Description

A small-town contemporary friends-to-lovers romance set in Carolina Cove featuring a protective doctor and a trauma-wise counselor who are strictly off-limits. Expect workplace hospital tension, forced proximity at a mountain cabin retreat, slow burn, closed-door chemistry, caretaker and healing vibes, and a heartfelt path to a guaranteed HEA. Perfect for readers who love best friends to lovers, protective hero, mental health themes, and feel-good small-town stories.

She's off-limits. That's the first thing Dr. Logan Davenport thinks every morning before going to work at the same hospital as counselor Zoey Barnes. Officially friend-zoned because he can't stand the thought of losing her lifelong friendship, his secret crush can never be revealed. But when Zoey is injured by a patient and Logan realizes how close to the breaking point Zoey actually is, the doctor in him—and the man who loves her more than he should—can't ignore it.

Zoey Barnes is all too aware of the attention her childhood friend receives from others in the hospital. Logan's good looks and bedside manner leave many fawning over him. But when he "kidnaps" her after she's injured and takes her to his mountain retreat to heal, she's the one drawn by his bedside attentions. Still, she's seen what love does to perfectly sane people, and since she's spent her career helping people recover from the pain inflicted by the ones they love, she knows not to let him get too close. Logan calls her forced vacation a sabbatical. She calls it torture. Nature? Hikes? Seeing Logan in his swim trunks beneath a waterfall?

After too many days together and far too many salacious thoughts, reality returns with a punch. They finally go home to Carolina Cove but Zoey can't forget exchanging one forbidden what-if kiss. When her patients need her and crashing and burning is one of the many possible outcomes with Logan, can she risk falling in love?