Some secrets don’t stay buried.
They wait—quiet and patient—for the exact moment they can ruin you.
I learned a long time ago that surviving means keeping my heart locked down. No expectations. No hope. No love that asks me to trust like it won’t disappear. Because love doesn’t just leave scars—it takes pieces of you that never heal quite right.
Dean Weston intrigues me.
He’s successful. Steady. The kind of man who shows up without being asked.
Which is why, when he asks me to pretend to be his fiancée, I know right away it’s a terrible idea.
One week at a business retreat.
One carefully crafted love story.
One lie meant to protect us both.
The rules are simple.
Play the perfect couple.
Convince everyone we’re in love.
Walk away without getting hurt.
Only Dean doesn’t fake affection—he offers it easily. Gentle touches that linger longer than they should. Soft smiles meant just for me, like we share something no one else can see. Late-night conversations that stretch past midnight, where he listens in a way that makes me forget I ever learned how to be guarded. He makes me feel safe without promising anything at all, and somewhere along the way, the pretending turns into this beautiful lie I’m terrified to lose. I stop bracing for the fall I know is coming.
Because the truth always surfaces.
Lies unravel, no matter how carefully they’re told.
And some secrets don’t just hurt you.
They break you.

Amazon | Goodreads

In this one we follow Dean and Emily, both of which have a lot of scars relating to love and relationships. Against her better judgement she agrees to play as Dean’s fake fiancé for a business trip and realizes it is a slippery slope from there because somewhere in the act of making others believe they’re in love, things start to feel real.

This is definitely not a light romance, there’s a lot of emotional upheaval and depth. The way the two both learn how to trust each other and their feelings is heavier to read, but so worth it. The characters are three dimensional and it definitely feels like they are truly experiencing the ups and downs of their romance.

Though this is the third book in the series, it seems like they read perfectly fine as standalones – though after checking out Taylor Sullivan’s writing I will definitely be picking up more.

Happy reading!

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