A man with a past is her only hope for the future.

Kerry Ekdahl's mixed heritage and linguistics skills could have made her a corporate star. Instead, she's a hostess in a high-end Tokyo bar, catering to businessmen who want conversation, translation and flirtation. Easy money, no stress. Life is good—until she's framed for the murder of a yakuza boss.

Trapped in rural Japan with the gangsters closing in, Kerry doesn't stand a chance. Then help arrives in the menacing form of Chanko, a Samoan-American ex-sumo wrestler with a bad attitude, a lot of secrets, and a mission she doesn't understand.

Kerry doesn't get involved with dangerous men. Then again, she's never had one on her side before. And the big, taciturn fighter seems determined to save her life, even if they rub each other the wrong way.

Then her friends are threatened, and Kerry has no choice but to return to Tokyo and face the yakuza. Where she learns, too late, that the muscle man who's got her back could be poised to stab it.

Warning: Contains graphic violence, swearing, and implied sexual abuse.