Her Wounded Protector

He's spent fourteen years carrying a pressed daisy. She's spent them wondering why he never said a word.

When Rayla moved back to Piper Falls she swore it would be a fresh start—a fixer upper, a new job at the hospital, and her seven-year-old finally out of the shadow of her abusive ex-husband’s shadow.

She didn’t plan on the kitchen catching fire her first night cooking. Nor did she plan on her childhood best friend to be the paramedic coming to her help.

Donomie had the words ready—had loved Rayla since the day she looped a daisy chain around his neck when they were kids. He was supposed to tell her at graduation. Then the star wide receiver kissed her temple like she was already his, and Don swallowed the speech whole.

They both left town after high school, and they both have returned changed. Him carrying a diagnosis, a dead best friend, and one pressed daisy he never could let go of. Her escaping an abusive marriage with a divorce and a little girl who is just like her.

One dinner delivery and movie at a time, fourteen years almost fall away. But Don’s demons don’t stay buried, and Rayla’s golden-boy ex won’t go down without a fight.

Donomie has spent his whole life pulling people out of fires. Can he learn that this time the rescue is about staying?

Her Wounded Protector is a small-town, childhood-friends-to-lovers, second-chance romance featuring an ex-military firefighter hero, a nurse heroine who fights her own battles, and a seven-year-old matchmaker. Part of the Piper Falls shared world; reads as a complete standalone with an HEA.