THE HOSTSHOT'S LAST CHANCE

He left Cedarville chasing greatness. He never once looked back.

Until now.

Declan Mercer had everything a man could want. A Major League contract. A Dodgers jersey with his name on the back. A life built exactly the way he planned it. What he did not have was Nora Callahan. And for twelve years he told himself that was fine.

Then a blown shoulder and a brutal recovery send him home to the last place on earth he wants to be. Back to the small town he outgrew. Back to the memories he buried. Back to the woman he never deserved.

Nora Callahan stopped waiting for Declan a long time ago. She built something real in his absence. A business. A life. A heart with walls thick enough to keep out anyone who might think about leaving again. She is not interested in his apologies. She is not interested in his smile. She is definitely not interested in the way he still looks at her like she is the only thing worth coming home to.

But when Declan's agent comes calling with a deal that requires a stable public image, and Nora's flower shop needs more than small town foot traffic to survive, they agree to something neither of them planned. A arrangement. A performance. Fake enough to satisfy the cameras and close enough to the truth to be dangerous.

The problem with pretending to love someone you never stopped loving is that the line disappears faster than either of you expects.

Declan knows he is on borrowed time. The shoulder will heal. The season will start. And the man who left once is standing in the middle of everything he walked away from, wondering if he has one last chance to get it right.

This time leaving is not an option.

This time everything is on the line.