Emerson Kane is a Deputy Sheriff in Appleton Falls. He moved to the small town from New York chasing something that did not quite end up how he hoped. He is a handsome, likable, and dependable guy who has worked hard to build his self-confidence and has found his place. 

Dominic Starr is also a transplant from the NY police department, but he is running from his past while also seeking someone else. And that someone is the guy from high school that he never forgot despite a lot of denial....Emerson. He is more of a prickly loner who loves riling Emerson up and making him think he dislikes him.

But now, working in the same department, they snark, fuss, and are generally antagonistic.  And they both are busy dating women and not finding what they really want. They both have a lot of unresolved thoughts and feelings about their past that they have just pushed down.  And now that they are starting to spend more time together, they are also beginning to form more of a companionship and more exploration. 

But the past does not always stay in the past. And even though they both tend to keep some things private and also try to protect the other, eventually they have to fully trust each other with some hard truths.  And it all becomes a convoluted and dangerous situation that they will have to navigate together to have a chance of getting out of it and figuring out a future.

I was totally invested in these two and the tension and suspense of their story. I really liked both of the heroes. Though they were not friends in the past, they had this connection that had not been forgotten and just began to grow once they began to let down their walls and communicate. 

This is an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers,  grumpy-sunshine, double bi-awakening, small town, secret crush, secret lovers, second chance romance with a hurt-comfort component and surrounded in intrigue and suspense. It brings back the characters from the first book,  and sets a bit of a teaser for the next book.