The plan is simple: stay in Blue Falls, Texas, for a few months to lick my wounds, search for work, and save up money to move back to New York. Then breeze back into town with a great job and a new plan for my life, and show my ex and everyone else what I’m made of. Like the Punisher, but you know, without all the violence and eternal vengeance.

So when a silent giant of a man known only as Beast asks me to help him with dating of all things, the simple plan gets a little complicated. Everyone else in this town might fail to notice the intense, talented man beneath the wordless Hulk exterior, but before long, I’m sucked into his quiet world. His washboard abs and Captain America–worthy smiles don’t hurt, but it’s his heart that makes it impossible to stay away. He’s sacrificed his dreams to care for those closest to him. Yet my own dreams will push us apart if I can’t find a way to change the script.

I’m only a visitor in Blue Falls, and New York City is calling. If I’m ever going to be the superhero in my own story, I’ll have to give up the one person who makes me see that I’m worth the effort. I’ll have to give up my heart . . . unless I can convince Beast to leave his own behind.

Mary Frame