Girl meets a handsome stranger, gets swept off her feet, and has the best night of her life. Sounds like a dream, right? If only... When I wake up the next morning in a stunning penthouse overlooking the Seattle waterfront to a note saying, “have a safe flight back to Chicago,” his message is loud and clear: One and done. Famous last words. Guess who’s waiting to greet me on the first day at my new job? It turns out the mega-rich Asher Kingcaid is far from one and done.

A year ago, Honor Reid was kidnapped and held hostage for seventeen days. Freed in a ransom drop gone wrong, her ordeal has lasting consequences. Despite round-the-clock security, she lives in fear of her abductor returning to finish the job. Royal Marine veteran Aiden "Mack" McKenzie is struggling with his own demons. He isn't interested in a babysitting job on the other side of the Atlantic, especially for a damaged billionaire heiress who point-blank refuses to leave her house. When the man Mack owes his life to pleads with him to take the job, Mack reluctantly agrees.

You want to know the secret to everlasting happiness? Never fall in love. That was the wisdom my father imparted to us James boys after our mom died, and it’s a piece of advice that’s served me well. Until dear old Dad asks me for a favor over Sunday brunch. No big deal, right? I love making my old man happy. Except this “favor” is a lot more complicated than picking up his dry cleaning. Dad wants me to marry and provide a few heirs for the James empire, and he’s even done me the courtesy of handpicking my bride-to-be. Lucky me.

They thought she was unsuitable as a bride because she was mute. I thought that made her perfect. Silent. Invisible. I could pretend she didn’t even exist.

I hate Dante Moretti. He is cold, calculating, and vicious. It’s no secret that he wiped out his former fiancée and her entire family on the eve of their wedding. He’s the kind of evil that makes even devils cry. But that’s not why I hate him.