Her Heart at His Pace

Ashley Davis has become the permanent third wheel: her sister is married, her best friend is in love, and her own life in Toronto feels stuck in place.

When Sebastian Rossi, an old friend, asks her to promote his dating app as a social media influencer, she agrees, hoping that kissing enough frogs might finally produce a prince.

Sebastian is happy to cheer other people toward their happily ever after, but hookups are all he will allow himself; his family has given him plenty of proof that falling in love can be disastrous, and he sees no future with a white picket fence.

Their collaboration looks simple—publicity for his app, and help for Ashley’s search—until celebratory drinks turn into a friends-with-benefits arrangement they believe they can keep purely physical.

As they work together, that distance becomes harder to maintain, especially once Ashley brings him into her close-knit running club and he starts to notice there may be another way to live than as a lone wolf.

If Sebastian cannot let go of his fear, the feelings they keep pretending not to have may be the thing that blows up in their faces.