Sugar & Sawdust

By: Lady Heartswell

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

I inherited a ruined bakery, an empty bank account, and a massive, grumpy contractor who refuses to let me fail.

Ten years. That is how long I have fought every battle completely alone. When I sink my life savings into an inherited mountain-town bakery, it is supposed to be my fresh start. Instead, the contractor I hired robs me blind, leaving me with frozen pipes, a caving roof, and a grand opening looming in exactly four weeks. I am drowning under the debris, and I have absolutely no one to help me.

Then Grady walks through my shattered front door.

He is a mountain of a man in faded denim and a heavy leather toolbelt. He is the county contractor sent to legally condemn my building. Instead, with calloused hands and a permanent scowl, he starts swinging a hammer.

He replaces the load-bearing beams. He repairs the plumbing. He physically carries me upstairs to bed when I pass out over my recipe books. And he refuses to take a single dime in return.

My entire life, I have operated on one brutal rule: depending on a man means giving him the power to destroy you. But Grady doesn't want my money, and he doesn't want control. He just wants me. Safe, successful, and completely his.

It is a terrifying, intoxicating thing to let a man this capable handle the heavy lifting. But as the snow piles up and the grand opening draws closer, I have to ask myself: what happens when the building is finished, and I have no walls left to hide behind?

Sugar and Sawdust is a completely standalone, steamy small-town romance featuring a fiercely independent baker and an ultra-competent, protective blue-collar hero who communicates completely through acts of service. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

Tropes & Themes:

• 🛠️ Blue-Collar / Contractor Hero
• 🧁 Small Town Bakery
• 🔥 "Acts of Service" Love Language
• 💪 Size Difference & Forced Proximity
• 🥵 Steamy Contemporary Romance
• 🛡️ Extreme Protective Alpha Male