Hard No

Caroline has spent years building walls—one of them a strict ban keeping the Mars family out of her bakery—and she has good reasons for every brick. When Knox Mars walks through her door and calmly catches the donut she throws at him, her carefully guarded refuge starts to crack. Marswood Harbor was supposed to be the safe place she carved out for herself, far from the danger that shadowed her past and the sister and nephew she left behind to protect. But the arrival of a photograph taken from outside her shop makes it clear that the past has found her anyway, and that the quiet life she's staked everything on is more fragile than she believed.

Knox is equally determined to end the threat circling Caroline, even as she insists she doesn't need—or want—a Mars standing between her and the world. Their uneasy alliance pulls her deeper into the very family she swore off, while the people of Marswood Harbor quietly decide she belongs to them whether she likes it or not. Caroline wants to believe she could put down roots and let someone close, but every step toward Knox forces her to bury another piece of her past, and every small lie chips away at the trust growing between them. With old enemies still circling and her hard-won independence on the line, she must decide how much of her carefully built isolation she's willing to surrender.

Blending banter, small-town warmth, and a slow-burn romance with real danger humming underneath, this is a story about a woman who has survived by trusting no one and the stubborn man who refuses to be kept at arm's length. Readers who love a prickly heroine with secrets, a protective hero with a complicated family, and a town full of meddling, loyal characters will find plenty to savor in Caroline and Knox's push-and-pull.