Who leaves their girlfriend in the woods after a fight? My now ex-boyfriend, that’s who. One fight—okay, a big fight—because I found out he was cheating on me while we were camping, and poof! He left me in the woods. So, I start walking to town, only I end up at the river, where I meet Axel. This guy is huge. With a storm rolling in, I don’t have much choice but to trust him and take shelter in his cabin, since I’ve been walking for hours away from town. Several days of rain wash out the road and it looks like I’m stuck here with my giant.

No cowboy ever expects to find a woman hiding in their barn. Much less one that is as beautiful as Riley, even with the bruises. I vow to protect her, from whatever she is running from. I will protect her from everything... everything but me.

I never planned to give my V-card to a gorgeous stranger I met at a bar. But for once I didn't let myself overthink things. In the few hours we spent together, he managed to push me outside my comfort zone. And I loved every second. I never expected to see him again. Let alone sitting at the head of the boardroom table during my architectural firm's pitch to design his new hotel chain.

Look, I've had it bad for the girl with all the curves next door forever. She turned me down in high school and since I'm not a total douchecanoe, I lusted after her all by myself in my shower, and we stayed just friends for years. Now she's the adorkable librarian next door, and I'm the star quarterback of the best pro football team in the league. So when she asks me to be her fake date to her all-girls school reunion, I am totally down to show her off to the mean girls who bullied her back then so they can see just how incredible she is.

My alpha ordered me to keep away from humans. My wolf is highly unstable. Nearly feral. I can’t be trusted around civilians. Certainly not with the lovely kindergarten teacher whose scent drives me wild. But she needs a fake boyfriend for a weekend wedding trip. A big guy to intimidate her ex. How can I refuse? I won’t be directly disobeying an order, because it won’t be a real date. It will be a nice clean mission. We’ll have separate rooms. I’ll keep my wolf on a tight leash. And no matter how much I want to, I will not mark and claim the sweet human as mine.