Some rumors are harmless.Others change everything.Erin never expected a few whispered conversations at work to lead anywhere. She certainly never expected them to lead her straight to Kenneth, the tattooed, sharp-tongued man in his forties who has a reputation for being impossible to read and even harder to resist.Kenneth has spent years building a life around work, responsibility, and keeping his heart firmly out of the equation. Erin was never supposed to become part of that equation. She was supposed to be a coworker. A friend. Someone he could tease, argue with, and absolutely not fall for.But rumors have a funny way of becoming reality.What starts as playful speculation slowly turns into stolen glances, late-night conversations, unexpected moments, and a connection neither of them is prepared to admit. Between running a restaurant, navigating workplace chaos, and trying desperately to keep their relationship from becoming everyone’s favorite piece of gossip, Kenneth and Erin discover that sometimes the people who know you best are the ones who see through every excuse you make.The rumors were never supposed to be true.But maybe they were never really rumors at all.Sometimes home isn’t a place. Sometimes it’s the person you never saw coming.