The last time I saw Willow Taylor, I was chased out of town by her brothers with a target on my back and her broken heart in my hands.

Fifteen years she's haunted me.
Fifteen years I've been tortured by her memory, by images of her every night behind my eyelids.
Now she's standing here, in my arms, and I'm holding myself back from claiming her.

I swore I'd never come back to this dead-end town.
Yet here I am, cleaning up the mess my dad left and trying to right my wrongs.

But there's people here who still hate me and want to make sure I know it.

I'm not that lost twenty-one year old kid anymore.
I'm a man who knows exactly what he wants and I'm only going to warn her once—she's playing with fire.

I see the look in her eyes and I want to scare her—to remind her that getting involved with me again will ruin us both.I told myself not to touch her.
Not to remind myself the way her soft lips taste.

But I'm selfish.
I gave in night after night, making promises to her I know I can't keep.
But the secrets from my past don't stay hidden for long and once again I'm reminded that guys like me—don't deserve a second chance at forever.