From USA Today bestselling author Laura Pavlov comes a heartwarming tale of found family, healing old wounds, and a slow-burn romance set against Alaska’s glittering, icy backdrop.

My new landlord is impossible… impossibly strict, impossibly stubborn—and impossibly attractive.
And staying away from him? Not happening.

Charlie Huxley is known as the most skilled—and the most short-tempered—contractor in the small town of Blushing, Alaska. He’s the one who built the event venue where my best friend and I run our wedding-planning business. After I accidentally flood my house, Charlie insists I stay in his guesthouse while he fixes the damage. But the more he takes over, the more I feel myself giving in.

One night of giving in turns into something neither of us can walk away from. We both know once could never be enough.

We’re two people carrying our own heavy histories.
I’ve dealt with a father who disappeared, a mother who drinks too much, and a sister I barely speak to.
He survived a childhood in foster care and now raises a daughter on his own—a daughter whose mother shows up only once a year.

And yet… with Charlie, I finally feel like I fit somewhere. For the first time in my life, I can see what a real family might look like.

But before I leap, I need to learn how to protect my heart.
The real question is… am I strong enough to do it?