Overview

I knew I should have stayed away from my older sister’s best friend, but that’s hard to do when she bets on a date with you at the Date-A-Deputy Auction in our hometown of Emerson Falls, Oregon, and wins.

So, what does any self-respecting man do in that situation? Gets the woman to admit she wants me too even though she denies it.

Clara Anderson was now a more beautiful version of the woman I harbored a crush on as a teenager, and after her near death experience—one in which I saved her from—it seemed she finally started noticing me as more than the scrawny boy she picked on while we were growing up.

In fact, her drunken confessions of her attraction to me only fueled my desire to make the woman mine. So when she wins the date with me, using the donation to charity as her excuse, I use it as my opportunity to wear down her defenses and take a shot at finding out if there’s more than just a physical attraction between us.

You see, Clara isn’t the relationship type, a detail my sister used to warn me away from her. And since Clara admits this too, we agree to discover this connection between us in secret, complete with many benefits.

Only, dating her in secret doesn’t sit well with me for long, and when I push for more, I threaten to ruin the relationship I’ve always wanted with this woman, and the relationship she has with my sister.

However, there are questions that need to be answered when everything explodes.

Will Clara admit that there’s something real between us and let me love her the way she deserves? Or did she just entice me from the beginning, running the risk of losing not only her best friend, but me as well?

Trigger Warning: Attempted Sexual Assault