Genre/Tropes: Small Town – Sexy Geologist/Injured Retired MLB Pitcher – Protector – Opposites Attract – Virgin – True Crime Podcaster – Secret Online Pinup Model – Crochet Queen
Release Date: April 20, 2026
Cover Design: 907 Publishing, LLC
Sharing a heated glance across a crowded bar, they both feel the spark of something monumental. And then life throws a curveball, separating them before they even have a chance to properly meet.
Bryce is a former major league pitcher who retired after a career-ending injury. Still young, he embraces his love of geology, and secures a job in Homer, Alaska. He falls in love with the state, and becomes infatuated with a woman he saw only briefly, who looks strikingly similar to an internet pin-up model he follows.
Craving independence and privacy after high school graduation, Lucinda moved to a small town outside Homer to start living her best life as a true crime podcaster. A virginal introvert with a big heart, she spends her free time crocheting blankets for babies in the NICU. But she’s not as innocent as she appears. She has a secret… She’s a sultry internet pin-up model.
Since exchanging glances that one fateful night, they’ve been pining for each other. Then fate steps in and brings them together in the most unexpected place… on a fishing charter in the middle of Kachemak Bay.
An unlikely pair with intense, unquestioning chemistry, they’re forced to work together, and confront the assumptions they hold about one another.
Join us for this exciting spotlight featuring the covers for Fake It Until It’s Real and Fight It Until We Can’t by Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca. Fans who love forced proximity romances will sink their teeth into these sexy, small-town romances. Keep scrolling for more details about these sexy covers.
Title: Fake It Until It’s Real
Authors: Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca
Release Date: 04/28/2026
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Word Count: 58,000
Trope: Small-Town, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity, Cinnamon Roll Hero, Friend’s Brother, Blue Collar Hero, Matchmaking Dog, Found Family
She’s afraid she’s too much. He’s convinced he’ll never be enough.
Maplemoor is Jess Harper’s fresh start. A quiet place to rebuild after a future that never happened. Now she has a book club that feels like family, a coffee shop that knows her order, and a life that finally feels steady again.
What she doesn’t have is a date to her best friend’s wedding—the one where her ex and his brand-new fiancée will also be there.
Enter Caleb Ward. Dependable. Steady. The kind of man who shows up before you even have to ask—for everyone except himself. He’s got a life in Maplemoor that works for him, but when it comes to love, he keeps his walls firmly in place—and exactly where he wants them.
Agreeing to be Jess’s date to the wedding is just a favor. Nothing more.
Until it isn’t.
One weekend together. One very convincing performance.
Turns out the line between pretending and real is thinner than either of them thought. The hard part is knowing which side they’re on.
Trope: Small-Town, Rivals to Lovers, Forced Proximity, He Falls First, Found Family, Competence Kink
He’s a property analyst hired to find the cracks.
She’s the operations manager who will make sure he doesn’t.
Carli Porter runs The Lochwell like it’s hers. The coffee shop is her living room. Its book club members are her family. The residents are her friends. The pub is her Friday night. The only problem? The building belongs to someone else, and that someone just sent his best friend to decide its fate.
Alexander Grassi is smart and annoyingly hard to hate. He also has the kind of forearms that make it very difficult to stay mad at him. (She’s tried. It hasn’t worked.) He’s supposed to write a report, hand it over to his friend and leave. He wasn’t supposed to start showing up to trivia night. Or turning her coffee cup so the handle faces her. Or looking at her like she’s the best thing in a building full of things worth saving.
She says his report could ruin her life.
He says she’s not wrong.
She says that’s makes him the last person she should want around.
He says he’s staying anyway.
Because some legacies (and people) are worth fighting for.
Tina Gallagher grew up and continues to live in Northeast Pennsylvania. As a tween, she and her best friend would create happily ever afters for their favorite soap opera couples. Eventually, the soap operas lost their appeal, but the writing never did. Before living her dream as a full-time author, she worked a spectrum of jobs ranging from baking and cake decorating to marketing and project management. In between creating memorable characters, traveling, and taking pole dance lessons, Tina enjoys spending time with her two grown children and Golden Irish named Thea.
