Rust Canyon

Going home for the holidays is never easy. But it's next to impossible when you've just been dumped. Just when I think it can't get any worse, my grad school nemesis, billionaire playboy Macallan Blaze, finds me sulking, trying to figure out a Plan B. Life's a game to him, so when he offers to stand in as my fake boyfriend, I think he's joking. But he's dead serious. And it's not like I can afford to turn him down. My tiny hometown only consists of 600 residents, where everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads faster than wildfire.

At eighteen, I left my hometown in the rearview mirror, vowing to never return. Ten years later, my best friend is getting married, and I have to make a choice: set foot back in Rust Canyon, where painful memories of the past lurk around every corner, or let down the only person who's always been there for me. I convinced myself it would be fine, that I could put my blinders on and make it through a single week. Except one very important detail wasn't brought to my attention until it was too late.

For twenty-eight years, I’ve kept the woman I love close. Too close. Penny Atkins has been my best friend and secret crush for as long as I can remember. But I never dared to make a move, too afraid of wrecking our lifelong friendship. So, of course, when I finally convince myself to just suck it up and tell her that I've been in love with her since we were kids, I find out she's engaged. I waited too long, and now she's rushing into marriage with another man.