The One You Need

Thirty-five-year-old Becca Clarke is ready to get off the roller coaster that has been the last year of her life. She beat cancer only to be ghosted by her fiancé without warning. Tired of being pitied by her well-meaning family and friends, Becca flees to the northwoods of Wisconsin to spend a summer of solitude at her parents' lake home and finish the book that will get her tenure as a history professor. Shunning human contact and focusing on her career will be just what she needs to keep the heartache she can't bear at bay.
To Becca's shock, her wilderness refuge already has an occupant: Sebastian Hale, the nephew of her mother's best friend. Twenty-five and unnervingly attractive, Bastian is a summer intern with the National Park Service, completing research for his horror novel about the Apostle Island lighthouses. Of course Becca's mother was happy to offer a financially-challenged young writer a free place to stay - it's a big house, after all - but she conveniently failed to tell Becca that instead of enjoying her coveted summer hermitage, she's stuck with a roommate.
Determined to stay her course, Becca resigns herself to Bastian's presence while planning to keep her distance from him. They may share a house but they don't have to bond. The problem is Bastian proves to be nothing like Becca expected. Warm and witty, he draws Becca out of the hard shell she didn't realize she'd built around herself. As their friendship blossoms, Bastian makes a shocking proposal that Becca couldn't possibly accept...or could she?
With her summer heating up in ways she never imagined, Becca finally begins to relax, and (gasp!) enjoy herself. That is, until her ex-fiancé shows up at the lake house desperate to get her back. Carter is as handsome and alluring as ever, and he wants a second chance. Becca doesn't know if she can forgive him, but she also knows what she's started with Bastian was never meant to last - especially when she learns he's been keeping secrets of his own.