Austin Wells: everyone’s comic relief, the unmotivated baby brother with the occasional bright idea. In other words, nowhere good enough for brilliant, driven, gorgeous Leyla Robinson. He tries to content himself with admiring her from across the barista counter while she works on taking the world by storm.

Austin is, Leyla’s sure, just as sweet and funny and attentive and flirty with her as he is with everyone else he serves at Pier Three Coffee. She’s nothing special. To be blunt, she’s boring. All she ever does is follow the rigorous schedule she sets herself to get through grad school and fight for the career she craves and the oceans she loves.

They’ve been watching each other for so long, each so sure of their own opinions about themselves and each other. But when Leyla finds she can help with Austin’s secret ambitions, so long as she gives up a few layers of her own self-protections, they must both decide how much to risk on the other’s behalf. And what happens if, in the process, they begin to see themselves the way they see each other?