She reads every clause before she signs. He has already broken the first one.
Her father died on a wet dock fourteen months ago, and the harbor authority called it an accident. Now Tessa is sole trustee of Pier 9, the only berth in Port Calloway deep enough for the new container ships, and she has eighty-seven days before its lease runs out. The Vargas, a shipping family with a respectable front and an uglier side, want her signature. So does a rival who has stopped asking politely.
Cass Varga offers her a way out that sounds like an insult. Marry him. In Port Calloway, a Varga wife is untouchable, and in return she renews the lease. Tessa has a different price. She wants the family's books, and the truth about the night her father died. So she drafts the terms herself: separate bedrooms, her own security, an exit on day 365, and one clause above all the others. Each of them must disclose anything that touches the other's safety. Silence is a breach.
Cass agrees to every word. He is already hiding the one fact that could cost her everything.
Things to know:
Forced proximity
Slow burn
Dual POV
Hero with a secret
Heroine who reads the fine print
Closed door
Happy ending, no cliffhanger
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