Cowboy Devil’s Embrace by C.D. Gorri

McKenzie James is better off alone. After tragically losing the person who mattered most to her as a teenager, McKenzie has learned that the easiest way to avoid getting hurt is to avoid getting close. Period. She spends her days focused on the job she loves, working at Katie’s Kitchen as the owner’s right hand, and her nights alone with her two cats. But beneath her tough exterior is a frightened girl with a broken heart that’s longing to be made whole again.
No one can find Luca Sterling. No longer able to numb his pain with sex, booze, and rock ‘n’ roll after his band calls it quits, Luca retreats to his hometown, holed up in his apartment with his phone silenced and the curtains drawn. When the universe sends him a sign bringing him back to Nashville, Luca finds the support of his friends and begins the journey to heal from his painful past. What he doesn’t see coming are the sparks that fly after a run-in with his friend’s prickly restaurant employee.
After a chance encounter leads to a night-long adventure, McKenzie and Luca end up confessing their deepest secrets to each other. Their walls come crumbling down, leading them to discover they have much more in common than they thought. But as the pair travel through the uncharted terrain of their new relationship, personal demons return to haunt them, and the two are faced with a choice: to hide from the shadows of their pasts or run toward them together. Coming Home, the fifth and final installment of the Midnight in Dallas series, is a story about embracing the broken pieces of ourselves that let the light in.