Rusty Nailed

Caroline is an interior designer in San Francisco, and her boyfriend Simon is a photographer whose job keeps sending him across the world. The two are house-sitting together, which makes for a relationship that feels like playing house, fun and confusing in equal measure.

Work keeps Caroline busy. Her boss is away on her honeymoon, so Caroline puts in long hours to keep the company running. She is also lead designer on the renovation of an old hotel in Sausalito. With Simon so often away, the couple settle into a rhythm of separation and enthusiastic reunions.

Then Simon decides he has had enough of travelling. He is home far more than before, and he wants Caroline home more too. The arrangement that suited them both stops working, and the two have to work out what they actually want from each other. Their friends' love lives supply plenty of distraction along the way, but only for so long.

Rusty Nailed is a contemporary romance and the sequel to Wallbanger, which is the second book in the Cocktail series. The couple are already together, so the tension comes from adjusting to each other. The tone is light and comic, and the love scenes are explicit.