My name is Rob Winters, aka, Jackass. Even to my closest friends.

I wasn’t always so arrogant and condescending. It only took one night to change me—one point twenty-seven seconds, to be exact.

When tragedy struck, I promised myself, no matter what, unbreakable chains would lock my heart. If one veers too close or digs too deep, the cruel and mean bastard many hate is unleashed. My plan has succeeded for the past seven years. I’ve driven away a girlfriend and killed a few friendships along the way.

Then, just when the chains loosen around my heart, she walks into my life—or worse, the room next door. She strolls into my house with her bouncy brown curls and banging body, slithering herself through the smallest opening and making me crave the one thing I’ve denied myself these past years.

Her smell, her eyes, and her caring nature are everything I’m not worthy of enjoying. How long do I have to struggle with the demons that haunt me every night before the torture ends? Forever, I remind myself, but the links protecting my heart break each time Paige Kensington enters the room.