Chris Hart owns the only grocery shop in Nortown, but he isn't exactly overrun by customers. Some days he wonders why he bothers to open the doors at all. Spending his days smiling at the few people trickling in and his nights alone in bed isn't the most interesting life a man could lead. But when Chris suddenly gets the excitement he's been craving, it may be more than he bargained for.<br><br>Gabriel Miller loves his life. He's close to his sister, has a job he adores and is the proud owner of one and a half cats. But all of it is taken away when he witnesses a murder. To keep him safe, the police place him in Nortown, of all possible locations.<br><br>Chris can't believe they're letting someone live in his gran's old cabin in the middle of the winter. It's too cold. When the poor man shows up in his shop looking to buy clothes, Chris's heart melts, despite the freezing temperature. Gabriel notices the way the shopkeeper looks at him, but it can't be right. No one looks at a heavyset man with heat in their eyes. Do they?

Pet Delivery

“See?” Chris smiled at the nurse, at least he, too, realised the importance of Andre coming along. Gabe smiled but shook his head as if Chris were crazy.


They were led into a small, white room where the nurse told Chris to sit on the examination table and wait.


The door didn’t have time to close before the doctor appeared—or maybe it had, because Gabe and Andre weren’t in the same place as when the nurse had left.


“Good evening, gentlemen.” The doctor sought out eye contact and nodded to each of them. He didn’t look like a doctor. Chris narrowed his eyes; could someone so young be a doctor?


“It’s okay.” The doctor smiled, but his eyes were fastened on Chris’s forehead. “I’m thirty-two.”


Chapter 31