In the Friend Zone

Emily Sinclair lives by the Rule of Three: work hard, stay organized, and never, under any circumstances, look at Finn Taylor as anything other than her brother’s best friend.

Finn has always been her safe harbor. The late-night phone call. The permanent plus-one. The only person who knows she’d rather temper chocolate than draft a legal brief. He is also the pro football star whose career just slammed into a brick wall of a humiliating season-ending injury.

When Finn’s confidence hits rock bottom, Emily does what she does best. She makes a plan. She will help him through rehab, and in return, he will help her transform a dusty storefront into the chocolate shop of her dreams.

Simple.

Except somewhere between physical therapy sessions and renovation dust, the lines they spent a decade drawing start to blur. Finn is not just offering tool-belt advice anymore. He is looking at her with a hunger that has nothing to do with truffles.

Breaking her overprotective brother’s one rule was supposed to be the hard part.

But as the friend zone disappears in the rearview mirror, Emily realizes the real danger is not losing her heart.

It is risking the one relationship she has never been able to live without.

Because if this goes wrong, she does not just lose a boyfriend.

She loses Finn.