By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Jen Talty

Everyone needs a safe harbor to sail into.

In this gripping tale of mystery, suspense, and the power of love, Miles and Liberty will face unimaginable challenges and make sacrifices to bring justice to Lighthouse Cove.

Miles Kirby leads a double life. By day, he’s a skilled mechanic, fixing engines and tinkering with gadgets. But by night, he becomes a relentless private investigator, delving into the shadows to uncover the truth.

Living next door to Miles is Liberty Blue, a young woman burdened with caring for her younger brother, who is on the autism spectrum. Their lives intersect unexpectedly when Liberty’s brother mysteriously vanishes without a trace.

Driven by compassion and a sense of duty, Miles takes it upon himself to find Liberty’s missing brother. As he dives deeper into the investigation, he uncovers a web of secrets and dangerous connections that threaten to unravel the very fabric of Lighthouse Cove.

As the stakes rise and danger lurks at every turn, Miles and Liberty must confront their fears and face the truth that sometimes, the ones we trust the most may be hiding the darkest secrets. In a race against the clock, they must rely on their wits, resilience, and the unexpected bond that forms between them.

This book opens with Miles attending his brother Emmerson’s wedding to Rumor. Once again, he’s without a date, but that’s typical for him at family events. As the bride and groom cut the cake, he’s ready to get away from the crowd and relax.

Meanwhile, Liberty Blue, Mile’s neighbor, is having a confrontation with her ex-husband Charlie. She moved to Lighthouse Cove with her brother to start over and now he’s here and unannounced. Gabriel sees Charlie when he comes inside to tell Liberty that Miles is here. He’s surprised because usually Charlie lets them know he’s coming over.

Charlie has often used her brother Gabriel to manipulate her, and today, it seemed he was going to try the same tactics. First by inviting Gabriel for a ride in his new car.

While they’re gone Miles and Liberty discuss her issue, and he offers her a solution, one that isn’t ideal but one she needs to take. Her concern is Gabriel. He’s twenty-two and on the autism spectrum, he handles learning and emotions differently. He works for Miles who has figured out how he learns best and he’s taking to working on cars well, dealing with customers not so much.

They have dinner together and afterwards Liberty tells Gabriel she’s told Charlie not to come around or contact them anymore. When he storms from the table, Miles asks her to let him handle it.

This is a favorite scene.

Liberty jumped to her feet and lunged forward. “Gabriel. Come back here.”

Miles stepped in front of her, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. “Let me go.”

“You don’t know how to handle him when he gets like this.” She glared.

“Let me try.”

“He’s my little brother and he’s… fine, but if he’s self-harming, you have to promise to get me.”

“I will.” Miles squeezed her shoulder before leaning in and kissing her cheek, letting his lips linger longer than he should have, but he wanted her to know he was on her side as much as he was Gabriel’s. He turned and made his way outside where he found Gabriel pacing across the front yard, tugging at his hair and calling himself names.

Damn, that broke his heart.

“Gabriel. Come sit with me.” Miles took a seat on the last two steps of the porch.

“I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About it.” Gabriel gave his head a good pound.

Shit. “I don’t either,” Miles said. “And I’m not asking you to tell me anything. Just to come take a load off.”

“Okay.” Gabriel kicked the grass before stomping over, at least with his hands at his sides.

With a big huff, he fell back on the steps. “She treats me like a baby. I’m not a child. I’m a man.”

“That you are.” Miles leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “But are you angry because of how she talked to you or that she told Charlie not to come around anymore?”

“Both,” Gabriel whispered in a small, childlike voice. “But I still don’t want to talk about it.”

“I can’t force you to do that.” Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “However, I’d like to give you some advice.”

“What’s that?” “I think you should tell your sister that it bothers you when she babies you like that. Let her know that you understand she’s only trying to protect your reactions, but that how she’s doing it makes it worse. That you’d rather she just tell you.”

