Gage Black is my daughter's best friend's dad.
He's emotionally unreadable, arrogant, and has been silently assessing me with those dark eyes since we met a year ago.
I want nothing to do with him, but when our girls pull us into each other's lives, we're suddenly navigating shared logistics, school events, and far too many lingering glances.
I tell myself I'm misreading things between us until he looks at me like no other woman exists, which is wildly inconvenient. Because I was not looking for… whatever this is. And definitely not with him.
Gage and I are complete opposites. I run on caffeine, chaos, and stubborn independence. He shows up with calm, capable efficiency, and 'I'll handle it energy' that pushes against the walls I built to survive. If this crashes and burns, we won't be the only ones who get hurt. Our girls will feel it too.
Then someone comes after me, twisting the truth, threatening my career. And that's when Gage steps in with the kind of powerful intensity that says: I will burn down anything that touches you.
He protects me. Stands beside me. Like I already belong to him. And makes it dangerously easy to imagine more.
But Gage isn't looking for casual.
And I don't know if I'm ready for forever.
The man who'd burn down empires to protect his family has finally found the woman he'll burn the entire world down for.
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