He's after a house. She's the key to getting it.

Scotland "Scottie" James swore she'd never end up back in her small hometown. But with acting gigs drying up and the city spitting her out, Red Mountain is the only place to go—and the last place she wants to be. Taking a job at her parents' real estate firm is meant to be a detour on her way back to the stage. But when she's asked to help her best friend's older brother find a lake house, she accidentally lands her biggest acting role yet: Gavin Ledger's wife.

For Gavin Ledger, winemaker and devoted single dad, life revolves around his daughter. The perfect lake house could help her feel closer to the mother she’ll never know—but there's one problem: the seller will only sell to a married couple. His solution? The one woman guaranteed to test his patience. Scottie is dramatic, glamorous, and nothing like the steady, quiet life he's built, yet being her husband—on paper—feels dangerously easy.

The longer they play house, the more it stops feeling like an act. And when the final curtain falls, Scottie will have to decide if chasing her old dream is worth losing the best thing she never saw coming.

Like bottle shock, love can take you by surprise—but the best things in life are often the ones you never planned.

Contains mature themes.