His Hollow Heart by M. L. Ray

Artist Ophelia Harris relocates from England to New Orleans, her late mother’s hometown, to open and run the new branch of the world-renowned Granger Gallery.
Eager to prove herself worthy of the responsibility that her friend, Anouk Zapata, has placed on her, outgoing and vivacious Ophelia submerges herself in The Big Easy’s culture and people.
When she meets Alexander ‘Sasha’ Isaacs, the owner of a popular local bar, she is drawn to the quiet, intelligent man, and they soon become friends.
But Sasha is damaged from a past in the military, and his reason for being in New Orleans runs deeper than just making money from the tourists in the French Quarter. He’s looking for someone who doesn’t want to be found; a girl who Sasha left an orphan after a terrible mistake which haunts him and eats away at his sense of self.
As Ophelia tries to break down Sasha’s walls, she is pursued by a fellow artist who has come to New Orleans to show his work. Ophelia is flattered but, when she begins to fall for Sasha, their mutual pasts collide, and dark secrets threaten not only their love, but their lives…