Heartbreak led me to Puffin Bay, searching for peace in a small, coastal town. Four years later, my bar is thriving and my next business is just what the town needs. It doesn’t need Roman Tominey. Arrogant, city-boy, suit-wearing grump - he knows how to push every one of my buttons, and after an evening of bad decisions, he knows how to push that one too. When Roman’s newly found teenage son joins him, Roman’s summer stay is extended. We spend the days arguing over a building project the local council insist we do together, and the evenings with him sneaking into my room. Then Roman’s ideas for Puffin Bay’s development cause all out war between us. Those sparks between us? They become weapons. Only Roman doesn’t fire his. It seems he wants something more than another zero on the end of his bank balance and he might just discard his suit - and its buttons - to keep on pressing mine.

No bride expected to be steering a boat in her wedding dress, running away from the day she’d been planning for months. But that was me. I was that runaway bride. In a boat that now had no fuel, stranded on a stretch of dangerous water, and my phone was now swimming with the fishes. The man who rescued me lived in a lighthouse and was the strong and very silent type, who also happened to foster rescue cats. He was now part of the lifeboat crew and the opposite of the geeky boy he’d been in school. And I’d been the girl he’d secretly crushed on. Thane didn’t want a relationship. He wanted a quiet life with no complications. I wanted to get under another man to get over the one I’d left at the altar, then I wanted to get the rest of my life on track, back in my small-town home in Puffin Bay. Neither of us expected the little twist that came our way.

The deal was simple… Pretend to be in a relationship without falling for each other. Only I’m not sure I can hold my end of the bargain. I’m the sensible one out of my brothers. The reliable one. The one who doesn’t make hasty decisions. Or at least that was me until Ruby Murray turned up in my small town with her long legs and red lips, and a secret she needed me to help keep. It should be straightforward – I pretend to be her boyfriend, and she shows my ex-girlfriend I’ve moved on. But this fake relationship feels too real for both of us. She’s sure we’re just friends – but the benefits suggest it’s a whole lot more. I’m sure that when she leaves town, she’ll be taking part of me with her. Ruby thinks we can carry on pretending. She says that this is just a favour to help us both out. I say a secret wedding proves otherwise. I just need to show her that she can trust me with more than a secret – that I can keep her heart safe as well. Then hopefully, she’ll stay.

I could always ask my roommate for her advice – but then, I’d prefer to extract my own teeth. I wasn’t expecting my temporary housemate to be Freya. My housemate was meant to be a lot taller, bald and male – not a wispy fairy-like creature with a thing for incense and crystals. Freya loved meditating. I preferred to code. Freya adored people. I thought they should be online only, except for special occasions. Freya was always smiling. I rationed my smiles for birthdays only. But Freya was only smiling on the outside. My irritating, meditating, meddling, temporary housemate would do anything for anyone, but never herself. Those smiles concealed what was going on beneath, something I first saw when she thought I wasn’t looking, then she let me see inside a little more. I liked what I saw, although I pretended not to. She thought she had to be perfect. I thought she was perfect already. Maybe Freya wasn’t my opposite. Maybe she was the piece that fitted in perfectly to complete my future, the one her tarot cards told me was complicated.

Clover Carew has no job, no home and has never had a proper boyfriend, unless you count the several hundred book-shaped ones. Stopping to help the stranger whose car has broken down on the bridge to the island doesn’t seem like a bad idea, even if it is Halloween. Only the stranger is definitely not Prince Charming, however handsome he looks. Grayson Wynne has enough problems in his life: a difficult ex-wife, a new position as the island’s doctor, a young son and no form of childcare; he doesn’t need Clover knocking on his door determined to be his good Samaritan. Especially when she comes with feline shaped baggage and legs that are too much of a distraction for a straight-laced single dad. He needs a nanny, and Clover needs a place to live and a job. She also needs dating lessons, but that’s where Grayson draws the line, one in permanent marker, until Clover has an offer from elsewhere. Then all of a sudden, those straight laces become very very undone…

I was connected to Iris through a shared loss - Ivy - her older sister, who was also my best friend. For a long time, we corresponded through letters. Old fashioned ink and paper on which we shared everything. A mistaken one night stand when we were both drunk with grief didn’t ruin our friendship. We moved on. We carried on writing to each other. We stayed friends. Four years later, and Iris is asking me for a favour. She wants a baby and needs a father, which isn’t going to be straightforward for either of us. I say yes, pretending this will be easy. Knowing it won’t be. Especially when that one night stand with Iris doesn’t feel like a mistake anymore - and I want more than a repeat. I want forever. older sister’s best friend; friends-to-lovers; small town; planned pregnancy death of a sibling, infertility, IVF

Part of the Puffin Bay series

The final book in the Puffin Bay series.