Description: 

♣️ Book 3 in the Operation Checkmate series - a part of Susan Stoker's Special Forces: Operation Alpha world ♣️  

Terrified of patterns repeating, Xavier “Bear” Dermot, has sworn off relationships for life. He never wants to risk his temper revealing he’s just like his father – a wife beater and convicted murderer. Everything in the SEAL rebels at the thought, and so he’s kept women at a distance, satisfying his baser urges with a quick fling here and there.   

Police officer Eloise Mason always thought she would find someone to settle down with someday, until fate decided otherwise. Knowing no man would ever settle for the little she can offer, she’s kept her heart whole by convincing herself single-by-choice is the way she always envisioned her life turning out.   

After the hottest one-night-stand of their lives, Bear and Eloise go their separate ways, both determined to remain committed to solitude. Thrown together by circumstance, their undeniable chemistry leads to a friends-with-benefits arrangement that suits both of them just fine… until it doesn’t.   

Are Bear and Eloise destined to forever keep love at a distance, or will they risk baring their darkest secrets to each other for the chance at their happily ever after?  

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