They say you should love thy neighbor, but I don't think they meant it the way I want to love mine.

Miles "Rooster" Johnson

As a young single dad with a teaching job, I haven't had much opportunity to date. My son is my entire world, and though I would love to have a partner and someone to count on, the passing years have shown that it's just not in the cards for me. So when the gorgeous lumberjack of a man—the same man that I've had a massive crush on since the moment we became neighbors—suddenly asks me out on a date, I'm completely blindsided. Trent could have anyone he wants. He's charming, flirtatious, and outgoing—the exact opposite of my awkward, anxious self. I don't know what he sees in me. All I know for sure is that I absolutely need to make this date go well.

Trent Montgomery

I know I have a playboy reputation in our small town, but there's nothing wrong with playing the field. It's worked for me so far, even if I have felt some discontent lately. My mama thinks I need to settle down and find someone nice. But she doesn't understand that I'm just not ready. No matter how beautiful and tempting my neighbor Rooster is or how eager I am to get the silent mountain of a man to open up—no matter how adorable his little boy is, even when he's threatening me at bat-point to take his daddy out on a date—I know I can't be everything that they need. I agreed to ask Rooster out, but I think maybe I made a big mistake. All I know for sure is that I absolutely need to sabotage this date.

You Can Count On Me is a standalone slow-burn holiday MM romance with high heat, an HEA, and no cliffhangers. With a blossoming friends-to-lovers romance between a single father and his adorably flirty neighbor, together these two are warm, young, and tooth-achingly sweet. If you like funny stories with too many dad jokes, holiday magic, positive mental health rep, primal play, graphic steam, and the slowest, sweetest of all burns, then listen on!