A romance only book shop owner meets a hockey player that reads only romance. Louisa McDavid figures after escaping from the cult she grew up in, the universe owes her a happy ending. Her sisters are all safe, she owns her own business, and she doesn’t give a damn what anyone thinks of her. But as a woman in love with love, why has it been so hard for her to find one of the good ones? Everything changes when Ciaran Carter basically steps out of the pages of one of Louisa’s beloved smutty books and into her romance-only bookstore. Tall, muscular, handsome, and he likes to read? He’s the perfect book boyfriend come to life. And he plays hockey? Bless. It doesn’t get any better. Louisa and Ciaran strike sparks off each other from the moment they meet. He’s got big dreams, and she’s got big secrets. And together, they’ll set their little corner of Tennessee on fire.

Eliza McDavid is done with dating. Every man she meets does nothing for her. After years of abuse, she knows she wants safety—but most of all, she wants love. Each of her sisters has her own passion, and Eliza thinks she’s found hers when she decides to open her own coffee bar. But she doesn’t have a clue how to run one. She knows someone who does, however, but he won’t give her the time of day. Until he does. Coleson Katz’s reputation is worse than the sludge shoveled off the ice between periods of a hockey game. He has made some bad personal choices, so when it’s time for him to be called up to the NHL, no one wants to give him a chance. He’s told that the only way to fix his reputation is by finding a wife, but he wants to do anything other than that. Who would want to marry a hockey player who is known for sleeping around? But then he’s reminded that Eliza wants to learn how to operate a coffee shop. He owns one of those, has been running it his whole life. He proposes a trade. His coffee shop in exchange for a year of her life in a fake marriage to him. Easy peasy. Or so he thinks.