Allie has lived next door to Jon for as long as she can remember. He's always been just... there, the quiet house beyond the fence line, the man who keeps to himself, the one who never quite joins the rest of the world. Now she's freshly twenty-one, and everything feels different. He's thirty-five, a retired actor who left Hollywood behind for a quieter life, and he still doesn't belong to anyone, or at least that's what he seems to want people to believe. But distance has a way of changing shape when you've spent years growing up just out of reach of someone.

He is her uncle's best friend. Fifteen years older than her. The man who has known since she was eighteen. The man who walks into a room and somehow makes everyone notice. Jon is older, confident, protective, and completely woven into her family's life. He's the kind of man she should see as untouchable. A family friend. A trusted man. A line she should never cross. And yet... There's something about him that makes every rule feel a little harder to remember. The age gap was already a problem. The fact that he's her uncle's best friend? That's where the real trouble begins. Because wanting the one man you're absolutely not supposed to want has a way of turning every innocent moment into something dangerous. Fifteen years older. Completely off-limits. And unfortunately, exactly her type. 🖤