She came to honor her brother’s memory. She didn’t expect to fall for the man who couldn’t save him.

After years of grief, Raemy Miller is finally ready to face the one man who truly knew her brother—the brooding ex-Marine he’d admired above all others. She finds him running a sleepy little diner on the foggy Oregon coast, hiding from a past he can’t forget and a guilt he refuses to let go.

Noah Kendrick doesn’t do light. He does control. Silence. Discipline. And penance.
But Raemy? She’s sunshine and chaos, stubborn hope wrapped in soft curves and sharper edges than he expected.

She says he doesn’t owe her anything.
She laughs at the guilt that’s been dragging him down for years.
She challenges every wall he’s built—and doesn’t flinch when he kisses her just to shut her up.

He never meant to want her. Never meant to need her.

But with every scorching kiss and every stolen moment, Noah starts to believe she might be the one person who can handle all his dark—and still choose him anyway.

He doesn’t believe in redemption.
She won’t settle for anything less than forever.

Fans of tortured heroes, emotional slow burns, and toe-curling steam—this one’s for you.