Red Clay Temptation (Red Clay Hearts #1)

Eli Bennett only planned to spend one summer in Blackthorn.

Armed with a research project and determined to prove he isn’t living off his powerful family’s name, the twenty-one-year-old college student arrives at Blackthorn Brickworks expecting long days, dusty records, and a temporary stay in a town he’ll soon forget.

Instead, he finds Mason Voss.

At thirty-eight, Mason is everything Eli should avoid. A tattooed brick kiln worker with a rough reputation, a painful past, and enough scars to know that people like him don’t get happy endings. He’s spent years keeping his head down, working hard, and staying away from anything that might break his heart.

Then the owner’s grandson walks into his life.

Eli is soft where Mason is hard. Hopeful where Mason is cynical. Too young, too good, and far too tempting.

What begins as reluctant supervision soon becomes stolen conversations, shared secrets, and a connection neither man can ignore.

But in a small town where everyone is watching, their growing relationship threatens everything. Family expectations, dangerous workplace secrets, and Mason’s belief that he’ll never be worthy of love stand between them.

When a devastating accident rocks Blackthorn Brickworks, Eli and Mason must decide whether their love is worth fighting for—or if fear will destroy what they’ve built together.

In the heat of the kilns, surrounded by red clay and buried truths, two men from different worlds will discover that sometimes home isn’t a place.

Sometimes it’s a person.