Tempting Hallie (Sweetgum Valley #5)

Two people… impossible odds…

When Hallie Henderson has to rush her landlady’s cat to the vet late one night, she doesn’t expect her landlady to insist upon taking Ace O’Hanlon, of all people, with her as backup. The man runs hot and cold, can go from a smile to moody and broody in under two seconds, and has spent years making no bones about hating her brother.

But in one night, Ace’s low rumble of laughter brings a smile to Hallie’s face, a little witty back-and-forth banter ensues, Hallie issues a long-overdue thank you, Ace renders first aid, and Hallie finds out that Ace—accidentally though it was—once saw her half-naked on a storage room security feed in his bar. — Awkward!

… one night that changes everything…

When Hallie shows up on Ace’s doorstep in the middle of the night, sporting her pajamas and a pair of goofy bedroom slippers, Ace is, naturally, confused. When they end up at the animal hospital after hours with no one but each other for company, he’s forced to see her outside of the connection they’ve always shared. — Her brother.

She’s feisty. A challenge always sparkling in her eyes. Full of life and easy laughter. And Ace, well, Ace is just a man. A man with a bar Hallie keeps walking into.

They’re the last two people anyone ever expected, but the more they’re together, this broken and bruised bartender and this soft, vulnerable, cargo-pants wearing, hammer-wielding woman hiding her own broken pieces behind a thick wall of armor, the more everything changes.