When Calliope Sweeney's boyfriend cheats on her the very same day she graduates from culinary school she decides to for once think of herself. To finally take an impulsive step and leave her hometown she'd been attached to since she was 11 years old. To start her life somewhere else, to live away from all the men who'd cheated on her in the past, to find herself and live out her dream life. She vows to focus on her own self growth and her new bakery the second she steps foot in Miami to live with her wealthy older brother. Although she doesn't expect a brooding jerk, Emrhys Blackburn, to enter her life when she gets there. He was her antithesis, a curt and aloof yet undeniably attractive man who somehow makes the fake smile she always plasters on real. She doesn't expect Rhys to make her feel a way she'd never felt with any other man before, to make her want something she should not want. But there were two problems. Number one is Calliope doesn't want to open her heart up that way again, even if it does mean she might have a chance at true love. Number two is Emrhys Blackburn is her brother's best friend. *** #1 in forcedproximity #1 in opposite #1 in bakery #1 in secretdating #1 in bestfriendssister #1 in brooding #1 in grumpyxsunshine #1 in groveling #1 in jealous #1 in cute

"But he who dares not grasp the thorn should never crave the rose" *** ExTrAcT "We're role-playing Sunshine, think of it as inspiration for your essay. You can explore different fantasies! Not sexual of course..unless you want to, then I'd totally be down but I don't think I'm really into the whole public kink so we'd have to go somewhere priva-" Aurora was cut off when a hand grabbed her throat and pulled her up to where she was staring directly at Synns chest. The boy was clenching his teeth to the point where he could hear them grinding, trying to refrain himself from doing god knows what to this girl. Auroras body relaxed after a second and she gave a lazy grin. "So hot" "You are so infuriating"

Nolan, an unapproachable guy who ignores the existence of all his schoolmates, sleeps in all of his classes. Normally, this wouldn't be Chelsea Arnold's problem-she does her best to pay attention in class and attends gym like a good, normal student. Unfortunately, she just so happens to be his assigned desk partner in many classes. She's frequently forced to wake him in English class and ends up earning the unofficial title of Nolan's Wake-up Alarm-a title that nobody in the entire school covets. The last thing she wants is to interact with him more than she absolutely has to. One day, their gym teacher sends her to bring him back to class, which he always skips for some reason. When she accidentally shines her flashlight in his sleeping face, it triggers a chain of events that gradually intertwines their lives together. It's hard to be a normal student when you start befriending the school oddball. It doesn't help that he has more secrets than the Big Ben has stairs. ----- Complete. (first person, past tense, slowburn) ----- 1st place in Humor Category of Psychological Novel Reads Contest 2020 (29 Sep 2020) ----- Started: April 28, 2020 Completed: July 23, 2021 Word Count: 160K+ ----- The sequel, The Tortoise and His Sunrise, is up on my profile now!