He’s a Texas player with a red-hot career and her best friend’s ‘baby brother.’ Definitely off-limits, right?

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Donovan Hawthorne is the golden boy of the Houston oil and gas industry, a self-made powerhouse who walked away from his family’s legacy to carve his own path. Charming, successful, and infamously noncommittal, Donovan has built a reputation as a man who plays hard—both in the c-suite and in situationships.

Entrepreneur Jaymes Bandeaux has always played by the rules. For half her life, she’s harbored an unwavering and unrequited love for Donovan that she’s buried under layers of loyalty, fear of getting hurt, and knowing that if she acts on her feelings or lust, she risks far more than her heart.

But when a family emergency pulls Donovan back into the Hawthorne orbit and Jaymes’ daily life, their worlds collide. Donovan needs her help. Seeing him vulnerable cracks her steely resolve, especially when he looks at her with a scorching desire she’s utterly unprepared to fight.

As family secrets surface and personal ambitions clash, Jaymes and Donovan must decide: is love worth risking everything?