Slater Highwater had his own reasons for coming home to Last Stand, Texas. And if anyone wants to know why a guy with a philosophy degree from an Ivy League school was now running the historic Last Stand Saloon, he has a stack of ready answers, none of which are the complete truth.

But Joey Douglas never asked that question. Perhaps because she and Slater are always carrying on conversations no one else can even keep up with. Or perhaps because she suspects she knows why he came home: her glamorous and calculating older sister had broken his heart.

That sister seems an insurmountable barrier between Joey and the man she’s longed for from the first time she’d ever seen him. Because Joey will never, ever settle for being a consolation prize, no matter how much she loves him.

The question is, can Slater convince her she’s the real love of his life?