The Grump Next Door

<p><strong>Our first kiss was a lie. Our second was a mistake. And the night we spent tangled up in each other? Hot as hell but a complete disaster.</strong></p><p> </p><p>Because now Sutton Sinclair-the sharp-tongued troublemaker who left claw marks down my back and a dent in my self-control-is living in my backyard cottage with her teenage daughter. And I'm her goddamn landlord.</p><p> </p><p>I like things quiet. Controlled. She's neither. Sutton's chaos wrapped in sunshine a temptation in scrubs I can't seem to stay away from.</p><p> </p><p>When her ex shows up acting like Sutton's still his to lose I claim her on instinct. The kiss? Hot. The fallout? Immediate.</p><p> </p><p>Now my family-and the entire town-thinks we're a couple.</p><p> </p><p>Fake dating Sutton wasn't in my playbook but if being a pro-footballer turned high school coach has taught me anything it's how to pivot. All I have to do is keep my hands to myself.</p><p> </p><p>Then her cottage floods.</p><p> </p><p>Now we're sharing a roof...and a bed. The line between real and fake is blurring faster than I can redo the guest house.</p><p> </p><p>This is supposed to be temporary. But Sutton doesn't just crash into my life-she rewrites it. She's in my home moaning my name breaking every rule I've ever lived by.</p><p> </p><p>And I'm starting to want something permanent with the woman who's already got one foot out the door.</p>