Descrip­tions

Il avait promis de ne jamais me quitter. Mais lorsque j’ai eu le plus besoin de lui, c’est exactement ce qu’il a fait…

Le guide forestier, Xander Reed, a passé quinze ans à essayer d’oublier la nuit où il s’est tourné vers son meilleur ami aux heures les plus sombres de sa vie pour se rendre compte que le jeune homme qui avait juré de toujours être là pour lui, lui avait tourné le dos. Trois mille kilomètres et quinze années à reconstruire une nouvelle vie dans l’arrière-pays tranquille des montagnes Rocheuses auraient dû suffire à effacer à jamais de sa mémoire Bennett Crawford. Mais les vieilles blessures sont profondes et lorsque Bennett réapparaît brusquement dans sa vie comme membre d’une expédition guidée par Xander, les cicatrices qu’il croyait guéries depuis longtemps s’ouvrent à nouveau.

Tout ce que j’ai toujours voulu, c’est d’empêcher Alex d’être blessé à nouveau. Je n’ai jamais envisagé que celui dont il avait besoin d’être protégé, c’était moi…

Bennett Crawford a été confronté à un choix impossible la nuit où son meilleur ami a eu besoin de lui. Il a fait le mauvais choix. Fils unique d’une des familles les plus riches de la Nouvelle-Angleterre, il aurait dû avoir le monde à ses pieds, mais perdre son meilleur ami à l’âge de quatorze ans a tout changé. Et même si Bennett a réussi à se cacher derrière un masque de satisfaction alors qu’il prend place aux côtés de son père dans l’entreprise familiale, intérieurement il cherche le morceau de lui-même qui lui manque depuis que Xander Reed a quitté sa vie. Le seul point positif pour Bennett est son travail avec un groupe d’enfants de quartiers défavorisés, et lorsque la chance lui est donnée de montrer à ces adolescents troublés qu’il y a un monde plus vaste qui les attend s’ils ont le courage de chercher à l’atteindre, il la saisit.

Mais lorsqu’il descend de ce bus pour ce qui est supposé être une semaine d’amusements et d’aventures, il revient immédiatement dans le passé en découvrant que leur guide n’est autre que le garçon qu’il a laissé tomber si longtemps auparavant. Seulement, le petit garçon insouciant et au cœur tendre que Bennett a connu a disparu, et à sa place se trouve un homme sombre et amer qui n’est pas intéressé par une seconde chance.

He promised to never leave me. But when I needed him the most, that was exactly what he did…

Wilderness guide Xander Reed has spent fifteen years trying to forget the night he turned to his best friend in his darkest hour, only to find the young man who’d sworn to always have his back was turning his on Xander instead. Two thousand miles and fifteen years of building a new life in the quiet backcountry of the Rocky Mountains should have been enough to put the memory of Bennett Crawford out of his mind forever, but old wounds run deep and when Bennett suddenly reappears in his life as part of a wilderness expedition Xander is guiding, the scars he thought long healed break wide open.

I’d only ever wanted to protect Xander from getting hurt again. I never considered the one he needed protection from was me…

Bennett Crawford was faced with an impossible choice the night his best friend needed him.

He chose wrong.

As the only son of one of the wealthiest families in New England, he should have had the world at his feet, but losing his best friend at the tender age of fourteen changed everything. And even though Bennett’s managed to hide behind a mask of contentment as he takes his place at his father’s side in the family business, inside he’s searching for the piece of himself that’s been missing ever since Xander Reed walked out of his life. Bennett’s only saving grace is his work with a group of inner city kids, and when he’s given the chance to show the troubled teens that there’s a bigger world out there waiting for them if they just have the courage to reach for it, he takes it.

But when he steps off that bus for what was supposed to be a week of fun and adventure, he’s instantly returned to the past when he discovers their expedition guide is none other than the boy he let go so long ago. Only, the soft-hearted, insecure little boy Bennett once knew is gone, and in his place is a brooding, bitter man who isn’t interested in second chances.

People leave. I know that now and nothing Bennett has to say to me will change anything…

All Bennett wants is another chance to show Xander that friendship was only the beginning. But when a stubborn Xander refuses to even hear him out, Bennett realizes he’s going to need to fight dirty.

Because now that he’s found Xander again, he’s not letting him go a second time…

He promised to never leave me. But when I needed him the most, that was exactly what he did…

Wilderness guide Xander Reed has spent fifteen years trying to forget the night he turned to his best friend in his darkest hour, only to find the young man who’d sworn to always have his back was turning his on Xander instead. Two thousand miles and fifteen years of building a new life in the quiet backcountry of the Rocky Mountains should have been enough to put the memory of Bennett Crawford out of his mind forever, but old wounds run deep and when Bennett suddenly reappears in his life as part of a wilderness expedition Xander is guiding, the scars he thought long healed break wide open.

I’d only ever wanted to protect Xander from getting hurt again. I never considered the one he needed protection from was me…

Bennett Crawford was faced with an impossible choice the night his best friend needed him.

He chose wrong.

As the only son of one of the wealthiest families in New England, he should have had the world at his feet, but losing his best friend at the tender age of fourteen changed everything. And even though Bennett’s managed to hide behind a mask of contentment as he takes his place at his father’s side in the family business, inside he’s searching for the piece of himself that’s been missing ever since Xander Reed walked out of his life. Bennett’s only saving grace is his work with a group of inner city kids, and when he’s given the chance to show the troubled teens that there’s a bigger world out there waiting for them if they just have the courage to reach for it, he takes it.

But when he steps off that bus for what was supposed to be a week of fun and adventure, he’s instantly returned to the past when he discovers their expedition guide is none other than the boy he let go so long ago. Only, the soft-hearted, insecure little boy Bennett once knew is gone, and in his place is a brooding, bitter man who isn’t interested in second chances.

People leave. I know that now and nothing Bennett has to say to me will change anything…

All Bennett wants is another chance to show Xander that friendship was only the beginning. But when a stubborn Xander refuses to even hear him out, Bennett realizes he’s going to need to fight dirty.

Because now that he’s found Xander again, he’s not letting him go a second time…