BREAKWATER COMPACT · BOOK 2 · PRE-ORDER · RELEASES OCTOBER 23, 2026
When Erin Holt refuses to bury a pattern of coercive vendor leverage inside Avenport’s working harbor, intimidation turns physical—and the one man who already knows how she thinks under pressure becomes her reluctant protection.
Rory Wynn spent nineteen months protecting Erin’s identity as a confidential source. Now they must keep her alive, preserve her own professional authority, and prove how a supposedly neutral marine contractor built power across the harbor without letting protection become ownership.
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What to expect
- Dark criminal-underworld romantic suspense
- Reluctant protection and forced partnership
- A competent heroine who remains causal in the suspense plot
- Protector tension without turning protection into entitlement
- Working-harbor danger and business leverage
- A complete featured-couple HEA
Who this book is for
For readers who want dark-romance danger and protector intensity with believable suspense, adult competence, explicit boundaries, and a heroine who is never reduced to passive cargo.
Reading order
This is Book 2 of Breakwater Compact. Start with Violent Terms for the Compact’s political and relationship foundations.
Release information
Protected Interest releases October 23, 2026 and is available to pre-order now on Amazon. Reader-review links will be added after release.
Frequently asked questions
Is this another marriage-of-convenience story?
No. Its primary romance engine is reluctant protection and forced partnership.
Does the suspense matter?
Yes. The external threat is a full contract, dependency, intimidation, and harbor-operations problem.
Does the couple get a complete ending?
Yes. The featured romance resolves within this installment while the shared Avenport world continues.
Continue exploring: Breakwater Compact · Sloane Daire · Dark romance · New releases & coming soon