She'd sworn off love. He'd sworn off staying. But sometimes forever begins with a second chance.

Amy Hayes has spent five years rebuilding her life after her ex-husband abandoned her for someone "less complicated". Now a successful caterer and fierce single mom to teenagers Jake and Lily, she's constructed walls so high that no one could possibly scale them. She doesn't need a man-she needs to protect her heart and her kids from ever being hurt again.

Daniel Cooper returned to Hatteras Bay because he had nowhere else to go. After twelve years as a Navy SEAL and two years drifting aimlessly following a medical discharge, he's managing his family's marina and trying to figure out who he is outside the uniform. The last thing he's looking for is a relationship-especially not with a woman who comes with two wary teenagers and enough emotional baggage to sink a battleship.

But from their first kitchen encounter at a family party, Daniel and Amy can't deny the pull between them. He sees past her defences to the strong, passionate woman underneath. She sees past his restlessness to a man searching for a place to belong.

As Daniel becomes part of Amy's life, he faces challenges he never trained for: winning over a fourteen-year-old boy who's given up on father figures, navigating a thirteen-year-old's anxiety and need for control, and proving to Amy that not all men run when things get complicated.

When Amy's manipulative ex-husband threatens custody and Daniel's old life calls him back, they must both decide: Can Amy risk her heart again? Can Daniel choose permanence over freedom? And can two broken people build something whole?

In this emotional third instalment of the Hatteras Bay Romance Series, discover that sometimes the family you choose is stronger than the one you're born into-and that home isn't a place, but the people who choose to stay.