Emma Swan is a dedicated FBI agent getting over a bad breakup. When she and her
partner, Ruby Lucas, are forced to go undercover as contestants on a reality show, Emma
is forced to try and win the affections of Killian Jones, a man she despises.
Killian Jones is a lost boy. Having recently been nicknamed the ‘Bad Boy of Boston,’ he’s
been living up to his moniker using women and rum to avoid dealing with his dark past.
When he’s forced to take the lead in a reality show, he encounters a gorgeous blonde who
turns his world upside down.
The first thing Killian did when he got back to the cottage was take a long shower. While the
grime brought back from a night in the woods held its own discomforts, it was the smell that he
was most concerned with. The woods had left him with a musty fauna scent, and he still had a hint
of Tink’s perfume.
Lingering under the spray, he turned up the water as hot as he could stand it, letting the water
wash over him until it began to run cold. He wrapped a towel around his waist as he exited the
shower and made his way to the bathroom sink and mirror.
Wiping the mirror with a spare towel to remove the layer of fog that had built up, he took a
moment to examine his reflection. The exhaustion he had felt over the last few weeks was finally
starting to show. Dark circles filled in the bags hanging under his eyes, and he felt as though he
had lost some of his devilishly handsome glow. He wandered into the bedroom and flopped down
on the mattress, in desperate need of a nap.
As Killian waited for fatigue to overtake his body, his mind began to race. He forced himself to
remember that he was roughly a quarter of the way through filming and that he just needed to
hang on for six more weeks. Then he’d be free again, spending his days and nights how he
wanted.
He was just about to relax into the sheets and let his exhaustion finally overtake him when a new
thought entered his mind. How did he want to spend the rest of his life? As much as he disliked
the thought of having his day-to-day schedule decided by nameless reality show producers and
publicity personnel, he honestly wasn’t looking forward to returning to his empty apartment in
Boston either. Drinking and random sexual encounters had lost their appeal.
Images of flaxen hair rushed through his mind.
He squeezed his eyes shut to dispel the thought. That was crazy. He barely knew her, and
although there was a kinship that was undeniable, he couldn’t possibly be falling for her. Could
he?