Denial is a dish best served with a side of benefits and a best friend. Sonya Cartelli is sunlight personified. Ever the optimist, she is always looking on the sunny side, but when one conversation leads to the topic of casual sex, she finds herself wondering if she has it in her and who better to find out with than her best friend? The only problem is—she’s in complete denial over what they really are. She says they’re friends, but friends don’t light up for each other the way Sonya does for Walker. Though admitting that out loud will open a can of worms she isn’t equipped to handle, so she denies, denies, denies. Walker Bodie knew the moment he saw Sonya she was someone special. When they met a year ago, she was adamant about staying single for the start of her university journey so, he buried what he always knew was there. When she offers herself up on a silver platter for a temporary arrangement, he initially turns her down out of fear of what it would do to their friendship, only to realize he doesn’t want her doing this with anyone but him. With rules in place, nothing could possibly go wrong, but when their feelings start getting tangled in the sheets they’re forced to face the fact that nothing about this feels like just friends anymore and it never really did.

Anger might be their greatest work of art yet. Everett Moran lives his life at a glass half-empty. It’s easier to hold people at arm’s length than to get attached and have them leave. It’s why he hides behind a mask—from the family that cut him out, from the friends he’s afraid to lose and from the reality he doesn’t want to face. He’s been doing a good job of it, too, until a class project forces him and the one-night-stand he hasn’t been able to forget to work together. Wren Abbott is all too familiar with surviving troubled waters on her own. She’s only ever had herself to depend on, but with her future in Everett’s hands, she is forced to let her walls down. When he keeps showing up for her, she has to face the fact that the tangled mess of feelings between them might not be so complicated after all. With their pride set aside and their hearts on the line, the choice is theirs to make. Do they run or do they stay and fight?

Bargaining for a fake relationship was never part of the plan. Bekah Reynolds knows what she wants. And what she doesn’t. When the captain of her university’s hockey team asks her out, she turns him down, barely standing to be around him but when her editor makes it clear he won’t give her a column unless she makes herself invaluable, she sees opportunity. Evan Fitzpatrick has his eyes set on one thing and one thing only—the NHL. It is all he has ever wanted, but when the team starts tanking under his leadership and his coach starts to question his ability to commit, he starts to wonder if he really has what it takes. When Bekah comes to him with a plan—she’ll fake being his girlfriend to prove he can commit to his coach if he agrees to do the athletic profile he has notoriously refused to do—how can he say no? The plan is foolproof, but when feelings that have always been there become harder to ignore. Can they really say it’s still fake?