Background:

Every town needs its own resident bad boy, and this hunky chef understands the assignment. Motorcycle, check. Leather jacket, check. A smirk that makes you feel torn between kissing him and slapping him? Check and check.

Jared has a reputation as an asshole to uphold. One moment he’ll be oozing charm, the next he’ll be implying your mother is a llama. With Jared, you just never quite know what to expect.

The only other person that Jared seems to genuinely care about (besides himself) is his little brother, Connor. Mess with Connor, and he'll rain hellfire down upon you.

Jared was only a kid when he witnessed his mother’s death. He tried to save her, but he couldn’t. Between the guilt and his alcoholic father’s abuse, no one can say that Jared ever had anything handed to him on a silver platter. At 18, he dropped out of high school, became Connor’s guardian, and moved to Sunset Valley where he got a job at the local diner. Nearly 8 years later, he’s the king of that greasy kitchen—or at least, that’s how he views himself.

But beneath that cool exterior and disarming charm lies something that Jared doesn’t want anyone to notice: a suffocating sense of shame.

After witnessing three different drownings—two of which were fatal, including his mom's—Jared genuinely believes that he is cursed. As a result, he refuses to ever step foot on the beach again. Which is a shame, because he lives right across the street from the ocean.

Will Jared ever solve the mystery of this so-called curse, if it even exists? And is there anyone in town who might be able to melt this ginger beefcake's icy armor and help him believe that he deserves love?