It’s not fake dating. It’s practice dating. Teen mom. Army widow. Small town sweetheart. I’ve worn those labels in Hart’s Ridge for my whole life, and I’m tired of it. So I let myself break free of their rules, for just one night, with the hottest man I’ve ever seen. But our one-night stand is a disaster. Fortunately for me, I’ll never see him again. Except it turns out he’s the principal of my daughter’s school. Max Darlington is every bit as broken as I am. I don’t know how to let go. He doesn’t know how to hold on. But maybe we can teach each other. Perfect for fans of Elsie Silver and Melanie Harlow, Don’t Call Me Sweetheart, book two in the Hart’s Ridge series, is a lightly angsty, steamy, small town contemporary romance.

He’s my best friend’s older brother. I might be a walking disaster, but I know how to keep my hands to myself. Right? It was a typical Friday night for me. Lock myself out of my house after having too much to drink? Check. Steal a police horse? Sure, why not. Spend the night with my best friend’s older brother? Um… I’ve made some pretty bad choices in my life. My ex-husband being the worst of them. Hart’s Ridge is a chance to start over. Do better. I’m determined to get it right this time. I know what it's like to lose my family in a breakup. I won't let that happen with my best friend. Michael says I can trust him. He’s not a liar and he doesn’t cheat. But he doesn’t understand. It’s not him I can’t trust. I can't trust myself.

She’s my little brother’s best friend. Completely off-limits. But I’m having trouble keeping my hands off her. Bethany Albright is my little brother’s best friend. I have a reputation in our small town, and he’s warned me not to make her another notch on my bedpost. She’s eight years younger than me, and when she left to be a ballerina in New York, she was just a kid. But now she’s home for the holidays—and she’s definitely not a kid anymore. She’s graceful and fearless and everything I didn’t know I needed. Gray eyes that see right into my soul. Long red hair. And legs that are made to be wrapped around me like a Christmas present. When my brother asks me to hire her at my bar, I can’t say no. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for him. Our parents left him in my care, and I take that duty seriously. But this time, he doesn’t understand what he’s asking me to do. Because she wants me to be her first. And I want that more than I want my next breath. She’s only here for the holidays, and it’s no one’s business but our own. We’re temporary. I’m the guy who likes to have a good time. Keep things casual. We’ll go back to being just friends in the New Year. She promises that she won’t fall for me. She has a life waiting for her, and nothing is going to hold her back. Not even me. But Bethany isn’t the one I’m worried about.