Rooted: A Small Town Fake Engagement Romance
I noticed her the first week she got here.
Everybody did. New redhead on Main Street, Maine plates, opening a flower shop in a building that's been empty for years. Half the single men in this county suddenly developed an interest in carnations.
She turned down every one of them.
Then her landlord calls me out after hours for what he swears is a little trickle, and I walk into three inches of water and find Sabrina Marsden standing on a stool with a mop, soaked to the skin, furious, with a copperhead under her shipping rack and no intention of being rescued by me or anybody else.
I have never in my life had to work for a woman's attention.
She looks at me like I'm a repair order.
And I have not been able to think about one other thing since.
Here's the trouble. There's a developer out of Dallas quietly buying this whole block, and her landlord's already talking, and there's a clause buried in her lease that says he can put her out in thirty days.
She'd fight him alone. That's exactly the kind of woman she is.
So I offer her a lie instead. Six months. My grandmother's ring on her hand. An engagement this town will believe so hard that no bank will touch the deal.
She says yes faster than she should have, and I'm too pleased with myself to ask why.
Then Dorene Cavanaugh offers to host the wedding. Marlene starts picking dates. Half the county has us married by spring, and Sabrina keeps looking at me like she's forgotten which parts we're pretending about.
So have I.
And somewhere out there is a man nobody in Calico Creek can put a name to, asking questions about where she sleeps.
'''️ Fake Engagement ✔️ He Falls First ✔️ Small Town Texas ✔️ Forced Proximity ✔️ Grumpy Heroine ✔️ Slow Burn ✔️ Steamy ✔��� Suspense ✔️ HEA
A contractor who fixes everything. A florist who refuses to be rescued. A whole town that decided for them.
This is the slow burn, steam-the-windows, ugly-cry HEA you've been waiting for.
Rooted — because some things are worth staying for.
Genre: Romance
I noticed her the first week she got here.
Everybody did. New redhead on Main Street, Maine plates, opening a flower shop in a building that's been empty for years. Half the single men in this county suddenly developed an interest in carnations.
She turned down every one of them.
Then her landlord calls me out after hours for what he swears is a little trickle, and I walk into three inches of water and find Sabrina Marsden standing on a stool with a mop, soaked to the skin, furious, with a copperhead under her shipping rack and no intention of being rescued by me or anybody else.
I have never in my life had to work for a woman's attention.
She looks at me like I'm a repair order.
And I have not been able to think about one other thing since.
Here's the trouble. There's a developer out of Dallas quietly buying this whole block, and her landlord's already talking, and there's a clause buried in her lease that says he can put her out in thirty days.
She'd fight him alone. That's exactly the kind of woman she is.
So I offer her a lie instead. Six months. My grandmother's ring on her hand. An engagement this town will believe so hard that no bank will touch the deal.
She says yes faster than she should have, and I'm too pleased with myself to ask why.
Then Dorene Cavanaugh offers to host the wedding. Marlene starts picking dates. Half the county has us married by spring, and Sabrina keeps looking at me like she's forgotten which parts we're pretending about.
So have I.
And somewhere out there is a man nobody in Calico Creek can put a name to, asking questions about where she sleeps.
'''️ Fake Engagement ✔️ He Falls First ✔️ Small Town Texas ✔️ Forced Proximity ✔️ Grumpy Heroine ✔️ Slow Burn ✔️ Steamy ✔��� Suspense ✔️ HEA
A contractor who fixes everything. A florist who refuses to be rescued. A whole town that decided for them.
This is the slow burn, steam-the-windows, ugly-cry HEA you've been waiting for.
Rooted — because some things are worth staying for.
Genre: Romance
Used availability for Colby Quinn's Rooted