Hard Lines

One rule-bound lawyer. One master contractor. One 126-year-old brownstone that's about to bring down all their walls.

Evan Hale's life is entirely mapped out. At thirty-six, the corporate lawyer is exactly six months away from making partner. He runs at five-thirty every morning, wears perfectly tailored suits, and keeps his life strictly separated into color-coded binders. He is completely in control, which is exactly how he maintains the carefully guarded secret of his sexuality.

But his newly purchased Park Slope brownstone is a disaster of broken plaster and rotting wood, and the only man capable of saving the renovation refuses to play by Evan's rules.

Rafe Moreno is a master contractor who reads buildings and people with equal precision. At forty-one, Rafe is patient, grounded, and fiercely protective of his found family. Having been deeply burned by a closeted lawyer in the past, he has one absolute rule: he doesn't hide, and he definitely doesn't do secrets.

When a strict timeline forces them to work shoulder-to-shoulder in the dust and debris, the clash of wills is instant. Evan demands a schedule; Rafe demands honesty. As the agonizingly slow burn between them ignites into explosive, undeniable heat, Evan realizes that renovating the house is the easy part.

Dismantling his own defenses might just cost him everything he thought he wanted—and give him exactly what he needs.