Beneath Rough Hands (Small Town Secrets #1)

One broken ambulance. One guarded mechanic. One forbidden love that could cost them everything.

Paramedic

Julian Vance

came to the quiet town of Ashcroft hoping to leave behind the trauma and burnout that nearly destroyed his career. A fresh start should have been simple—until a midnight breakdown on Route 9 throws him into the path of rugged mechanic

Jax Cooper

.

Jax has spent years keeping two things alive: his late father’s struggling garage and the carefully built walls around his heart. Winning the municipal contract to maintain the town’s emergency fleet is his only chance to save Cooper Auto, and one mistake could cost him everything.

Falling for Julian isn’t just dangerous.

It’s forbidden.

Department ethics policies, small-town gossip, and a contract that keeps forcing them together make every stolen glance and every late-night encounter a risk neither man can afford.

But when a series of mysterious ambulance failures nearly turns deadly, Jax and Julian discover someone is sabotaging the emergency fleet—and framing Cooper Auto for the crimes.

As they race to uncover the truth, the line between professional duty and personal desire disappears. Every secret they keep threatens their careers. Every choice they make could destroy the lives they’ve worked so hard to rebuild.

With danger closing in and the entire town watching, they’ll have to decide whether protecting their reputations is worth losing the one person who finally feels like home.

Beneath Rough Hands

is the first book in the

Small Town Secrets

series—a steamy, emotional M/M romance featuring a gruff mechanic, a devoted paramedic, forbidden attraction, hurt/comfort, romantic suspense, found family, small-town drama, and a deeply satisfying happily ever after.