[Kinley Island 02] • Break Free

Caleb :

Nobody’s better at being alone than me. I’ve perfected the art of isolation: I go to work at Luna’s Diner, come home, and I definitely don’t go on dates anymore.

But then Beck walked into my diner looking like the textbook definition of a hot, single dad--tall, bearded, and the kindest eyes this side of the Rockies.

And I let my guard down for the first time in years.

He’s straight, but soon he wants to keep me close. In-bed-together close. I’d forgotten just how good it could feel. But I have no room in my life for a crush, let alone a relationship. My past broke me into pieces, and I’m only now starting to pick them back up.

I’m not going to let myself fall for him.

Even though he’s the first person I’ve been comfortable with in years.

Even though he wants me, too, on lonely nights.

Even though his touch makes me ache.

Beck :

Since moving to Kinley Island, I’ve been living like a shadow. I’m divorced and single for the first time in fifteen years, and my days have been as drab and routine as the rainy weather outside.

And then one late night at my regular diner, everything changed. The mysterious, tattooed man behind the counter opened up to me--flirted with me--and I flirted back. I’ve never been into men, but I can’t keep my eyes off Caleb--he’s beautiful, intense, and broken, and now I feel a desperate urge to fix him.

But I also just got a phone call I never expected: my sixteen-year-old daughter is coming to stay with me for the summer. After living like a bachelor all year, I have no clue how to be a single parent. Caleb offers to help me, and of course I say yes.

But now I’m starting to feel addicted to him.

His body. His lips. His touch.

Is it possible to like a friend too much?