All it had taken was seeing Pepper one time, and I knew she’d change my world.
At thirty-two, the only positive I had in my life was taking over my father’s legacy in Sweetheart, Colorado. McKenzie Hardware was the center of my universe, but I wanted more. I was lonely, isolating myself from people at every turn.


But when I’d seen Pepper, something in me lit up. She was like the sun in my very dark world, and I wanted that light to wash over me forever.


I wanted her forever.


But I was over a decade older than her and hadn’t ever been in a relationship. What could I offer her aside from my own inexperience and a hardware store?


Despite the fact that I saw myself lacking, that she deserved better than me, I knew I had to find out more about her. I had to make her mine.


She was so much younger than me, innocent and fragile. She was soft and perfect to my hard and rough.


And she transfixed me, mesmerized me. I was infatuated.
It got to the point where I couldn’t stay away anymore. I couldn’t lie to myself that what I felt for her was just a passing curiosity.
It was more. She was more. I needed her to be mine.