Tracker Hero: a Western Small Town Romance

When K9 search and rescue handler Gavin Hawkins rescues botanist Avery Delaney from a remote mountain location, he never expects to find his own salvation. Forced to spend the summer mapping alpine plant species together, these two broken souls can't deny their sizzling chemistry. But with his guilt over a failed rescue and her crippling fear of the wilderness, loving each other might be the biggest risk they've ever taken.

GAVIN

I'm a search and rescue specialist who's better with my German Shepherd than with people—especially after I couldn't save someone who mattered. Scout and I handle the rescues, then disappear back to our cabin. That's how it works. That's how it has to work. Until Avery. With her clipboard full of plant classifications and eyes that see right through my walls, she's making me want things I swore I'd never risk again.

The way she bites her lip when she's concentrating makes my whole body burn. But letting myself fall for a woman who freezes at the sound of rustling leaves is asking for heartbreak—for both of us. And yet, every time she reaches for my hand on the trail, I'm the one who feels rescued.

AVERY

I'm a botanist who catalogs and classifies things because science makes sense when nothing else does. Getting lost in these mountains as a child nearly broke me, but this research project is my chance to reclaim control. Just smile, hide the panic attacks, and definitely don't admit to the ridiculously hot mountain man with the rescue dog that sometimes I can barely breathe when trees close in around me.

His strong hands steadying me on a steep path shouldn't make me want to climb him instead of the mountain. But Gavin's touch is the only thing that quiets the fear, and for the first time, I'm more afraid of not being found than of getting lost—especially when the storm that might tear us apart is the one brewing inside us both.