Description

She calls him hers to deflect a problem. He takes it as a promise.

Trisha Hendrix has spent her life running: from memories, from expectations, from anywhere that felt too permanent. Fresh out of the military and exhausted down to her bones, she touches down in a tiny lakeside town with a single goal—rest, then move on.

What she doesn't expect?
The bartender whose smile could light a blackout.

Lorenzo Ingram is warmth wrapped in flannel, the kind of man who remembers strangers' drink orders and gives second chances like it's a hobby. When Trisha impulsively calls him her "boyfriend" to shut down his overeager ex, Lorenzo is all too willing—and pleased—to play along.

But what starts as a deflection becomes something else entirely.
Because Lorenzo sees the woman beneath the armor—fierce, lonely, extraordinary.
And he knows, instantly and absolutely, that she's his.

Trisha tells herself it's just a stopover.
Lorenzo is determined to prove it's the beginning of forever.

This short read is MF with a guaranteed HEA.