Book cover for The Wild Card by Kendall Ryan

The Wild Card

2026 Released
444 Pages
7-10 Hours
Ebook Unavailable
Audiobook Unavailable
Hardback Unavailable
Dream PressISBN 9781952036255

He buried a fake-girlfriend clause in a seventeen-page roommate agreement.
She signed it without reading.
What could possibly go wrong?

FBI agent Crew Jensen thrives on control. His rigid routines keep his anxiety and OCD in check: no chaos, no distractions, and definitely no relationships.

Until his boss threatens to transfer him to Alaska.

Desperate to prove he has "roots," Crew makes a wildly unhinged decision: he slips a fake-girlfriend clause into his roommate contract, hoping his next applicant won't read it carefully.

Emmie Marshall signs on page seventeen without blinking.

Emmie is everything Crew is not-warm, messy, impossibly chatty-and currently racing a cookbook deadline that could make or break her career. She needs stability. He needs a convincing relationship. It's a simple, mutually beneficial arrangement.

Fake dates. Public hand-holding. Mandatory cuddling sessions (her counter-demand-he's just so touch-starved and grumpy).

The more they pretend, the harder it becomes to remember where the contract ends and real feelings begin.

Because she makes the counting in his head stop. He makes her feel like she doesn't have to try so hard.

Suddenly, the arrangement that was supposed to be temporary feels dangerously real.

A grumpy, touch-starved hero, a sunshine heroine who won't take no for an answer, forced proximity, roommates-to-lovers, fake dating that feels way too real, and one very judgmental cat. Perfect for fans of Tessa Bailey and Elsie Silver.

Kendall Ryan

Kendall Ryan is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than a dozen contemporary romance novels, including Hard to Love, Resisting Her, When I Break, and the Filthy Beautiful Lies series. She loves reading about tough, alpha heroes with a sweet side, and aims to capture that in her writing. She detests laundry, and enjoys coffee, cupcakes, and being outdoors playing with her two infant sons and darling husband.

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