“It makes me so angry. I get I’m different, but she knows how to really make me feel that way.”

“She loves you and only wants what’s best for you.” Miles gave Gabriel a little punch in the arm. “You know, sometimes when we’re different from others, the people who love us the most, in an attempt to protect us or make things easier for us or even to teach us the hard lessons in life, they do the dumbest things. Trust me, I know a little about that.”

“You’re not different. You’re cool.”

Miles burst out laughing. “I’m glad you think so, but growing up, I wasn’t. I was the dumb kid. The one who all the other kids picked on.” He tapped his temple. “Because I don’t process information the way everyone else does.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“I have a couple learning disabilities that made school incredibly difficult. I had to repeat second grade, putting me in the same grade as my younger brother, Jameson. But it got worse. I flunked most of my classes my junior year and that meant I wasn’t going to graduate with Jameson. Not only wasn’t I down with that, but neither was my mother. Her approach was forcing me into summer school and tutors and drilling it into my head that I was going to be a big fat loser if I didn’t get my shit together.”

“Your mother said that to you?”

Miles cringed at the memory of the words his mom actually used. Twenty-odd years later, his mother looked at him very differently. And his learning disabilities. But back then, she honestly believed someone could wave a magic wand and they’d vanish. If it hadn’t been for Nathan, Seth, and his dad, he’d surely have been a bum. They had been the ones to sit their mom down and get her to agree to let him go to trade school. Becoming a grease monkey had been the best thing that had ever happened to him because it had given him purpose.

He became good at something other than being the dumb kid.

“Pretty much,” Miles said. “Honestly, my mom did mean well, even if it was misguided. She wanted me to be successful in life.”

“But you own your own business.”

Jesus, Gabriel was good for his ego.

“I do. However, it took me a long while to get there between the pressure my mom put on me and the fact I struggled with the way I learn. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it’s still not.”

Gabriel started rocking.

“You’re not understanding, are you?”

He shook his head.

“Can you do me a favor and take in a few deep breaths? That always helps me relax.”

Gabriel did as Miles asked. The rocking slowed, but it didn’t go away.

Progress, that’s all Miles could ask for. “You know how you sometimes process emotions differently than your sister. Or me?”

Gabriel nodded.

“Well, it’s like that for me with information. I struggle with reading. I’m dyslexic, among other things.”

“I’ve never heard of that before.”

“It’s a big word to describe someone who sees words on the page different from everyone else. It’s so bad for me, that it’s easier for me to listen to a book. Or to learn by doing something rather than have to try to read it. My mother always believed that in time, I’d simply overcome it.”

“Haven’t you?” Gabriel glanced up.

“Nope. Letters and numbers are still all jumbled on the page. It’s why I almost never deal with the money at the shop and why Trinity has to run the business side of things. It’s why I never became a cop like my brothers because I would have never been able to pass the entrance exam. Add that to something called ADD and what a psychologist would describe as generalized social anxiety, I was lucky to go to trade school and learn how to tinker with cars.”

“But you’re so good at doing that. The best. And you’re good with people.” Gabriel blinked his big blue eyes. “You’re so smart when it comes to all that.”

“I had some good teachers who understood that I didn’t process information the same way. But people. Not so much. I do well with one-on-one situations, but I hate crowds. Despise them,” Miles said. “Your sister totally gets you and how you deal with emotions. I get that she doesn’t always go about talking to you the right way, but cut her a little slack when it comes to Charlie. While she might not want him in her life and you need to respect that, she doesn’t want to hurt you in the process.”

“That does make sense.” Gabriel sighed. “I’m tired. Do you mind if I go to bed now?”

“Not at all. I’ll see you first thing in the morning for work.” Miles held out his fist.

Gabriel pounded it.

Miles leaned back on his elbows and let out a long breath. While he got Gabriel to understand his sister meant well and that maybe a conversation might be in order, Miles still had no idea what had upset the man in the first place.

