Jamie Ellis is one late payment away from eviction. Between a chaotic freelance illustration career and endless shifts as a barista, he’s drowning. His checking account is empty, his anxiety is peaking, and his gruff, hyper-competent landlord, Mark Russo, has finally come to collect. Mark is everything Jamie isn't: thirty-six, steady, and built like a brick wall. When Mark offers a work-for-rent arrangement to help cover the debt, Jamie expects grueling labor and a lot of judgment. He doesn’t expect Mark’s endless patience. He definitely doesn't expect the way Mark's deep, quiet voice makes his knees weak every time the older man praises his hard work with a simple, rough, "Good boy." As leaky faucets and cracked grout give way to stolen glances and simmering tension, the lines between landlord and tenant begin to blur. Mark speaks in acts of service, fixing what's broken in Jamie's apartment—and slowly, in Jamie himself. When a building blackout plunges them into darkness, their slow-burn attraction finally catches fire. But when the lights come back on, they have to figure out if a relationship built on a transactional clause can survive the real world, or if they're both destined to end up broken.