<p><br></p><p><br></p><p><em>"Where are we going to find our joy today, Baby Blue J?"</em></p><p><em style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">"With the flowers and the birds!"</em></p><p>My mother's voice often wakes me from my sleep. A voice I hadn't heard in over twenty years still makes my heart ache. But I have no time to reminisce, and I definitely don't care about flowers or birds. </p><p>I am Joshua Hayles, and I have no space for joy.</p><p>I have lived under my father's rule my entire life. I have become everything I was supposed to be-a successful attorney, a wealthy man, and, above all, pridefully strong. There is nothing I can't handle; even as I stood as a groomsman at my ex-girlfriend's wedding to my brother, I was unmoved.</p><p>Courtney Mason's arrival in my life was unexpected. She was not a part of my plan, nor was I a part of hers. It was something I should have ignored but couldn't. Her smile quickened my heartbeat; her free spirit made me long for something more, and her scars made me tender-everything about her made me.....<em>feel</em>. </p><p>I'm Joshua Hayles, and I'm too tough for this.</p>