Hearts on the Edge of Make-Believe: Three Unexpected Romances Where Love Crashes In—Next Door, Online, or Through Magic (Velvet Ink: Heat in Every Shade #8)

Love never arrives on schedule—it crashes through the walls we build.

In The Dad Next Door, Dr. Laurel Kim rents a peaceful cottage for solitude and study. But the rugged, charming single dad next door disrupts everything with his chaotic life and irresistible warmth. As tutoring sessions turn into lingering glances and dinners turn into something deeper, Laurel must choose between her dream abroad or the man who's quietly claimed her heart.

Rent Me a Boyfriend reunites estranged best friends when a fake dating app keeps glitching and pairing them together—for weddings, parties, and a weekend escape that feels far too real. Tessa and Mason swore they were done, but their old chemistry has other plans. Pretending was supposed to be simple—until it starts to hurt.

And in Spellbound Hearts, a young mage binds herself by accident to a tormented sorcerer cursed by love. Their magical tether drags them on a quest for freedom, but what starts as survival blooms into a powerful connection. As magic threatens to devour them, they must risk everything to see if love can be their salvation.

Three couples. Three emotional collisions. One

Sometimes the strongest love stories are the ones that were never part of the plan.