About the book

Alice Duvall fell in love with Wade Kaczmarek in pieces: a sleepy toddler in her arms, milkshakes after school plays, the exhausted smile he saved just for her.

She came to Pine Ridge to be closer to her brother, not to find a ready-made family. But Wade’s quiet strength and the chaotic warmth of his three children slip past her defenses one small moment at a time until Alice realizes she’s fallen for all four of them.

Wade knows better than to depend on anyone. His ex-wife already proved that love doesn’t always stay. But Alice fits into his life so naturally it terrifies him. She brings laughter back into his home, softness into the hard places, and gives his children something they’ve been missing for far too long.

Then a fire tears through Wade’s house in the middle of the night.

After Wade and his children barely escape alive, evidence points to arson. Worse, whoever set the blaze didn’t just want revenge. They wanted Wade trapped inside with his kids.

Now Wade is hunting a dangerous man while Alice fights to hold his frightened family together. But every answer pulls the threat closer to home, and loving a firefighter suddenly feels far more dangerous than falling for one ever did.

Because Alice isn’t just risking her heart anymore.

She’s risking the family she never meant to love.