Hot Cocoa at Midnight

Zoey Jackson is Lake Loveless's resident heartbroken artist, spending her nights sketching strangers and her days avoiding her well-meaning brother. After losing her parents years ago, she's returned to her childhood boathouse, living on instant cocoa and takeout from The Corner Store. She paints sunsets she can't quite enjoy and drinks enough Swiss Miss to keep the company in business. Love is off the table. Not after her disaster at Port University left her divorced and devastated.

Abel McCarthy is a burnt-out lawyer on an extended sabbatical, armed with a laptop full of half-written chapters and a marriage that's technically still valid. He's rented the boathouse next door to write his novel and figure out his life, but mostly he swims in the lake at midnight and thinks about bringing his pretty neighbor something better than the instant cocoa he sees in her trash.

Their meet-cute? Involves him catching her watching him swim, her accidentally tapping her vodka bottle against the window, and an apology over drinks that turns into something more.
They have history with heartbreak. They have chemistry that builds over summer nights. And they both have secrets that keep them up, staring at the lake while clutching warm mugs for comfort.

Between Neva's pointed observations at The Corner Store, Kennedy's charity auction drama, and enough late-night conversations to fill a summer, Zoey and Abel might just discover that sometimes the best love stories come with complications.

Sometimes healing happens slowly, with someone who understands that some nights require something stronger than cocoa, and that's okay too.

Previously Titled: Beautiful Deception