Fake engagement. Real heat. In a small town that believes in second chances, can a guarded hero and a chaos-sweet sunshine turn a spark into something fireproof?

When free-spirited ceramic artist Ember Quinn watches her mountain studio go up in flames, she loses more than clay and kilns -- she loses the life she built with her bare, paint-streaked hands. Enter Clay Walker: stoic, broad-shouldered firefighter with a past he won't discuss and a glare that says not on my watch. He drags her out of the blaze, wraps her in his jacket... and into the town's favorite love story when a paperwork mix-up lists him as her fiancé.

One headline in the Devil's Peak Gazette and Copper Mountain is obsessed with their "romance born from the ashes." To protect Ember from gossip -- and keep a nosy insurance investigator from tanking her claim -- Clay agrees to fake it: hand-holding at town events, couple's trivia, matching smiles for the cameras. No touching. No kissing. No catching feelings.

But rules melt faster than wax at a bonfire. Soon the illusion starts to feel dangerously real -- and when Ember learns what Clay's been burning to forget, she must decide if this mountain man is worth the fight.

Perfect for fans of grumpy/sunshine, protector heroes, forced proximity, found family, and small-town slow burn with scorch.

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• RomanceAlpha Male
• RomanceFirefighters
• RomanceSmall Town Romance

• Publication Date: November 9, 2025
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 147 Pages
• File Size: 58 KB