Who says you never get a second chance at your first love?Dr. Avery Brown is a skeptic by nature. It's a good trait for a scientist, but when it comes to relationships? It can complicate things. Not that it really matters. She's too busy revolutionizing forensic science to deal with emotional entanglements, anyway. But when her breakthrough puts her in the crosshairs of a killer, she has no choice but to accept help from the only man who ever managed to worm his way into her cynical heart-and shattered it in the process.Sergeant Gareth Wayland never got over Avery. She was his first love, his best friend. Letting her go was the hardest thing he'd ever done, and staying away when she returned to their small hometown proved nearly impossible. So when she needs his protection, he doesn't hesitate. He'll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. But he's seen how badly things can go wrong when cops blur professional lines, and he won't take chances with her life-even if it means pushing Avery away when all he really wants to do is hold her close. Can Gareth and Avery trust each other-and love-enough to get a second chance at happily ever after? Can he keep her alive long enough to even try?