What the Fire Hides: A Steamy Second-Chance Older Woman, Younger Man Romance (Salt & Stone #2)

She’s sworn off love. He’s trying to outrun failure. Neither of them is ready for what’s coming.At 52, Maria isn’t interested in second chances. Her diner is her sanctuary — built from years of heartbreak, betrayal, and sheer grit. She doesn’t need a man, especially not one who’s twenty-four years younger and too sure of himself for his own good.

But Jax isn’t just any man.
He’s a tatted-up, heat-in-his-hands chef who crashes into her kitchen — and her life — with a reckless passion she thought she’d buried long ago. He’s cocky, brilliant, and dangerously charming. And he's not backing down.

When workplace tension turns to simmering desire, the kitchen becomes a battleground of flavor, trust, and longing. But just as they begin to let each other in, secrets from their pasts surface — threatening everything they’ve built.

An age-gap, enemies-to-lovers romance about trust, truth, and the fire we hide behind.
This is a standalone novel in the Salt & Stone series — for readers who crave older woman/younger man heat, emotional depth, and love that rises from the ashes.

In Port Blossom, even the most guarded hearts can still catch fire.