Elyse Acklin decides a little soul searching is in order after she finds her fiancé in bed with her best friend. Taking a self-proclaimed indefinite break from men, she focuses on her dream of becoming a sous chef at the restaurant where she works. As Elyse slowly works through her heartache, a very handsome—and definitely single—architect moves in next door. Tyler Sullivan is mastering the art of keeping himself emotionally unavailable after the unimaginable and painful loss of his wife and newborn son. Keeping his broken heart closed, he has no intention of allowing any of his string of meaningless trysts to turn into something more. But then his job takes him to a new city ... with an unbelievably stubborn and sexy chef next door. Even though Elyse finds herself drooling a little whenever he's working outside shirtless and Tyler unintentionally stares too long at her long, tanned legs, they become friends. He makes a few improvements on her house in exchange for good food and easygoing conversation. But as their friendship brings them closer, revealing personal loss and heartache, will they continue to ignore their strong and undeniable attraction and keep their hearts closed to new possibilities? Because if their hearts aren't involved, then they can't feel pain, right? This is a slow burn standalone romance novel with lots of spice, humor, and all the feels. HEA guaranteed!