Elements of Rapture

Rani Shah is everything I can't have-too young, too sweet, too innocent. Not to mention, she's my late wife's sister and my son's nanny. So when she asked me to kiss her, I should have refused. When she begged me to touch her, I could have turned her down. When she coaxed me to take the one thing she's never given away-her virginity-a better man would have walked away. Should have, could have, would have... But I didn't. She should have been living the carefree life of a nineteen-year-old. She could have avoided all my broken pieces and jagged edges. She would have been able to save herself before I got a taste. Should have, could have, would have... But she didn't. Some love stories are forbidden from the start. Ours is one of them.

Did I plan to marry the single mom I've wanted for years on a drunken whim in Vegas? No. Do I regret it? Heck no! Bella Patel might think we're just friends, or that I'm nothing but a playboy pilot, or even that this marriage is only a temporary charade... but I'm hell-bent on proving her wrong. If she's skittish and stubborn, then I'm dependable and determined. So, when her scumbag baby-daddy threatens her, and she asks me to double down on our ruse, I'm only too eager to comply. My condition? For her and her daughter to move in with me. You know, for "optics." By the end of this marriage contract, the only jackpot I want to win is a chance at forever with her.

Nine years... That's how long I've secretly loved my brother's best friend, a man who fights fires for a living but sets me ablaze with nothing but a cocky grin. Dean Meyer has made it clear that we're just friends-best friends. So when we get stranded in an epic snowstorm, sharing one bed in a roadside motel, what could go wrong? Everything. We may have blurred the lines over the past nine years, but we'd never crossed them. Not the way we did that night. He promised nothing would change, that he'd forget every kiss and every touch, every whimper and every moan. He promised we'd walk out the door and go back to the way things were. He promised...but he lied. And now, a year of missed calls and unanswered texts later, we find ourselves forced back together again. Will the fire still burn between us, or did that one night's blaze leave us with nothing but ashes?

There are many reasons I should have handed in my resignation the day I met my new boss, Hudson Case. First off, he's the reason I lost my first waitressing job. Secondly, he's gruff, grumpy, and another inconvenient g-word... gorgeous. And to top it off, he's my good friend's dad. Oh, and did I mention, he's also my new roommate? Yeah, we'll get to that in a sec. It all started when I begged my friend to get me a temp position working as her dad's admin until my big move at the end of summer. Little did I know, her dad was the same jerk who callously fired me from my previous waitressing gig. He says I'm a walking migraine and a thorn in his side. So, when I threaten to quit, why does his counteroffer include me moving in with him for business reasons? But before we know it, we're mixing business with pleasure. A lot of pleasure. Suddenly, nothing feels temporary anymore. But it has to be, right? Because one way or another, our time together is coming to an end.