Teacher Laurel Tanner couldn't stop hearing her ex-husband's words. And then she met Cort Morente. The injured, brooding detective was the hottest hunk in her new hometown. And when Laurel and Cort worked together to help Tommy, a troubled boy at school, they did the impossible--they began to fall in love!

But her husband's hateful words still haunted her. Laurel could never tell Cort the secret she'd kept buried deep inside. She was convinced it was the real reason her husband had left. The real reason she could never be the woman Cort needed.

Even though his eyes and his lips were telling her otherwise…