A “recovering” 8th-grade teacher and curriculum consultant with a PhD in Language & Literacy, Cecelia loves writing high-heat, emotionally charged romance. The Brands (The Mecca Romance Multiverse): Cissy Mecca: Contemporary Romance, Cecelia Mecca: Medieval and Scottish Historical Romance. C.L. Mecca: Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Mecca Romance Signature Style: Heroines: Bold, strong women who fall hard but never lose their identity. Heroes: High-heat, protective, and intense. Vibe: Visceral, sensory-rich escapes… from family-owned vineyards to the war-torn Anglo-Scottish borders. Other Info: Representation: Katie Reed (Katie Reed Literary) Personal: Married, two teens, Disney enthusiast, traveler, and wine lover. Authority: PhD background makes her an excellent guest for craft-focused podcasts or literacy-based panels.
Nell Fairchild knows how to survive. How to stay quiet, stay invisible, keep the worst parts of herself hidden. She’s good at it.
She’s not good at Darius Hawke.
Her father’s oldest friend. A war photographer with a dangerous past, a talent for disappearing, and eyes that see far too much.
Darius knows better than to want Nell. She’s too young, too vulnerable, and completely off-limits. He’s spent a lifetime navigating war zones, captivity, and the darkest corners of human nature. The last thing he should do is drag his best friend’s daughter into his shadows.
But some lines were made to be crossed.
And when Darius takes a temporary teaching job at Nell’s high school, staying away isn’t an option. She’s everywhere — too close, too tempting, too determined to draw him out of the darkness. And the more he resists, the hotter the tension between them burns.
If they give in, there’s no coming back.
*****
Sparrow & Hawke is a slow-burn, high-heat romance filled with forbidden desire, forced proximity, and a love so wrong it might ruin them both.
Four years ago, Darius Hawke left his mark on Nell Fairchild — and she’s never been the same. He didn’t just change her. He ruined her for anything safer, anything lesser, anything that doesn’t burn.
Then he decided she deserves better than what he is.
She hasn’t forgiven him.
Now Darius is back, and one look is all it takes to bring everything roaring to life again.
He still wants her. He never stopped.
When the violence of Darius’s past comes for them both, the heat between them goes from impossible to incendiary. But the most terrifying thing isn’t the danger closing in.
It’s what they’ll destroy to stay together.
*****
Feather & Flame is a scorching second-chance romance of both reckoning and desire between two people who are finally out of reasons to stop.
Note: This is the second book in the Birdsong trilogy, to be read after Sparrow & Hawke (Book 1).
Everyone is telling Nell that Darius Hawke is dead.
Everyone is lying.
She knows it the way she knows her own heartbeat. His absence doesn’t feel like a loss. It feels like a locked door.
Nell knows how to open locked doors.
What she finds on the other side is worse than a disappearance. Darius has been keeping secrets — about his past, his choices, the life he kept carefully separate from everything they built together. The man she finds may not be the man she thought she knew.
She still wants him back. She can’t reason her way out of that.
To reach him, she’ll have to trust a man who frightens her in ways Darius never did. Wade into darkness she can’t walk back from. And decide, when the truth finally surfaces, what she’s willing to forgive.
Some loves are worth setting the world on fire.
*****
Wishes & Wings is the explosive conclusion to the Birdsong Trilogy — a gripping, obsessive romance of danger, devotion, and a love tested until there’s nothing left but the truth.
Note: This is the final book in the Birdsong trilogy, to be read after Sparrow & Hawke (Book 1) and Feather & Flame (Book 2).
Though she was born and raised in California, Nina Lane now lives in Wisconsin where the winters are freezing and the cheese is exceptional. Mom to two teenagers and a neurotic dog, she lives in two worlds—one world of laundry, driving, horses, Girl Scouts, and football, and the other of epic romances between hot alpha heroes and the women who bring them to their knees. Nina only cooks when she can’t avoid it (i.e., there are no frozen pizzas left), binge-watches serial TV whenever she can get control of the remote, and checks in about the weather daily with her meteorologist husband. She’s a fan of popcorn, actual print magazines, French Roast coffee, working out, and trying new things…especially if it’s food.
I’m the little girl in the pink raincoat from the missing persons poster. The one abducted from outside her home while her twin sister and parents were inside.
Search parties and manhunts scoured the country looking for me, but I’d seemingly vanished into thin air.
Years passed, and eventually, people moved on with their lives.
And like the tattered, missing-persons posters, I faded away.
Only I wasn’t dead, just forgotten.
And while the world moved on, I was held captive in a time capsule of terror for over a decade.
When a kidnapping sees me reunited with my sister, I’m pulled into the protective bubble of the Raven Souls MC and dropped into the arms of the ex-MMA fighter Ambros Deveraux.
Ambros is everything I never knew I needed. With him beside me, I can finally lay the past to rest.
