After months away gathering recipes for his cookery book, Elliott Thornberg returns to Bear Creek expecting family dinners, familiar faces, and a chance to slip back into the life he left behind.
What he does not expect is Rachel — beautiful, guarded, and working at Thornberg Restaurant with her two adorable daughters never far from her side. Rachel already knows the Thornbergs are good men.
She has seen how fiercely they love, how loyally they show up, and how much family means to them. But Elliott has been gone too long for her to trust him with her heart.
She cannot let herself fall for a man who feels as though he belongs to the road, not when two little girls are depending on her to build something safe and steady.
Elliott may have left Bear Creek searching for inspiration, but the moment he sees Rachel, he knows his search is over.
Rachel is his mate, and the ready-made family beside her feels like the one his heart has been missing all along. Now all he has to do is prove he is not back for a visit.
He is finally coming home — and this time, he’s here to stay.
