After losing the last remaining member of my family, I'm left all alone in a dangerous, uncivilized world. A twenty-three-year-old woman with no skills, no resources, and no protection can't make it on her own after Impact, so I'm forced to rely on the charity of strangers to survive. My one chance of safety and security comes from an unexpected offer. Jimmy Carlson needs a partner. He wants help in his house and a woman in his bed, and he'd like that partner to be me. In return, I get a place to live, plenty of food, and the protection of a competent man and his larger community. It's a good deal, so of course I accept. It means I have to live with a gruff, stoic man I barely know. All the new chores around the house are difficult enough, but they're not my biggest challenge. Because I'm now Jimmy's woman... whatever that means.