Seven years ago, Juliana Ryan was certain trading in her successful career in Human Resources to stay at home with her daughter was the right one. But now, she’s widowed with two grieving kids, crippling imposter syndrome, and a stunted career she’s desperate to revive, both to keep a roof over their heads and to prove to herself that she still has it. The last thing she needs is a condescending–and infuriatingly attractive–colleague saying her inexperience is a liability. But if she could survive losing her husband, she can definitely survive Ben Thomas.

 

The number one thing on her to-do list: keeping the hell away from Ben. But their mutual friends keep pushing them together. And that new best friend of her daughter’s–the one with the cute dad they want Juliana to marry? Ben’s daughter, a revelation that leads to a mortifying confrontation including mud, knee-high boots, and a shocking lack of clothing for an elementary school field trip.

 

When the two are forced onto a career-making project, Juliana has no choice but to call a truce. In the ensuing peace, she tries to ignore his perpetual smile and charming determination to eat at every restaurant in Orlando. As sabotaged coffees turn to lingering dinners and boardroom-clearing arguments to desk-clearing kisses, Juliana starts to wonder if the man she deemed her nemesis understands her life–her stress, her responsibilities, just her–better than anyone.