Is twenty-three too old for running away? I sure hope not. Because, right now, that's my current and only life plan.

Desperate to escape the dome of control my father has dropped over my life, I visit my brother in Texas with no plans to use my return ticket home.

But after spending every cent of my savings to pay off my student loans, I need a job. Stat. Otherwise, I'll be forced to ask my brother for help and admit how bad things have gotten at home.

So, when the production company I'm interviewing with in Sheet Cake, Texas, wants proof that I've got long-term roots here, I invent a fake local boyfriend.

Which would have been fine had they not asked to meet him. Today.

I do what any woman in a desperate situation would do: I grab a man who's giving off boyfriend vibes and ask to borrow him for an hour.

Too bad I didn't recognize that man as Collin Graham, who just so happens to be the brother of my brother's wife. (Confusing, I know, but the important part is that we are not related.)

When I finally realize who he is, two things are very clear: he knew it was me the whole time, and this fake boyfriend thing is going to be a lot more complicated now that I actually got the job.

On the plus side, fake dating serves Collin's purposes as well. We're both a little lost, both deep in life transition, and apparently, both struggling with the fake part of the relationship.

I hadn't planned on coming to Texas and falling in love, especially not when the name of the game is playing pretend. But would dating Collin for real be such a bad thing?

That depends on how long it takes the reasons we started faking to begin with finally catch up to us both.

The Wild Card is a fake dating (and fake fake dating) closed-door romantic comedy with all the sizzle but none of the spice. Set in the fictional town of Sheet Cake, Texas, this rom-com can be enjoyed as a standalone but pairs best with the other books in the series.