Falling hard for my ex-boyfriend’s rugged older brother was never in the plan.
Beckett Miller may be my brother’s best friend, but he’s also the last person on earth I want to ask for help. He’s stubborn, demanding, and doesn’t care at all what people think of him—everything his little brother wasn’t, and definitely everything I should not want.
Thanks to my own stubbornness and my three infuriating siblings, he is the only one who can help me renovate my beloved aunt’s farmhouse.
Beckett thinks I’m a doormat, and I know he’s an arrogant prick, but toss in one late-night game of tipsy strip poker, and before long, endless summer days turn into scorching nights.
Every stolen touch—every kiss—is wrong in the best ways.
I can fix everything around me: my friends’ problems, my brothers’ love lives, maybe even the decades-old rivalry that divides our cozy coastal town. So Beckett’s snarl and heavy sighs are no match for me.
The only thing I can’t seem to fix is the way my body reacts when he swings a hammer. I built walls to protect my heart after what his brother did to me, but I’m finding it could all come crumbling down with just one touch.
Kate is excited to rehab her family homestead and eager to get started until she learns the contractor is her loser ex’s jerk of a brother. Beckett is arrogant, rude and unfriendly, so Kate wants nothing to do with him, but she’s stuck with him. He’s one of the best builders around and way out of their price range, but as her brother’s best friend, he’s willing to do it for a bargain price. The house needs extensive repairs and updates, so hiring another company isn’t an option. This isn’t at all what Kate expected to come home to, but it’s what she gets.
Beckett can’t understand why Kate rabidly despises him, but she’s made it abundantly clear that’s how she feels. They’re practically strangers and he’s never done anything to her, so he doesn’t know where the loathing comes from and he really doesn’t much care. Kate was too boring, too complaint, too Stepford-wife agreeable for his tastes. No matter how he tried, Beckett can’t drum up any real respect for someone so willing to be a doormat. He decides the feeling is mutual and he’ll just ignore her, but that’s not actually an option since she’s right there in his way every damn day.
These two are explosive pretty much instantly but he won’t give in, even when Kate is willing to put all their differences aside, at least for one night. As a result, their relationship becomes increasingly contentious even as it smolders with the heat of this wild attraction. They both have baggage that gets in the way, keeping them apart when all they want is to be together but maybe they can get past it to make this work. It won’t be easy since they’ve both been damaged – her by his loser brother and him by his own family – but they’ll do their best to find a way. I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review.
