Anvil's Awakening. Badlands Brotherhood MC, #17

She inherited a legacy. He'll destroy anyone who tries to take it. Sloane Prescott poured seven years into Prescott Books-her grandmother's store, her sanctuary, her whole heart. Three thousand square feet of rare editions and first printings, proof that she could build something that lasted. She's not about to let some money launderer with deep pockets and dangerous friends take that from her. But when she refuses to hand over evidence she never meant to find, the pressure turns deadly. Dean "Anvil" Harlow lost his father's forge to corruption and spent years believing he'd never get to keep anything worth having.
Now he's the Brotherhood's blacksmith, turning steel into weapons and patience into violence. He never expected to find something worth protecting in a bookstore full of dusty paperbacks. Then he saw her reach for a baseball bat to fight four armed men. When enforcers corner her after hours, Anvil does what comes naturally: puts bodies on the ground and takes what's his. Now she's under his protection, mapping a criminal empire with ledgers and determination while the explosive attraction between them becomes impossible to ignore. But the man who wants those records won't stop until he buries everyone who's seen them-or until the Brotherhood puts him in the ground first. In the Badlands, you protect what's yours. And Sloane Prescott was his from the moment he saw her refuse to bend. ANVIL'S AWAKENING is a standalone MC romance with a patient hero who's learning to stay, a fierce heroine with serious backbone, and a guaranteed HEA.
This is Book 17 in the Badlands Brotherhood MC series.