Promises in the Dark — Karen Wiesner

William Decker, an orphan who grew up without warmth or companionship from those around him, had been a loner all his life, preferring solitude, loneliness and dark corners to friends, anything resembling a spotlight, and even love. When he met Roxanne Hart his first and only year of college, he'd found a center he'd unconsciously looked for all his life. Though Rox loved him deeply as a friend, she was in love with another man and he'd never really had a shot there, despite his relentless loyalty. When she announces her wedding, William knows it's long past time for him to stop wishing for the moon, but, more than that, he realizes for the first time that he'd set his heart on an unavailable woman purposely. He's lived his life on the principle of 'Better to not love and lose what you never had to begin with' and 'You can't be hurt by anything you haven't invested yourself in'...and he can't deny it's done little beyond keep him lonely.Sapphire Stephenson married, had a child--and divorced--before she was out of her teens. But starting out life with a newborn and parents who refused to understand why she couldn't forgive her cheating husband even once, she'd taken the only job she'd been able to get as a waitress, and later a bartender, at a rough biker joint in New York City. Sapphire is certain of two things: That being a good role model for her daughter is the most important thing in her life...and that there isn't a man alive worth any loyalty. The dudes who come through the bar have no respect for let alone interest in anything that isn't transitory with the women around them. William Decker is the one exception to the rule she's observed, and he intrigues her the way no other man ever has. But is even he capable of more than promises in the dark that he'll break without regret by morning light?