Sacrifices are never easy—but sometimes, to win the game, the knight has to fall.

Katrina Blair is a single mom to a daredevil teenager, which leaves zero time for frivolous things like dating. Especially since men have already proven what they are—liars, thieves, and unreliable a**holes. Pregnant at fifteen, abandoned before her son was even born, Katrina learned fast to protect herself. The walls she's built are high, and she has no intention of letting anyone climb them.

But Eric DeWhit isn't just anyone.

A former undercover agent with shadows he refuses to share, Eric hides behind corny jokes and easy smiles, lingering in Katrina's diner like he belongs there. Every time he asks for more than a burger and fries, she shuts him down cold. Still, the way her eyes linger when she thinks he isn't looking tells him she feels the same pull he does.

Katrina lives by rules that have kept her and her son safe for fifteen years. But rules are made to be broken. And Eric might just be the exception she never saw coming.