A Second-Chance RomanceThey met in the rain outside a university library, and Maya knew within six minutes that her life had just changed. What followed were three years of the kind of love people spend the rest of their lives chasing — until one drunken night at a party undid all of it, and Maya locked a door against the only man she'd ever fully trusted.Seven years later, she's built an empire instead of a marriage — successful, guarded, and certain she buried that version of herself for good. Then a mutual friend's wedding invitation arrives with Julian's name on the guest list, and pride won't let her say no.She wasn't prepared for what happens when their eyes meet across the garden. She wasn't prepared for the woman who comforts her, a stranger, in the bathroom — a stranger who turns out to be his girlfriend. And she wasn't prepared for the moment on the dance floor when everyone in the room, including the woman watching from the bar, understands exactly what's still between them.Julian shows up at her door nine days later to say the things seven years of silence never let him say. He isn't asking for forgiveness. He isn't asking for anything at all.That, it turns out, might be exactly what breaks her open.A story about the armor we build to survive heartbreak, the courage it takes to set it down, and what happens when the door we swore would stay locked finally gets a knock worth answering.

The Space Between UsMara Whitfield didn't move across the country to fall in love.She came to Ashford & Cole for one reason: to prove that she deserved her place among the best lawyers in the city. On her first day, she's assigned to the firm's biggest case—and placed directly under Sean Ashford, the brilliant, intimidating man everyone seems to respect but no one truly knows.Sean has built his career on control. After the woman he loved left him just weeks before their wedding for someone he trusted, he made himself a promise: never trust anyone enough to give them the power to break him again.Then Mara walks into his courtroom.She's intelligent, determined, and far more fearless than he expected. What begins as a professional relationship slowly becomes something neither of them can ignore. Late nights turn into quiet conversations. Case files become shared coffee. Professional respect becomes an undeniable attraction.But Sean knows exactly what happens when you let someone get too close.And Mara refuses to spend her life waiting for a man to decide whether she's worth the risk.With a career-making trial hanging in the balance and feelings neither of them is willing to name, Mara and Sean must decide whether the walls they've built are protecting them—or keeping them from the one thing neither expected to find.Sometimes the person who makes you want to love again is the very person you're most afraid to lose.Because falling in love is easy. Trusting someone with your heart is the hard part.