His voice dropped when he spoke, low and smooth, brushing against my skin just as surely as his touch had. "Careful," he said softly. "You'll soak yourself." His thumb traced a slow, deliberate path along my wrist, and the simple contact sent a shiver straight through me, heat blooming where his skin met mine. Then he smiled, that familiar half-smile that always unraveled me, like he knew exactly how much control he had in that moment and was choosing not to hide it. "If you don't believe me," he continued quietly, his voice close enough that I could feel it rather than hear it, "you can come to my place next time. No sink to fight with." His fingers tightened just slightly, not enough to trap me, but enough to make it clear he could if he wanted to. "I'll take care of you there." * Aurea Sevyn is sunshine with quiet scars. Archer Gray is a storm who's forgotten how to protect his heart. She's rebuilding after betrayal. He's surviving the echo of "never enough." One unexpected moment pulls them together, and one desperate deal traps them in a fake relationship. It's supposed to be simple. Safe. Temporary. But their pull is instant, dangerous, impossible to ignore. Jealous exes return. Old wounds open. And pretending starts to feel too real. She becomes his peace. He becomes her home. But when the line between fake and real disappears, will two broken hearts save each other... or break all over again?

What she'd look like without that shirt. What she'd sound like if I kissed the corner of her throat and whispered her name there. What she'd do if I pinned her against the counter and made her say please. What she'd do if I- "Dominic?" • "I stayed up late, trying to get good at maths... just so I could be someone you'd respect. Someone you might someday look at and see more. Someone who could belong in your world." "I didn't want your money. Or your praise. I just..." my throat tightened, "I just wanted you to see me. Not Tristan's sister. Not a kid." Just Elena. • Elena Evelyn Grantt has spent years pretending. Pretending she didn't love him, pretending she could move on, and pretending it didn't matter that he never saw her that way. To Carl Dominic Enzo, she was only his best friend's little sister. But when Dominic returns, everything begins to shift. Older now and harder to ignore, he still calls her "little sister" and still treats her like family, yet his eyes linger longer than they should and the tension between them grows harder to resist. She was never meant to love him. He was never supposed to want her. But some lines are meant to be crossed...