Always be prepared, that was Axel Steele's motto. While his brothers were throwing down at the local bar, Ax was the guy in the background devising the getaway plan. Dubbed "the smart one," the former special-ops Marine believed in structure and routine, a way of life the universe seemed hellbent on challenging. Amidst a firestorm of family drama, Ax finds a woman held captive in the middle of the woods, and in desperate need of his help. With an armful of tattoos as colorful as her attitude, his new client is his antithesis-a free-spirited, spontaneous hippie that tests every bit of his patience... and his self-restraint. Erika Zajac has been living life on her own terms since she was just sixteen. But her gypsy lifestyle came to a screeching halt when the horrific past she'd tried so hard to bury came back in the form of chains and cuffs. Suddenly, Erika finds herself under the security-and scrutiny-of a temperamental bodyguard with the emotional capacity of a rock, and six-pack to match. But no amount of brains or brawn was going to distract her from her goal, or the secrets she'd kill to keep. Deceit, lies, wrath. Ax's client had them all. The only question was, which of Erika's deadly sins would she choose? Revenge... or him?