The Spare Room Rule

Three rules. Thirty days. One dangerously off-limits roommate.

I've already lost my boyfriend, my job, and my apartment in one spectacularly disastrous night. The one thing I refuse to lose is my dream bakery. With thirty days until launch and nowhere else to go, I'm forced to accept a temporary lifeline from the last man I should ever be living near: Beckett "Jax" Vance.

Former Army Ranger. Reclusive custom woodworker. Six-foot-two of broad shoulders, permanent stubble, worn gray sweatpants, and enough grumpy silence to make a normal person run for cover. Oh, and he happens to be my overprotective brother's best friend.

Jax gives me his guest house on one condition: keep my chaos on my side of the driveway. Easy enough until the plumbing explodes. Suddenly, I'm sleeping down the hall from him, taking over his immaculate kitchen with pink mixers and clouds of flour, and trying very hard not to notice what my ridiculously attractive roommate looks like without a shirt.

Then I discover the man who claims my baking is a nuisance has been secretly devouring every "failed" pastry I leave on the counter. And somewhere between midnight kitchen collisions, flour-covered disasters, chocolate ganache on his bare chest, and the terrifyingly protective look in his eyes when my toxic ex gets too close, the line between off-limits and irresistible begins to disappear.

One kiss destroys what's left of our self-control, so we make a deal: two weeks, no strings, no feelings, and my brother never finds out. It should be simple. Temporary. Completely manageable.

Except Jax doesn't love with words. He builds. He protects. He shows up. And when everything I've worked for is threatened, the supposedly heartless man next door is willing to move heaven and earth to keep my dream alive.

I was supposed to stay for thirty days. I was supposed to keep my distance. And I was absolutely, positively not supposed to fall in love with my brother's best friend.

Turns out, some rules are made to be broken.

The Spare Room Rule is a steamy contemporary romantic comedy featuring brother's best friend, forced proximity, roommates-to-lovers, grumpy × sunshine, secret romance, acts of service, protective "touch her and die" energy, delicious kitchen tension, and a guaranteed happily ever after.