Jakob Hope Burns — Jessica McBrayer

An enchanting woman with a painful secret.A hockey player who lost more than he realized when she got away.The broken boy that just needs to know what safe means.When Jakob Baumgartner met Anja Christensen at her big brother's wedding, he had no idea that their love affair would be over so quickly… or that he would be left with so many questions. Burying his pain in drinking and puck bunnies seems like the only way he can tolerate his existence since Anja ripped his very heart from inside him. After a scandalous photo of him makes headlines and threatens his career, he's convinced it can't get any worse… until the Heat's new PR manager walks in with her familiar perfume.Anja is devastated to learn how Jakob has behaved since they've been apart. She knew that returning to Savannah would be difficult, but this was starting out worse than she could have imagined. If Jakob is hurting this badly now, how much more would he hurt if he knew the truth about why she'd ended things between them?Mentoring an at-risk child helps Jakob to feel more human than he's felt since Anja left him. As he works hard to earn Luke's trust, he soon realizes that Luke is in far greater danger than he's allowed anyone to know. Now, saving this lonely boy is the only thing that matters to Jakob, but he can't do it alone.Can Anja overcome her fears and tell Jakob the truth about why she shut him out in time to save young Luke?