But when a man with a grudge against the MC starts looking for a weakness to exploit, a damaged woman like me becomes a predator’s wet dream.
Now I’m fighting my demons and a monster, but if he thinks damaged means weak, he’s forgetting the one thing I know how to do better than anyone.
Candice Wright is the international bestselling author of the Underestimated Series. Hailing from the UK, Candice lives with her three slightly unhinged children and the long-suffering partner. When she isn’t busy raising the next generation of crazy, you can find her sitting at the computer writing words she hopes will resonate or snuggled up reading stories by the authors that cultivated her love of the written word.
Natalie Dugan thought starting a cleaning business would bring freedom, not danger. Between caring for her sick mother and juggling new clients, she has no time for romance—until she meets Aaron Marino, a scarred ex-firefighter who makes her question everything. When a series of suspicious fires spreads through their Virginia town, suspicion falls on every man around her, leaving Natalie to unravel a deadly mystery before vengeance consumes them all. Readers who enjoy high-stakes and forced proximity romances will devour Burning Vengeance by Tricia T. LaRochelle, a small-town, fireman romantic suspense.
When Natalie Dugan trades spreadsheets for scrub brushes, she hopes her new cleaning business will give her independence—and the chance to care for her ailing mother. Love isn’t on her agenda, but everything changes when she meets Aaron Marino, a reclusive ex-firefighter scarred by the blaze that nearly claimed his life.
As a string of suspicious fires threatens their quaint Virginia town, every man in Natalie’s orbit becomes a suspect: her hard-working new boyfriend, her mother’s unfairly maligned partner, her unsettling neighbor, and even Aaron himself. But the closer Natalie gets to Aaron, the harder it is to ignore the spark that refuses to extinguish.
When the truth behind the fires finally ignites, Natalie will have to confront betrayal, vengeance, and danger that hits far too close to home. Survival—and love—depend on whether she can brave the flames of the past … before they consume her.
Yaz and I were the new owners of cockapoos. Daisy was my baby, and Sadie was Yaz’s. We adopted the two sisters six months ago, when we had both decided to try our hand at pet parenting. And we were smitten. Our little spitfires kept us busy.
Embracing the doggy craze, I’d bought pj’s with images of dogs adorning them, tote bags, and throws of the same type of pattern, and of course, the scrubs. Hell, I even had stemless wine glasses with doggy prints etched into the glass—a gift from Mom last Christmas. She doted on Daisy more than I did.
“You the cleaning lady?”
Aaron’s voice brought me back to the moment.
I do have a name.
Other than his gaze lingering on my outfit for a millisecond longer than normal, Aaron never really looked at me as he spoke. He stayed focused on the area behind me, mostly. He also kept lightly scratching at his beard, like someone would do when they were either anxious or prone to such habits.
Handsome or not, I kept my mind on high alert as I watched for signs of crazy from this guy. One hand remained in my pocket, gripping my pepper spray.
“Yes, I’m Natalie. Natalie Dugan.” I reached my free hand out, and he shook it, quickly releasing his grip.
Here’s one with a sense of danger:
Daisy wandered the backyard by the fence bordering Alan’s property. I hated it when she did that, but it was late, and what difference did it make? As long as she did her business in a timely fashion, I was fine.
“Okay, go potty, Daisy.” Not sure why I had to ask her this. I hoped certain words and phrases would register. During the day, I had taught her to ring a potty-training bell that hung from both the front and back doors of the house. She and I were a work in progress.
I wrapped my jacket around my waist and wiggled my legs for warmth. “Hurry up, Daisy. Go potty, so we can get back to bed.”
While the little pup sniffed the ground along the fence line, I waited, my gaze wandering the surrounding area, especially the pitchy woods growing thick out back.
I loved the privacy, but couldn’t help but wonder what animals lurked. Especially on a night like this one, when the moon was hiding behind a dense layer of clouds, the darkness so thick, I could barely see my dog.
You forgot to turn on the outside light, genius. Oh, well, this won’t take long.
Movement cut through my thoughts, my senses on guard. If a raccoon or a fox came bounding over the fence, I was ready to grab Daisy and whisk her inside.
A shadow appeared on the other side of the fence. Alan? Oh, shit. What was he doing out here at this hour? My heart slammed against my ribcage, and I lost my breath. What was it about this dude? He’d been harmless so far. Rude, but otherwise benign. Maybe it was those gas cans? His uncanny resemblance to the man in that Netflix show? Or just a sixth sense?
