Stripped Down

Natalie Carras knows two things for sure: she is damn good at making people pretty, and she is a pretty damn good mother. She hides the rest of her struggles behind a polished facade. Despite the pinch of living in Silicon Valley, her job as a makeup artist on Million-Dollar Starter Home provides an entire year of stability, before one small change tips her life back into chaos. When Enzo, the far-too-handsome landscaper on the show, steps in with a firm shoulder to cry on and a possible solution to her crisis, he shakes her foundations and unexpectedly releases years of repressed emotions. He’s the first man in ages to make her want more, but she’s learned the hard way that what she wants and what she gets are two very different things.


Enzo Valenti knows a few things too. He has a soft heart and a problem saying no when the people he loves need his help. All he wants to do is finally start his life and his business away from his family and this stupid TV show. But in the wake of his big brother’s death, the remaining Valentis need him more than ever, and he keeps getting sucked further into their schemes. When the beautiful but distant makeup artist finally steps out of the friend-zone and into his arms, helping Natalie—and the show—succeed doesn’t seem like such a waste of time, although it means pushing off his dreams even further. Except the more involved in her life he becomes, the less she appreciates it, leaving him to wonder if he’s really found the life partner he’d hoped for or just another person who will take and take but never give.


When faced with the ultimate relationship test on Halloween, Natalie and Enzo will have to decide if going it alone is truly best or if it’s worth stripping down to their roots to grow into a new family together.