War isn’t a testament to a man’s strength—finding peace with it is.

Navy SEAL Caden Lawless is coming home. Holding his best friend as he bled out in the Afghanistan desert, Caden became bound by Justin’s desperate plea to care for his fiancée and to love the son he’d never know. Battling a barrage of memories and with a head full of noise, Caden travels cross country in his beat up Chevy to make good on his promise.

One knock on Piper Stevens’ door and he knows she isn’t broken. Pregnant and mourning the only man she’s ever loved, Piper wields her anger as a sword, slashing into Caden’s grief and his heart.

As Caden works to silence his demons, he finds a new mission, one far away from the heat and depravity that clawed its way into his soul. He demands his way into Piper’s life, intent on helping her pick up the pieces.

But even as the tentative fingers of a burgeoning friendship spread into something far deeper than either believed possible, duty calls for Caden to return to the battlefield. Fate brought them together—will war tear them apart? Or will Caden reclaim the sound of silence and remain with the woman who taught him love didn’t die in the desert?