Finn Rhodes Forever

A PhD student needs one thing this summer: field work, the last piece she has to complete before she can finish her degree. The help she gets comes from the last person she wants it from. Finn Rhodes broke her heart twelve years ago, and now he has returned to town as a firefighter who is cocky, good-looking and sure they belong together.

She agrees to fake a relationship with him, but she has her own plan. Every date she arranges is meant to be so awkward that he will end things first. Between the dates, the two spend time hiking the back country for her research.

The trouble is that the hikes remind her why they were best friends long before they were anything else. Finn does not take the bait, whatever she tries, and she starts to wonder if she wants him to quit. Trusting him again means risking the same heartbreak a second time.

This is a second-chance romantic comedy with a spicy heat level, told from the heroine's point of view in the first person. The tone is playful and teasing, built on a fake-dating setup and a reluctant pairing, with an old hurt underneath. It is the fourth book in the Queen's Cove series and can be read on its own.