$5
He came to the South to escape the noise. She was just trying to survive the quiet.
Maya Jones has spent the last ten years hiding in plain sight. A tough-as-nails mechanic working alongside her fiercely protective adoptive Father in Savannah, Georgia, she prefers the predictable grease and grit of engines to the toxic, corrupt high society that shattered her past. She has built impenetrable walls to keep herself safe—until a chaotic encounter involving a CEO came in search for peace, puts her directly in the path of a man who doesn't know how to take no for an answer.
Sebastian Wicker commands boardrooms and billions. As the ruthless, untouchable CEO of a Wall Street empire, he is used to a fast-paced world of hostile takeovers and calculating predators. Seeking a rare month of peace, he retreats to the sleepy Southern coast, only to find himself fiercely captivated by a sharp-tongued, fiercely independent mechanic who refuses to be intimidated by his wealth.
When the ghosts of Maya’s past resurface—led by the powerful, elitist family that once ruined her life and the ex-boyfriend who abandoned her—Sebastian offers a dangerous proposition: a fake relationship to serve as the ultimate shield.
But what starts as a temporary arrangement to humiliate a bully quickly ignites into an undeniable, consuming passion. As old secrets threaten to destroy everything Maya has rebuilt, Sebastian is forced to show Savannah's elite exactly what a real predator looks like. Protecting her, however, means stepping directly into the crosshairs, and the cost of Maya's freedom might be more than either of them ever bargained for.
A masterful blend of heart-stopping suspense and fierce, protective romance from award-winning author Houa Lor, this is a story about the scars we carry, the battles we fight, and the terrifying beauty of finally letting someone else hold the shield.