love ’em and leave ‘em ladies’ man. Ordered to recruiting duty in W. Va, Joe moves back to Birds Gap, his home town. He cut a swath through his high school class leaving a number of disappointed and broken hearts when he enlisted immediately upon graduation, but his past doesn’t worry him. Everyone is older and wiser now. Surely he’s been forgiven his teenage peccadilloes. Aiming for Officer Candidate School (OCS), he’s eager to do a stellar recruiting job and for a break from the wild life he’s led. However he doesn’t count on getting blindsided by the one female he’d never been able to impress. When she first left Birds Gap, Roslyn Duncan never imagined she’d return, let alone as principal of the high school she despised in her teen years. But those geeky, wallflower days are past and she now has everything she needs—a home, a job, and friends. The last thing she needs or wants is a man like Joe Hazard who brings back memories of painful longing and inadequacy. No, she doesn’t need Joe or his outrageous proposition. But she’s tempted and even indulges her fantasies and convinces herself that Joe shares her dream of getting every student in BGHS a college education. Neither expects the firestorm of passion that ignites on their first date. Stunned, each tries to resist the incomprehensible attraction. They fail, falling more and more in love with each encounter. When a faulty condom causes a ‘we might be pregnant’ crisis, Joe finally stops denying his feelings and proposes. Although Ros holds tight to her doubts, they discuss their possible future. Then Ros declines his proposal because the future he wants isn’t the kind she wants. What kind of life would she have sitting around waiting for a man who only wants her as a sexual partner.