Before Our Fake Engagement Breaks

Noah Weston decided love was too dangerous after it claimed his parents and then his brother, leaving him the only guardian of a little boy who needs far more than he thinks he can offer.

Across the hall lives Clio Marsden, a teacher who drove halfway across the country to find her long-lost sister and stayed because Willow Valley felt like home.

The neighbor he keeps threatening to evict steps in when he cannot manage alone, and soon she is wearing his ring as his fake fiancée in a town fueled by gossip.

His nephew adores her, the neighbors adores her too, and Noah means to stay unmoved even as he notices the buried hurt she never shows.

They are more alike than either expected, but Clio cannot gamble a real heart on a man who will not risk pulling her free of the past.