Sometimes the best lessons aren't learned in class, they're felt in the heart. Riley Hale's life runs on caffeine, chaos, and cupcake batter. At twenty-eight, she's mastered the art of single motherhood, sarcasm, and pretending she's totally fine that her love life has been replaced by late-night cleaning montages and her eight-year-old's existential questions. Then one morning, a frosty stranger in a perfect beige coat walks into The Sweet Spot bakery and straight into Riley's list of "people I will never impress." After one spilled coffee and a mortifying apology later, Riley is convinced she'll never see the woman again. Until the next day, when she meets her daughter's new fifth-grade teacher... Miss Emerson Miller. What follows is a year of accidental flirtations, school-event disasters, and late-night bake-offs that blur the line between enemies, friends, and something sweeter. Because sometimes love doesn't show up when you plan it - it spills all over your shoes and dares you to start over. A slow-burn, small-town romantic comedy about second chances, messy mornings, and discovering that the best lessons aren't always taught in classrooms.

Book 1 of the Hearts of Oakhaven Duo He built a fortress around his heart. She brought a wrecking ball and a secret. Elias Thorne is a mystery in Oakhaven, A solitary figure and the owner of a successful tattoo franchise, his wealth is as carefully guarded as his silence. He is the quiet grump the whole town wants to decipher, but no one ever gets close. Elias likes his life neat, organized, and utterly empty of anything that could remind him of love and loss. Then June Hayes arrives. Burnt out from the new york art scene and pregnant via a donor, June is determined to create a peaceful, new life for herself and her baby. To the locals, she's just a sweet, new artist. They have no idea she's also viral sensation with over a million followers who sells her work to the A-list. June sees Elias's grumpy exterior and smiles. She needs a friend, and she has decided the broody, ball cap wearing man (no seriously I never see him without a hat on - June) across the street is it. She invades his quiet space showing up at the inkwell every Tuesday and spending the day, sharing her music, and poking at his meticulous order. Elias fights it all, clenching his jaw and pulling his cap low to hide the truth: he fell for the Wildflower the minute she crashed into his life. As June begins posting subtle, faceless photos of him, their reluctant friendship turns into an online viral romance that threatens to expose both of their secrets. How do you guard a heart that already belongs to a Wildflower, a baby, and a life you swore you'd never have? And what happens when the most careful grump in Oakhaven blurts out, "That's my wife," just to stay by her side? Tropes: - Grumpy x Sunshine - He Falls First - Protective - Pregnancy - Small Town - Forced Friends - Friends to lovers - Secret Identity CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE

At twenty-four, Cora really believed she knew what her life was going to be like. But when that perfect life threw her a curveball with two pink lines and a suddenly bare ring finger, she's forced to face a new life she didn't know could belong to her. Now five months pregnant and still alone, she's left trying to prepare for a baby while untangling herself from years that have left her without an identity. She isn't looking for a savior, just wishing to be stable enough for her baby. Eric isn't good with words. He never has been. But in every small act of service, every quiet presence, every protective glance when life reminds Cora how vulnerable she still feels, he says everything he doesn't know how to speak aloud. He doesn't try to save her, but somewhere in that silently protective presence of his, Eric becomes something more dangerous than a savior. He quickly becomes someone she begins to trust.

With his career on the line, Ashton takes a blockbuster role-only to find himself starring opposite his longtime rival, Ryker Cohen. But as tension turns to sparks, hate might not be the only thing burning between them. *** With Ashton's dying career, his last lifeline was accepting the lead role in a sureshot blockbuster. But the new role had a catch, and the catch had a name: Ryker Cohen, Ashton's sole archnemesis. Can Ashton act alongside the man he has spent years despising? Will he give in to the hate? Or will Ryker's soft touch melt Ashton's stone cold heart? *** "You're crazy," Ashton whispered. "Yes," Ryker continued. "For you." "No. You're just crazy. Period." *** [mxm] [marked mature for sexual content]