Hazel Hart was a successful romance novelist until a breakup drives her straight into writerâs block. Having failed (and failed some more) to deliver her new manuscript, sheâs hiding from the world behind a wall of old takeout containers until her publisher lays down the law. If she misses her next deadline itâs The End.
Desperate for inspiration, Hazel impulse-buys a historic home online and flees Manhattan to tiny Story Lake, PA. Upon her dramatic arrivalâinvolving an incident with a bald eagleâshe discovers the charm of her new home may have been slightly exaggerated.
The house is a wreck and the town is struggling after their biggest employer shut down. Also, since her raccoon-infested home came with a seat on the town council our introverted heroine is stuck with a front row seat to all the small-town shenanigans.
But Hazel isnât worried. Not since all six-feet-three inches of grouchy contractor Campbell Bishop slapped a bandage on her forehead and unintentionally inspired the heck out of her. Thereâs only one thing to do: Hire Cam and his equally gorgeous brothers to renovate her new spider museumâŠerâŠhouse.
Okay two things. A fake date for âresearch purposesâ will really put her work-in-progress on track. Before Hazel knows it, sheâs writing a romance novel and living one. At least until the drywall dust settles, the town sheâs falling in love with faces bankruptcy, and growly Cam remembers why he canât live happily ever after.
Why You Should Read This Book
Tropes
Trigger Warnings
Story of My Life
âI thought Iâd work my way up to a grand gesture. But itâs tough with you dating every single man in town.â
âI can tell youâre tired. Your penis descriptions start to go downhill.â
âYouâre the worst. Iâm mad at you, in case you forgot. I wouldnât get naked with you again if you were the last big-dicked man on the planet.â
âThat fucking mouth.â
âFuck. I need to move, baby. This table wonât hold, and I need to get you someplace where I can take you hard and fast. You good with that?â
âI write romance all day long. What I need is a man who isnât going to throw a temper tantrum every time I do something he doesnât appreciate.â
âThe whole town knows we belong together. I know it now too. And Iâm not letting you go.â
âWe fucked each other in the back seat of a pickup truck in a parking lot, and you want to talk about the sewage plant?â
âBecause you would have panicked and spent a week overanalyzing the whole thing before deciding that us having a few drinks in public and only having meaningless, no-strings sex with each other was too much of a commitment. Then I would have had to put in another week of being extra sexy around the jobsite until you threw caution to the wind and got back in bed with me.â
âYou know, like youâre in a new relationship and everything is hot and sexy and you just want to be naked all the time, so you end up having sex everywhere but the bed?â
âI want you. Enough that it pisses me off. I donât like spending so much time thinking about you. And I really donât like not being able to touch you. But Iâm not looking for a relationship. And falling into bed with you would be stupid with a side of crazy.â
âYouâre damn right we are. And we could have been fucked-up together.â
âYou narcissistic ass clown.â
âYou donât get to unpack all this emotional baggage and trauma that youâve been carting around since probably childhood that has nothing to do with me and then use it against me.â
âYou donât have to unpack my books. That seems more like a boyfriend job than a no-strings-sex partner job.â
âWhatâs happening here is youâre trying to provoke a misunderstanding that will force us to go our separate ways. Readers donât like that in books and women sure as hell donât like it in real life. Itâs a lazy conflict thatâs too easily avoided by two adults communicating which is what I am doing right now.â
âOh my god. Your mother just texted the group and said, âYour brotherâs always in a better mood when heâs sexually satisfied.â Now all your siblings are sending vomit emojis.â
âYet here you are, almost twenty years after your high school boyfriend dumps you, and youâre still trying to get revenge. Youâve got a husband and kids and probably a nice house with lake views. But youâre still thinking about the one who got away. Thatâs just sad.â
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