I thought I could do this. I thought I could leave the war behind.

I was wrong. I can’t do this. I can’t go to class and pretend like everything is normal. That I’m normal. I’m not. I’ve lost everything that matters to me. But I made a promise.

And if I’m going to keep that promise, I have to focus. I have to pretend that I belong on this southern campus that drips with old money.

And I have to pass stats. That’s where Beth comes in.

I’m terrified she’ll see through me. That the careful lies and easy smile won’t be enough to convince her that everything is fine.

That she’ll see how broken I really am.

But there’s something about her that draws me closer. A sadness in her eyes that am powerless to resist.

I should walk away. Protect her from the broken, darkness in me.

Before we both fall into something neither of us can control

Stay focused. Get a job. Save her father’s life.

Beth Lamont knows far too much about the harsh realities of life her gilded classmates have only read about in class. She’ll do whatever it takes to take care of her father, even if that means tutoring a guy like Noah - a guy who represents everything she hates about the war, soldiers and what the Army has done to her family.

Noah Warren doesn’t know how to be a student. All he knows is war. But he’s going to college now to fulfill a promise and he doesn’t break his promises. Except he doesn’t count on his tutor being drop dead gorgeous and distracting as hell. One look at Beth threatens to unravel the careful lies Noah has constructed around him.

A simple arrangement turns into something neither of them can deny. And a war that neither of them can forget could destroy them both.