Twelve years ago, Max Harman survived a vicious attack by his ex-lover Tony. It severed their relationship and landed Tony in prison.<br><br>When Tony’s released from jail, Max’s nephew Jack fears the man may seek revenge on his uncle. Wanting to buy a gun for protection, he visits Deacon Young's shop. Deacon convinces him to bring Max by to do the same. Despite his misgivings, Max gets a gun for security, too.<br><br>When Jack’s fears prove to be correct and Tony starts to stalk Max, Deacon steps in to try to protect him. Can Max's growing interest in Deacon -- and vice versa -- survive Tony's escalating reign of terror?

Protecting Max

It was close to four in the afternoon when Max’s email server dinged to let him know he had mail. He opened it, expecting to find something from the client he’d sent specs to for their new ad campaign. Instead, there was an email from an address he didn’t know. All it said, in the subject line, was, I’m back-T. NT. Despite the NT, meaning ‘No text,’ Max opened it anyway. The message area was blank.


“And so it begins,” he said under his breath, his hands shaking as he saved the email in a new file he created, labeled ‘Tony.’ He knew, at that point, he wouldn’t be able to get any more work done so he shut down everything, turned the computers off, and went into the main part of the house, barely remembering to arm the alarm box for the office.


Chapter 13