Burning Steel (Moon Lake Protectors) by Kat Bammer

🔥 He will fight for a second chance, but he will burn down the world to keep her safe. 🔥A gripping, emotional small-town romantic suspense perfect for fans of Elsie Silver, Sarah Adams, and Janie Crouch.Moon Lake has a way of holding onto people. Every soul in this small, nosy, relentless town will know your business — and your heartbreak — before your first cup of coffee.Which is exactly why I ran — far and fast, chasing open water and open sky.I came back for my father. For the Inn I have no idea how to run. I forgot how much I missed small-town life. But I did not forget him.And the first person I see in Moon Lake? The boy who didn't even reject me — he flat-out pretended nothing happened.Peter Fisher. Harder now. Steadier. Freshly divorced. Wearing a badge and a past he doesn't talk about. And staying at the Inn. Of course he is.I'm a woman who learned to stand on my own. Who learned that wanting someone and trusting them are two very different things. Even if he makes himself impossible to ignore. That slow, knowing smile — like he already knows how this ends.And God help me, so do I.He puts himself between me and the rest of the world like it's the most natural thing he's ever done. And he doesn't do it alone. He brings his whole team — military men built like walls and laughing like overgrown boys, who close ranks without being asked and call each other family without apology. They fill the Inn — and my life — with noise and warmth and the kind of belonging I stopped believing I'd ever find.But the town we grew up in is hiding something dark. Women are disappearing from Moon Lake.And when I stumble onto a body on a lonely stretch of road — alone, shaking, unable to breathe — it's Peter who finds me. It's Peter who holds me. It's Peter who says —"Stay close." Like it's an order and a promise. "I've got you."Three words I didn't know I'd been longing for.TROPES & VIBES:✨ Small Town Second Chance Romance✨ Protective Former Military Hero✨ Found Family ✨ Small Town Romantic Suspense✨ Forced Proximity✨ Fish Out of Water✨ Kick-ass Heroine in Peril✨ Serial Killer Suspense✅ Standalone (HEA Guaranteed)Note: Burning Steel is a second-chance small-town romantic suspense with an over-protective military hero, a heroine who came home to find everything she didn't know she needed, and a guaranteed HEA worth every mile of the journey back.