Courtland

I swear I'm not deliberately avoiding telling my best friend I'm in love with him. Life just has a funny way of getting in the way… for the last fifteen years or so.

Take prom. Buzz was my date, and I was planning on telling him that night. One week before, my mom and his dad dropped a bombshell—they've been having an affair. The aftermath destroyed two families.

I moved away to Boston and pursued my medical career. Buzz stayed in Clovelly and became a firefighter. He started dating. We stayed best friends.

Now, thirteen years later, I'm back in town after Grandpa Arnie died. He leaves me his inn in his will. On two conditions. One, I get married, and two, I stay in town for at least six months.

Buzz loves that inn as much as I do, so he offers himself as tribute. Now that we're married and living together, nothing is going to get in the way of me telling him how I feel.

Not his annoying new himbo-rific friend.

Not even my lifelong habit of avoiding talking about my feelings.

Nothing.

But then my mother drops another bombshell—and it makes what happened before prom look like a warm-up act.

Buzz

The last guy I dated dumped me because he said he wanted a boyfriend, not an emotional support animal. All my relationships have ended the same way—guys leave because I'm too needy, too clingy.

The sad truth is, they're all right.

The only person who accepts me for who I am in all my needy glory is Court.

Having him back in Clovelly is great. And marrying him has come with some unexpected benefits… of the bedroom variety.

But just because we're releasing a little steam doesn't change the fact that I want to settle down and have kids, and Court has a career waiting for him in Boston. Even though this fake marriage feels better than any relationship I've been in, the reason it works is that it has an inbuilt end date.

Once six months are up, he'll inherit his grandfather's inn and leave like he always does.

Why would this time be any different?…

Doctor x firefighter in a steamy, small-town, friends-to-lovers MM romance...

Tropes: friends-to-lovers; fake marriage; husbands with benefits; Gilmore Girls meets Sullivan's Crossing vibes; emotional support bottom; found family; no third-act breakup.