She delivered his baby, and then she delivered an ultimatum. Get out and quit drinking, or give up your rights to your daughter. Independent, single-mother Margo Nevin doesn't need a man. She owns a trendy bar with her cousins, juggles running the restaurant side of the business with being a mom, and can handle ordinary household upkeep, to boot.

Jess Covey left town with a truckload of belongings and a chip on his shoulder. He didn't have a drinking problem. He simply wanted to be needed, and his live-in girlfriend refused to lean on him. Hard to feel like a man when his girlfriend didn't trust him to be there.

Just over a year after he left, Jess is back in Adam's Bay. In fact, he's standing in the Mississippi Queen, looking better than ever, sporting a new haircut and a cute little brunette sidekick. Sober, pissed off, and ready to claim back what's his, Jess wants the chance to prove he's ready to be Berkley's father.

Though devastated by the presence of the sidekick-she knows Jess too well to believe they're just friends-Margo wants what's best for their daughter, and she believes what's best is having a mommy and a daddy. Determined to do the right thing, Margo welcomes Jess back into Berkley's life-which means he's back in her life, also.

She admits to herself and even her cousins that she had secretly hoped that when Jess came back for Berkley, he would claim her, too. But she refuses to confess her feelings to Jess. She might love him, but she's proved she can hold her own, and she'll be damned if she lets herself need him now.

Jess has his own secret agenda, but when Margo refuses to believe in him, to believe in them, he must face the possibility that she simply doesn't want to be a family with him and Berkley. Will he cut his losses and walk away or push her to face her weakness and claim their future together?