Amelia Reed has just moved into the quiet house at the end of the street, determined to make a fresh start. At 23, living alone is both exciting and terrifying, but she’s ready to prove she doesn’t need anyone else to build a life she’s proud of.
Amelia Reed has spent years trying to ignore the one person she’s never been allowed to want—her older brother’s best friend, Caleb Hayes. Three years older than her and practically a permanent fixture in their house growing up, Caleb has always treated her like his best friend’s little sister, no matter how much she’s changed.
Years after Caleb disappeared from Amelia’s life, they’re reunited on a college trip. She hates him for breaking her heart, but the truth behind that night changes everything.
You’ve always been drawn to guys who are a little older, a little rough around the edges, and definitely the type people would tell you to stay away from.
Born into two powerful families locked in a decades-long rivalry, Amelia Reed and Caleb Hayes are taught to hate each other before they ever have a chance to understand one another. When a hidden family secret threatens to destroy everything, they must decide whether their love is strong enough to survive betrayal, lies, and the war they never started.
Amelia Reed, 23, is just trying to make it home after a long night when she stops at a quiet roadside gas station. Caleb Hayes, 25, is passing through for reasons he won’t explain. They’ve never met, and after a brief exchange, they expect to go their separate ways.
Amelia never expected a simple argument to end with her trapped in a bedroom with Caleb Hayes. One minute they were bickering at a family gathering, the next the old lock on the guest room door jammed shut, leaving them stuck together with no way out. What should have been a minor inconvenience quickly becomes something far more complicated. With hours to kill and nowhere to escape, their usual sarcastic exchanges give way to real conversations, lingering glances, and a tension that’s impossible to ignore. The longer they’re confined together, the harder it becomes for Amelia to remember why she’s spent years fighting with Caleb—and the harder it becomes to ignore the possibility that their constant rivalry has always been hiding something else.
Twenty-year-old Amelia Reed has spent years avoiding Caleb Hayes whenever she can. Cocky, infuriatingly composed, and always convinced he knows best, Caleb has a talent for getting under her skin.