He's my best friend's grumpy brother, my new landlord, and the one man I'm strictly forbidden to touch.

Ethan Rourke is a surgeon with a God complex and a house like a museum.

Cold. Sterile. Terrifyingly orderly.

I'm a chaotic artist with a cat who thinks prize roses are chew toys.

When I got evicted, he offered me his guest house.

Big mistake.

Now I'm living fifty feet away from the most brooding, damaged, insanely hot man in town.

He wants silence.

I bring noise.

He has strict rules about "boundaries" and "quiet hours."

I have a bad habit of breaking them.

We are fire and ice.

We shouldn't work.

But when a late-night argument turns into him pinning me against a wall covered in paint...

I realize the ice is just a shield.

And the fire is going to consume us both.

He thinks he's too broken to love.

He says I'm just a temporary mess he has to clean up.

But the way he holds me in the dark tells a different story.

I'm ready to paint a future with him.

If only he doesn't scrub me out of his life first.

Autorentext

Anna May Grace is the romance novel Pen Name of Grace Ann Hansen.

Grace writes typically about identity, resilience, and personal transformation. But romance is fun, so why not?

Even though she writes romance novels for straight girls, her work is informed by her journey as a queer woman, and her direct, personal style gives a voice to marginalized and love-sick characters navigating societal challenges and their own demons.

She draws on a diverse background in IT and healthcare, as well as 34 years in a regional rock band. A mother and grandmother, Grace is a passionate advocate for the transgender community. She uses her platform as an author and public speaker to craft narratives of hope that foster understanding. Grace works in Healthcare IT and lives in the Midwest with her wife of 30 years, in a red state, because that's where all their family lives.