<p><em>Surviving is only the first step.</em></p><p>Javier Alde thought he had his life all figured out. He moved back to the city of his birth, found a great job and rebuilt some friendships&hellip;if only his love life followed suit.</p><p>None of that matters anymore when he&rsquo;s abducted and imprisoned for several months. Upon his escape, he finds that surviving is only the first step.</p><p>Malaki Taupo is slowly putting down roots in Dallas after working for several years as a traveling physical therapist when he finds out that one of his patients is the abducted therapist whose place Malaki took at the rehab center.</p><p>The physical scars and injuries Javier sustained tell a story of torture that should have broken any reasonable person, but within Javier&rsquo;s gaze, Malaki sees the strength and determination to take back his life&mdash;and he&rsquo;s drawn to the capacity to love within Javier&rsquo;s heart.</p><p>But navigating the perils of building a relationship is complicated. While Javier&rsquo;s lost the ability to trust himself, there&rsquo;s something about Malaki Taupo that stirs an ache inside him that&rsquo;s altogether different from the physical pain of rebuilding his body.</p><p>Together they go on the journey of discovering who they are as men&hellip;and who they could be to each other.</p>