“D-Daisy, w-we gotta go,” I whisper-yelled.
At this point, she was in full squat mode, doing her business.
The shadow moved closer as my body trembled and my lungs strained to accept any semblance of oxygen. I wanted to run, but I stood paralyzed.
The shadow lifted something large. A flick of a lighter followed. All at once, a dragon-sized ball of fire illuminated the night.
All went dark. Alan moved closer. The fire ignited again, and I could see flames escaping Alan’s mouth. It was like something out of a circus. The heat flushed my cheeks with its warmth.
Daisy, having finished, backed away from the fence and barked at the wild display.
In an instant, I could see Alan clearly, until the firebomb extinguished, and darkness returned.
Alan lifted the bottle and spat more flames. His head turned slightly, his gaze meeting mine.
Holy shit. What if he spat his flames over here?
About Tricia T. LaRochelle
Since she was a little girl, award-winning author Tricia T. LaRochelle has been obsessed with tragic love stories. No beach reads for her. Bring on the grit with a double side of turmoil. She likes to feel the character’s anguish as they fight to overcome obstacles to be together. Growing up in central Vermont, she has seen her share of tragedy but remains a hopeful romantic. She now lives in central Virginia, where she continues to foster the possibilities of how love can conquer all.
From International bestselling author Maggie Cole comes a morally gray psychological romance where boundaries are temptation, ethics are foreplay, and a dangerously perceptive woman sets her stalker sights on her therapist.
My parents made me see a therapist for stalking.
They thought Dr. Red Mercer would cure me. They assumed he would teach me restraint, discipline, and distance. What they didn’t count on was the way his gaze lingers too long, like he’s undressing the truth instead of treating it. Or how his voice tightens every time I say exactly what I’m thinking.
He says boundaries. I hear an invitation.
He says ethics. I see a man begging not to want me.
I’m not spiraling. I’m precise. I know where he draws the line and exactly how to leap over it.
Red calls my fixation a disorder.
I call it fate already in motion.
This is my version of the sessions.
And no matter how hard he fights it, I’ll strip away his control until Dr. Red Mercer admits what we both know.
He was never meant to resist me.
Resisting Blue is book one of the Beautiful Delusions Duet. See Authors Note inside the book for trigger warnings.
Maggie Cole is committed to bringing her readers alphalicious book boyfriends and fiercely strong heroines.
She’s been called the literary master of steamy romance. Her books are full of raw emotion, suspense, and will always keep you wanting more. She is a masterful storyteller of contemporary romance and loves writing about broken people who rise above the ashes.
Maggie lives in Florida with her son. She loves tennis, yoga, paddleboarding, boating, other water activities, and everything naughty.
Her current series were written in the order below:
All In (Stand alones with entwined characters)
It’s Complicated (Stand alones with entwined characters)
Brooks Family Saga (Read in order)
Behind Closed Doors (Read in order)
Mafia Wars (Stand alones with interconnecting plot and entwined characters)
Mafia Wars New York (Stand alones with interconnecting plot and entwined characters)
Cover Photographer: R plus M Photo/Reggie Deanching
My life was boring, so I decided to shake it up a bit.
With my life at the ranch changing by the minute, and not for the better, it seemed I would never find any excitement to fill my days.
They say to be careful what you wish for, and I learned that the hard way.
Walking in on a stranger trying on my teal coat, only to find out we slept together, was a shocker.
I didn’t remember a single second of how we met or what happened after.
Neither did he.
But apparently, everyone in town knew our business.
And the secret we were carrying around.
But before I got a chance to tell my new man any of this, things took a strange turn.
Bullets flying, men attacking every hour of the day, and neither of us had any idea why.
And that was just the bad stuff.
There was an undeniable chemistry between us, and keeping our hands to ourselves turned out to be harder than I thought.
But the infuriating man was insistent on keeping me safe.
And the whole time, all I really wanted to say was Shut Up and Kiss Me.
Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Amazon Review – “Some of her best writing…Holy cow, this book! I was immediately immersed in Murky Falls! I could not put this book down. Im excited to read the rest of the series!”
Real Good Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Amazon Review from C. Luna – “Real Good Man by Giulia Lagomarsino is the kind of small-town romance that sneaks past your defenses with humor, heart, and a slow-burn love you didn’t see coming—but end up rooting for with your whole chest.”
How Forever Feels ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Amazon Review – “This author never fails to entertain. Her characters come to life. You live their emotions. Every. Book is it’s own adventure. Next book please!”
