“Writing a character based on someone very much real and someone I very much couldn’t stand required paying attention to him. ”. By day, Arden Ball is a struggling PhD candidate at Westbridge University, juggling three TA positions, mounting debt, and an infuriatingly cold supervisor, Dr. Rhett Parker. By night, she is A. Darling, the anonymous author behind Office Hours, a viral AfterDraft serial about a brooding professor who is definitely not based on her real academic rival... more“Writing a character based on someone very much real and someone I very much couldn’t stand required paying attention to him. ”. By day, Arden Ball is a struggling PhD candidate at Westbridge University, juggling three TA positions, mounting debt, and an infuriatingly cold supervisor, Dr. Rhett Parker. By night, she is A. Darling, the anonymous author behind Office Hours, a viral AfterDraft serial about a brooding professor who is definitely not based on her real academic rival. When Arden is assigned to partner with Rhett on a year-long research grant, they are forced to share an office, long nights, and far too much tension. The more she studies him for their project on Victorian fallen women, the more her “fiction” starts to feel dangerously real. But an undisclosed relationship between a professor and his TA could cost them everything. His tenure. Her PhD. Both of their careers. And when a single exhausted editing mistake pushes her anonymous story into the spotlight, Arden’s carefully separated worlds collide. When the fiction stops being fiction, Arden has to face the fallout of turning real desire into public spectacle. The internet loves the story. Westbridge University, however, does not. Love Between Office Hours is a spicy academic enemies-to-lovers romcom featuring forced proximity, secret identity, slow burn tension, and high heat. Book 1 in the Happily Ever AfterDraft Series. Tropes You’ll Love. • Grumpy professor × sunshine grad student. • TA / professor dynamic. • Forced proximity (shared office). • Academic rivals to lovers. • Secret identity & viral reveal. • Forbidden workplace romance. • Slow burn → high spice. • He falls first. • Found family friend group. • Dual POV. Perfect for readers who love Ali Hazelwood’s academic tension, Emily Henry’s banter, and Talia Hibbert’s spicy grumpy-sunshine romance. less
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