"Jones?"

I almost thought I had made it up when I heard him call out my name. But when he repeated it for a second time, I knew I wasn't hallucinating. No one had called me Jones in over ten years and only one person had ever called me that in my lifetime.

It couldn't be him, could it?

I turned my head to follow the voice and the air got caught in my throat when I saw him.

Standing a few feet away from me was Camden Johnson. Professional football player, recent trade to the local pro team, and the boy I grew up with. Not just the boy I grew up with, but the boy who I had loved since I was in seventh grade.

I looked at him without saying anything, taking in everything that he was now.

Tall, built, undeniably hot.

His face was the same as the last time I looked at it, except older and more mature. He had stubble along his strongly formed jaw and his hair was longer than he normally kept it when we grew up together. His eyes pierced straight through every logical thought I was trying to form.

Deep emerald and perfectly fit for his face, exactly as I remembered them.

The eyes I looked for every day on the playground, the cafeteria, in the hallway, and that night during our freshman year in college.

I had walked away from him ten years ago and vowed to move on with my life.

But almost eighteen years later here he is again, staring back at me as I try to survive the hardest loss of my life.

I would be smart this time.

I would protect my heart this time.

I wouldn't fall for him again.

I would keep him at a distance in order to protect my heart for good this time.

Forever and always.

IMPORTANT CONTENT WARNINGS:

This book does contain a potentially sensitive theme of sudden spousal loss, grief, and anxiety. Please keep this in mind before ordering or reading this story.