I’m a stay at home mom that loves to read. Some of my favorite titles are Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Horatio Hornblower. I started writing when I was trying to come up with suggestions on ways I could help bring in some extra money. I came up with the idea that I could donate plasma because you could earn an extra $500/month. My husband responded with, “No. Find something else. Write a blog. Write a book.” I didn’t think I had anything to share on blog that a thousand other mothers hadn’t already thought of. I decided to take his challenge seriously and sat down to write my first book, Jack. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed writing. From there, the stories continued to flow and I haven’t been able to stop. I hope my readers enjoy my books as much as I enjoy writing them. Between reading, writing, and taking care of three small kids, my days are quite full.
A thousand years of existence, and I’ve felt nothing.
No spark. No hunger beyond blood. No purpose outside protecting my brothers in the Eternal Sins MC.
A club of monsters pretending we’re just bikers—dragons, lycans, necromancers, warlocks, shifters, and more. Creatures bound together by secrecy and survival. We’ve built something here—a fortress, a family, forged from beings the world would burn if it ever learned the truth.
Then she walks into my bar.
Sloane doesn’t belong in my world. She’s human, fragile, and carrying a weight in her eyes that tells me she’s already survived too much. I should keep my distance, let her live her life untouched by monsters like me.
Instead, my Bloodfire stirs for the first time in centuries.
Wanting her is reckless. Claiming her would be unforgivable. And yet every instinct I have tells me she’s already bound to this world, whether she knows it or not.
When violence comes for her, everything changes. Lines are crossed, laws are broken, and ancient powers take notice.
I’ve spilled blood for my club. I’ve buried enemies without regret. But protecting Sloane means defying forces that don’t forgive, and won’t forget.
Because loving her may cost me my brothers, my freedom…
And the woman she still is.
But protecting Sloane might mean losing her to the monster she’s becoming.
From USA Today Bestselling Authors K E Osborn and Kathleen Kelly comes Bloodfire Rising.
Immortal bikers. Supernatural bonds. Dark romance that defies death. Where monsters find family, ancient vampires discover what it means to feel, and one woman’s awakening power threatens to destroy or save them all.
With a flair for all things creative, USA Today Bestselling Author K E Osborn, is drawn to the written word. Exciting worlds and characters flow through her veins, coming to life on the page as she laughs, cries, and becomes enveloped in the storyline right along with you. She’s entirely at home when writing sassy heroines and alpha males that rise from the ashes of their pasts.
K E Osborn comforts herself with tea and Netflix, after all, who doesn’t love a good binge?
Kathleen Kelly, a USA Today Best-Selling Author and an International Best-Selling Author, is known for her fast-paced, spicy romance novels. Kathleen writes MC, Paranormal, Sports, and Band of Brothers Romance.
When she’s not writing, she’s collecting handbags (they always fit!) and planning her next international trip.
Kathleen can be spotted in local cafes, blending in with the regulars while plotting her next tale of passion and intrigue. She finds inspiration in the quirky characters around her, both real and fictional.
Living in Toowoomba, Queensland, with her childhood sweetheart, SL, rescue sweetheart Freya, and Eir, the soon-to-be gigantic Maine Coon who thinks she’s the main character, Kathleen values kindness, loyalty, and good stories.
If you have any questions about her novels or would like to ask Kathleen a question, she can be contacted via e-mail: HERE, or she can be found on Facebook. Kathleen welcomes messages from readers who share her love for stories that leave hearts racing and cheeks blushing.
Aislinn Killeen is a good girl. When her sister goes missing during a trip to New York, Aislinn leaves her hometown Dublin behind to search for her. She finds shelter with her uncle, a priest in the biggest Irish-catholic parish in the city and also the confessor for the Irish mob. Her investigations soon lead her to the criminal underworld, and one of its major players: Lorcan Devaney.
Lorcan Devaney’s reign is brutal, his temper feared and his patience non-existent.
Aislinn is sure he’s the man who knows what happened to her sister. She realizes too late that attracting the attention of a man like Lorcan is a horrible idea. When secrets from her family’s past are revealed, she’s forced to marry the man who might be responsible for her sister’s disappearance.
Will she find her sister and escape the unwanted marriage, or will she be the second Killeen to disappear?
♦ ♦ ♦
♦ ♦ ♦
Cora Reilly is the author of the Born in Blood Mafia Series, The Camorra Chronicles and many other books, most of them featuring dangerously sexy bad boys. Before she found her passion in romance books, she was a traditionally published author of young adult literature.
