My entire life I've been bound by loyalty - first to my family and then to my country - arrogantly confident in my decisions and instincts.

Finding my wife engaged to another man obliterates the foundation of everything I've ever held true. Our divorce pushes me down a spiral of doubts and second guesses I nearly pay for with my life.

It's only fitting I end up back home, in Lost Hope - a small town in the heart of snowy mountains and lush green forests.

My wounds start to heal here. They scar with each day passing by. Nine years later, all that remains is a gruesome picture of the culmination of my worst decisions carved on my body. My only reprieve is HER and her sweet vanilla scent.

The quintessential good girl - and painfully beautiful - she's the town's sweetheart and the balm to my shriveled soul.

I'm as hopeless as the town's name when my cruel past breaks us apart... until she returns, pregnant with my child and thinking the worst of me.

My loyalty demands that I keep her close, while my darkness whispers she cannot be trusted. She left me once when I needed her the most. She'll leave again when I least expect it.

We strike a feeble truce for the sake of our unborn baby. But our truce forces us together, and my heart doesn't stand a chance against her.

The instincts pushing me to keep my distance fade into nothingness with every stolen kiss and healing touch.

But is she strong enough to stand at my side when the ghosts of our pasts threaten to obliterate our feeble foundation once more?

Vanilla et Motricium Oleum is the second book in the Lost Hope series of interconnected standalone novels. It's a surprise-pregnancy romance with a pinch of suspense, complete with HEA, and a cliffhanger introducing book three of the series. This book is intended for readers 18+, with explicit scenes, mature language, touching on sensitive topics, and more.