We finally get to find out about Bridger's story and what a doozy it was! Bridger Payne grew up with a really crappy childhood after his dad passed away and he was left with his stepmother. Wow...my heart just ached for that little boy and it really explains why Bridger is the way he is in adulthood.

Bridger never expected to meet a woman who would capture his attention completely and make him want to be a normal person but that is what happened when Kyle Sommerville drops off a woman at his doorstep.

Maggie Waylon is a girl who got caught up with the wrong crowd and ended up at the Mayhem's Mission compound....an MC gang involved in some shady dealings. Kyle, an undercover ATF agent, explains that Zeke, the head of Mayhem's Mission made this girl his property so she could bore him a child which made Zeke's old lady, Kayla not too happy because she couldn't. Maggie was able to escape the compound and hide her daughter, Belle, but was then caught and taken back to the compound where Kayla was torturing her. Kyle was able to get her out of there and brought her to Bridger's to hide out.

Bridger nursed Maggie back to health and quickly became attracted to her. Bridger doesn't do relationships but something about Maggie kept pulling at him. I just adored how this woman was finally able to tame big, bad Bridger. It was a hell of ride to get there, but she eventually did it. The story that Bridger and Maggie go through to get to their happy ending was so sexy, yet so emotional at the same time. Add in Maggie's adorable daughter, Belle and it was perfect. I just loved the way Bridger was with Belle....I never, I mean NEVER would have expected Bridger to be how he was with Belle! Sigh!

It was a long wait for Bridger's story, but it was sure worth it!

People are islands,' she said. 'They don't really touch. However close they are, they're really quite separate. Even if they've been married for fifty years.

The thought of death smoked around her. Of dying like a snail poured over with salt, like a black bird Maggie had found--stiff and hard. She knew that if he let her live, if her heart kept beating, that any life she lived, any road she took, would always lead her back to them--back to him. Like a rotted seed taking root, burrowing through her belly, her gut, his eyes whispered that she was their thing now. They owned her.

Them Lawmen drag her out to that hill past Marion Lake. It musta been then they slide on they white hoods. The moon, it was nearly full and bright. From up there Neva musta been able to see her Daddy's land. All them fresh-harvested acres. Maybe that's where she fix her eyes while them Klux keep her out there for hours--doin' what God ain't got the muscle to look at.