Growing up the youngest in a tribe of strong alpha males, Noah Soul always felt he had something to prove. His life had been one testosterone laden struggle from the start. His entire existence had been one big game of catch up. Becoming something of a local legend as a firefighter hero who took brave chances didn't make a dent in his competitive spirit. What he didn't understand was that the only rival that really existed was himself. Never a real member of the Southern or any other particular style of life, Joy Carpenter led a chaotic and nomadic childhood, an innocent bystander to the train wreck of her mother's serial and abusive trio of marriages. By the time Dad number three came on the scene, Joy was a pudgy high school kid whose biggest goal in life was to stay invisible. All that changed when she went to college, dumped academia and found her calling as an EMT. When Joy meets Noah it's on equal ground as a first responder in the town of his birth. It's a place Joy hadn't planned on revisiting, ever. As circumstance and opportunity throw the pair together Joy realizes that Noah is not simply an arrogant alpha hell-bent on saving anyone but himself. He's also her chance to fill an empty place inside her that no amount of professional success can satisfy.