From the bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE novel…

No one but me knew why I was actually in the California desert that day.

Nestled deep within the desolate, rocky area was a recording studio.

When a door suddenly opened, a man mistook me for someone he was supposed to be interviewing for a job.

The next thing I knew, I was whisked inside.

The position? An assistant on the upcoming tour for one of America's most famous rock bands.

Pretty exciting opportunity for a twenty-two-year-old, just out of college.

Not surprisingly, I bombed the interview.

When I ended up mistakenly walking into the men's room on my way out, I struck up a conversation with a stranger—not realizing it was the lead singer, Tristan Daltrey.

He seemed to like the fact that I had no idea who he was, that I saw him as a normal person.

That night, I got a call offering me the job.

So began my complicated story with Tristan.

Millions of women loved him.

Yet for some reason, after the shows, he only wanted to hang out with me.

Late-night talks. Casual dinners in his hotel room.

I wasn't supposed to be fraternizing with the band's frontman.

Despite our fifteen-year age difference, Tristan and I had a connection.

But I had a secret.

One that would eventually lead to my leaving the tour.

And one that would lead Tristan and the band straight to the small town where I came from.

I was the last of my group of friends to find “the one.”

The guys would always tease me that I needed to hurry up and settle down.

But I was in no rush.

Until I met someone worth rushing for.

Alex was one of the weekend volunteers at Ryan's House—a charity I founded to build housing near hospitals.

Little did I know she was the same person I'd been arguing with over email before the project started. At the time, I'd thought Alex was a dude.

In reality? She was a smoking hot blonde who captivated me from the moment we met in person.

Our chemistry was off the charts, and I fell hard pretty fast.

Unfortunately, Alex insisted I was too young for her. I hated that she felt that way. Because age was just a number.

Not only that, her words didn't match the way she looked at me—like she was very interested.

I lived for the weekends we'd spend out of town volunteering. Alex and I side-by-side hammering during the day, while sharing intimate dinners together at the hotel at night.

Eventually, the walls she'd put up to protect her heart began to crumble.

Until fate threw us a doozy that I wasn't sure we could come back from.

If I'd thought our age gap was the biggest hurdle, I didn't know anything yet.

Rule number one for dating an older woman who insists you could never be together?

Don't fall in love.