Amped

She wants to break free.

He's afraid he's already too broken.

Liz Larkin never wanted to be a rock star. After almost a decade playing the keyboard for Vixen's Wail, she's desperate to pursue the career she always dreamed of. As a massage therapist, Liz could make a real difference to peoples' lives, if only she could summon the courage to leave behind the world she knows. But when she collides with a big, bearded, ill-tempered, and irresistible roadie backstage at a festival, she sees a fitting end to her rock star life. Before she tells the Vixens she's leaving, she intends to go out with a bang. What she doesn't expect is to find love in the form of a grumpy roadie.

Jones has spent his life alone, hiding behind a sullen shield, priding himself on his unapproachable, fearsome façade. The physical pain he has suffered for years is nothing compared to the pain in his heart, but when Liz, a beautiful, curvaceous rock star, sees through his armor, he finds that the parts of himself which terrify even him, aren't enough to scare her away. What begins as a quick backstage tryst unfolds into something far more devastating, and far more tender, than anything he's ever allowed himself to feel.

Content Guidance: The hero of this story had a rough childhood with an emotionally abusive father and an absent mother, and deals with the aftermath of that throughout the story, including with cognitive behavioral therapy. He also suffers from chronic sciatica, for which he takes pain medication.