Bandits came looking for the legendary emeralds belonging to Maggie's family, killing her older brother and scarring her face. She can't change the past, but finding the jewels will help her injured sister recover. In need of reliable muscle, she goes to an old friend of her brother's: tough-as-nails nonbinary bounty hunter California Talbot. While Maggie expected hard roads and violence, given the tragedy that provoked the journey, she wasn't expecting the bar fights, snakes, and bandits to be the easy part-and the difficult part to be a growing attraction to someone who'd surely never love her in return.