On the anniversary of her sister's death, a stranger offered Rowan Evans a tissue and watched the sunset with her until the stars appeared. Three years later, as Rowan begins the graduate program at Grandview University's School of Music, all her plans are shaken when she finds out her advisor has fallen ill and has been hastily replaced by Dr. Julian Lynch, a thirty-four-year-old musical protégé hailing from Scotland. Rowan almost doesn't recognize him as the man from that day she cried on the steps. But as the weeks drag on, she tries and fails to deny the attraction between them, resulting in a dangerous, charged tension during each of their private lessons. Julian Lynch doesn't want to think about the nameless girl from the steps all those years ago. But when her face appears in the files of graduate students he's set to teach, his world is shaken. Rowan Evans is fiery and defiant, testing his restraint each time they meet. He swears he won't be the one to break the rules, for both his sake and hers. In the end, he isn't. But he doesn't stop her when she kisses him either. Rowan and Julian's forbidden attraction escalates on a snowy night in December-a night that results in consequences that will inevitably change everything. And they are both left to wonder... How far are they willing to go for a love they were never supposed to have?