Cora lives in Germany with a cute but crazy Bearded Collie, as well as the cute but crazy man at her side. When she doesn’t spend her days dreaming up sexy books, she plans her next travel adventure or cooks too spicy dishes from all over the world.
“Sorry for making up that story,” he said. “But I didn’t know what else to tell him. Wasn’t like I could admit the real reason I’m here looking out for you.”
I crossed my arms. “Maybe you should’ve, and he could’ve carted you away, so I don’t have to deal with any of this.”
“Now, now. Is that how you talk to your loving boyfriend?” He winked.
“Please don’t repeat that.” Especially in that annoyingly seductive voice.
“Well, you don’t think at some point we’re gonna have to pretend to be something to each other? People are going to wonder who the hell I am. How else are you going to explain me, if I’m not your boyfriend?”
“I’m hoping not to have to explain you at all because I’m counting on this arrangement ending soon.”
“Well, if you’d let me sleep inside like you should’ve, I wouldn’t have attracted the neighbor’s attention.”
“I will admit that making you sleep outside was a mistake, in hindsight.” I rubbed my pounding temples. “Do you want some coffee? I need to get a cup before my head explodes.”
He smiled wide. “I would love some.”
God, those dimples.
Had they been there yesterday?
Of course they had.
Again, I needed coffee.
After I filled two mugs, I handed him one. “As you just saw, my neighbor is very nosy. You need to keep a low profile. That means no hanging around outside my house unless absolutely necessary. She’ll try to talk to you.”
“I’ll be fine if she does. I’m a pretty good liar.”
“How commendable.”
He shrugged. “I don’t make a habit of it. But in this business, you have to be able to stretch the truth with a straight face.”
Putting my coffee down, I crossed my arms. “We have to set some ground rules.”
Wes grinned from behind his mug. “Okay…”
He’d better be taking this seriously. I took another long sip of coffee. “One, you have to sleep on the couch. I only have one bedroom. So…”
“All right. I was expecting that. No big deal. I’ve slept on worse things.”
“Not even gonna ask.” I sighed. “Also, no walking around without your clothes on.”
Wes raised a brow and laughed. “Why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. You seem like the type who might be comfortable enough in your skin to want to flaunt it or something. Just letting you know I won’t appreciate that.”
“No naked ass. Got it.” He nodded. “What else?”
“No eating anything in my refrigerator that belongs to me. I just went to Erewhon to stock up. Practically spent a week’s salary.” I opened the fridge and began moving my items to the right, leaving spots on the left of the top two shelves empty. “You can keep your stuff on this side.”
“How generous of you…” He grinned.
I tilted my head. “Are you mocking me?”
“No.” He pursed his lips, probably to keep from laughing.
I sighed. Maybe I did need to calm down. This situation was making me more high-strung than usual.
After a moment, he asked, “Are you done?”
“I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.”
“Look…” he said. “I don’t wanna be here any more than you want me here. So let’s just try to make the best of it.”
“We don’t need to make the best of it. We need to stay out of each other’s way and not make each other insane.” I downed the last of my cup of joe.
Wes’s expression dampened. Had I hurt his feelings? This situation stressed me out and made me less than pleasant. My father’s antics brought out the worst in me. I felt like I needed a time out.
On that note, I took my own advice and ventured back to my room to have my second cup of coffee in peace.
When I walked back out into the living room about fifteen minutes later, my jaw dropped. It was like I’d walked onto the set of Love Island. Wes was sitting on the couch with his feet up on the ottoman—shirtless, with every beautiful contour of his bronzed chest on full display.
What. The. Heck. I gulped. “What are you doing?”
He stood, looking confused. “What do you mean? I’m just sitting here.”
“You’ve only been here a matter of minutes, and you’ve already broken a rule.” I scoffed. “The most important one, I might add.”
He drew in his brows. “What rule?”
I glared. “Naked?”
He looked down at his chest. “I’m not naked.”
“You took your shirt off.”
“That’s shirtless. Not naked. You say naked, and I think…junk hanging out. This is not naked.”
I shook my head. “You need to wear a shirt in this house.”
He stalked toward me. “It’s hot as Hades in here. Does your air conditioner even work?”
“I don’t like it too cold. I freeze easily.”
“I guess that’s what happens to people who are already cold enough.”
As he stood there with his hands on his hips, I did feel oddly warm, actually. And it had nothing to do with the air-conditioner setting.
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over thirty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
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