Man for Hire

A "Steamy" Coffee Shop Rom Com

When a gorgeous lawyer hires you to be her fake boyfriend, the only professional thing to do is... keep your hands to yourself.

Ali needs a date for her ex-fiancé's wedding. Not just any wedding—her sister is marrying the guy who was supposed to propose to her. With the same damn ring.

She needs someone who can play the part of her perfect boyfriend for the weekend. The catch? I'm definitely not the wealthy neurosurgeon she's pretending I am. I'm just a barista with a side hustle as a "man for hire" (the professional kind, thank you), trying to scrape together enough cash to buy the coffee shop I've been dreaming about.

But I show up anyway, because the money gets me one step closer to Java Zen. And maybe because Ali—with her strawberry blond hair, freckles, and those gray eyes that see right through me—is the cutest thing I've ever seen on my favorite park bench.

Simple plan: play the boyfriend. Keep it professional. Don't break my number one rule: never fall for a client.

Except Ali keeps pulling me into public displays of affection that make forgetting that rule dangerously easy.

At the rehearsal dinner. During the ceremony. In front of her entire suspicious family. (And yes, in a coat closet—which is where things got… heated. Don't ask.)

Here's what I keep telling myself:
This is just business. The way she bites her lip isn’t driving me wild. The chemistry is purely for show. Her family totally believes I’m a neurosurgeon. I’m absolutely not thinking about what happens when this weekend ends.

But then something goes wrong—spectacularly wrong—and every suspicious eye turns to me. Suddenly I’m getting interrogated by relatives who could double as detectives, juggling a fake relationship, a fake résumé, and very real feelings I shouldn’t be having.

The real problem? I’m starting to wish this whole thing was real.

And that damn park bench might’ve just thrown my entire life off course.

A steamy, laugh-out-loud romance packed with fake dating, forced proximity, and falling for the one person you were never supposed to have.