ACE

He lives in the shadows.

She’s the one he never forgot.


Life as a CIA operative is full of danger but it’s also painfully lonely. Living under the radar doesn’t leave room for relationships, let alone the white-picket-fence future she wanted.

There was someone once.

I walked away.

And I never stopped regretting it.

Now my years of service are catching up with me, and I’m finally ready for something different. I just never expected that change to be Shannon—or that she’d be in serious trouble.

One kiss. One mistake. One feeling I can’t shake.

The man in me still wants her.

The soldier in me will protect her at all costs.

She doesn’t want my help. She doesn’t trust the life I live. But I’m done walking away—especially when someone is watching her, closing in, and pushing us toward a confrontation neither of us is prepared for.

Even if saving her means losing her… again.


This romantic suspense features second-chance love, a protective alpha hero, high-stakes danger, and a woman who may be the key to his redemption—or his undoing.


Author's Note: Ace falls into the Royal Protectors series as book 1.5 and was formerly published under the title "Cocky Protector" as part of the Cocky Heroes Club series.