My Bonds Are Sealed. Sealed With a Kiss, #5

Life is hard. Admitting that you can't handle it alone is harder. Getting a call from my partner's stepdaughter, begging me to pick her up from her boyfriend's apartment in the middle of the night, scared the hell out of me. Finding out that she'd called me because his sorry ass refused to take her to the airport to go help her sister through a crisis? That just pissed me off. River had so much weight on her shoulders: caring for her sick mother, supporting her sister from a thousand miles away, and being a full-time college student.
The more I tried to shoulder some of her burdens, the harder I fell for her. And the harder I fell, the less I wanted her to see my own burdens, especially my fear of hurting her the same way I'd hurt the last woman I cared about. Would I ever be brave enough to tell her how I felt, or would the ghosts of my past rob me of the best thing that had ever happened to me?See author's website for a full list of content and trigger warnings.
Note: This is the fifth book in the Sealed With a Kiss series, and while it may be read as a standalone, it does contain some spoilers for Zoe and Elijah's story.