And it wasn’t being spoken to like a child because it wasn’t that bad. Not to mention that it was all in the tone because of his emotions. Change the tone, and he wouldn’t feel like he was being treated differently.

But that was all beside the point.

Charlie had put Gabriel between a rock and a hard place and that was what had gotten Gabriel upset.

The floorboards rattled under his ass. He turned his head. “Hey,” he said, staring at Liberty’s sexy legs as she made her way down the steps.

He’d been instantly attracted to her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her two months ago. Lots of women turned his head, but not like Liberty and that was odd. He never went for women who had baggage and he could tell just by looking at her that she carried a few suitcases full.

For an entire month, he admired her from a distance while he got to know Gabriel. He sort of felt like a shithead for doing that. But then in walked her asshole ex-husband, reminding him of why he didn’t do women with a checkered past.

Only, he couldn’t keep his distance if he tried.

And he hadn’t tried all that much.

“I owe you an apology.” Liberty stretched out her legs.

“For what?”

“Eavesdropping.” She smiled sheepishly.

He shook his head. “Didn’t trust that I could calm him down?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ve told you about every issue he’s had at work.” Slowly, he rose. “I said I wouldn’t meddle. But fuck it. You’ve got to stop treating him like a child.” He held up his hand. “Stop coddling him. He’s been dealing with who he is for as long as you have. He’s got some coping skills. Let him use them and when he’s off the deep end, redirect.”

“He’s my brother.” She raised her hands and slapped them on her legs. “I love him and I watched him cry for months after our parents abandoned him. And again after I told him Charlie and I were getting divorced. I hate hurting him this way. So excuse me if I want to ease that pain for him and absorb it on myself.” She let out a long breath. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you. I wouldn’t be sending him off to work with you if I didn’t. There’s an adult program one town over that deals with adults on the low end of the spectrum, but I know he’s higher functioning than that and I didn’t want to do that to him. It’s what Charlie’s family did and honestly, Gabriel hated it.”

“Then why did you listen in on a private conversation?” Miles cocked his head.

“It started off as simply watching, but I became fascinated by how quickly you got Gabriel to sit with you. Not many people can do that. And then there was the conversation.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I have to know. Was all that stuff true?”

“Jesus. You honestly think I’d make that up?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Don’t answer that. It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll see Gabriel at six for breakfast since I know you have the early shift.” He spun on his heel and strolled across the yards to his home. He no longer had the bandwidth to deal with her, or his attraction to her, a second longer.
Jen Talty. Mine to Love – Jen Talty (Kindle Locations 591-673). Kindle Edition.

Charlie doesn’t like taking no for an answer and Liberty does get the police involved when he shows up at Mile’s garage to see Gabriel.

Miles and his brother investigate more into Charlie and his family finding interesting information.

The relationship between Liberty and Miles also heats up in spite of her initial resistance.

There’s love, romance, family and sizzle in this book as the mystery surrounding Charlie’s relentless pursuit of Liberty come unraveled.

I also love the way this book educates us on the levels of autism and dyslexia. The subject is handled with grace, care and a place of love.

I will miss these characters as this is the last book in the series, but I can’t wait to see what Jen has in store for us next!

5 Contented Purrs for Jen!

Jen Talty

Welcome to my World! I’m a USA Today Bestseller of Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, and Paranormal Romance.

I first started writing while carting my kids to one hockey rink after the other, averaging 170 games per year between 3 kids in 2 countries and 5 states. My first book, IN TWO WEEKS was originally published in 2007. In 2010 I helped form a publishing company (Cool Gus Publishing) with NY Times Bestselling Author Bob Mayer where I ran the technical side of the business through 2016.

I’m currently enjoying the next phase of my life…the empty NESTER! My husband and I spend our winters in Jupiter, Florida and our summers in Rochester, NY. We have three amazing children who have all gone off to carve out their places in the world, while I continue to craft stories that I hope will make you readers feel good and put a smile on your face.