It started with a contract—clean, simple, perfectly professional. It ended with a risk, a kiss, and the kind of fine print that changed everything. Lacee Hart has always preferred the quiet corners of her library to the chaos of the outside world. But when her best friend Greta ropes her into a “rent-a-date” scheme to survive the annual New Year’s Eve gala, Lacee’s carefully ordered life is thrown into delightful disarray. The last thing she expects is for her mystery date to be none other than Reid Matthews—her brother’s best friend, the man she’s secretly loved for years, and the one person who’s always made her heart flutter. Reid, a firefighter with a complicated family legacy, has his own reasons for agreeing to the date. Between dodging his matchmaking mother and escaping the clutches of Seattle’s most eligible (and terrifyingly persistent) debutantes, pretending to be Lacee’s devoted date sounds like the perfect plan. But suddenly, the girl he’s never allowed himself to want is standing beside him in a dazzling dress, and the chemistry between them is impossible to ignore. Sparks turn into something far deeper, and their fake date quickly becomes a night of unguarded emotion, tangled family ties, and kisses that blur the line between friendship and something dangerously real. When Lacee stands her ground against malicious accusations, her honesty forces Reid to confront what he’s always known—Lacee is the only person who truly sees him. In a night filled with mounting family pressures, deception, and undeniable chemistry, Reid and Lacee must face their pasts and defy every assumption to fight for a love that just might change everything.