When they were teenagers, Quinn MacGregor and Aaron Larsen fell in love over the course of one magical summer. It ended in bloodshed and tragedy. Now, ten years later, Quinn is back in Spruce Creek, Nevada, to inherit his family’s criminal cartel. His cousin Jimmy has been making friends -- and enemies -- in dangerous places, but that doesn’t mean he’s happy to hand over leadership to Quinn. And Jimmy might not be the only one who wants Quinn out of the way for good, especially if Quinn’s secret comes out. Aaron Larsen is back in Spruce Creek to sell his former family home. Aaron lost a leg in Afghanistan, and he’s drinking too much and battling depression and PTSD. The last thing he needs is for Quinn MacGregor to drop back into his miserable life. But when Quinn is shaken by the news that he left more behind in Spruce Creek than his bad memories, he turns to Aaron like it’s old times, and Aaron doesn’t know how to say no. The events of ten years ago cast a long shadow, and in a town where they can’t trust anyone else, Quinn and Aaron just might have to learn to trust each other again.

A Desperate Man

Then again, Aaron wasn’t sure he had any grounds to be angry at Brody’s attitude. It wasn’t Brody that Quinn MacGregor had blown last night.


“So, how’s the junkyard business going?” he asked to change the subject, and Brody beamed and began to tell him.


It was late and Brody had gone and Aaron had finished three beers on his own when he pushed the door to his parents’ bedroom open. He kept his eyes closed while he did it, and imagined it the way it had been before he and his mom had moved: the bed in the middle of the room, with the matching dressers on either side. The large armoire that had belonged to mom’s grandmother on the opposite wall, a mirror hanging beside it, and a bookshelf where Mom and Dad’s books had once jostled for space. Dad had loved classic sci-fi books, while Mom had loved historical novels. Aliens and heiresses had pushed up against one another on those shelves.


Chapter 28