Everyone daydreams about a fresh start…but Willow Quinn is making it happen. She’s left her life in Phoenix to open a bar in cowboy-country Montana with her two best friends. It’s a chance to reboot in a new town with a new life—and leave behind the shadows of her past and heal. Hopefully.
All she wants to do is create an empowering space for women who need support. Snow and the holidays are on the way, so surely a craft circle is the perfect way to build community… Except who knew her plans would ruffle so many feathers.
Enter former bull rider Eli Cole. She’s drawn to the green-eyed cowboy, his intensity and the electrical charge between them. (Even though he seems to have as many dark secrets as she does.) And when she and her bar, The Naked Moose, go viral for being interlopers, suddenly Willow’s new life is on rocky ground.
But Eli has the perfect solution—give the fiercely single bar owner a fake relationship with a local. But while it might dim the negative spotlight and convince the town she really does fit in, it definitely won’t protect her heart from the cowboy she can’t resist…
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Willow Quinn moves to Timber Falls, Montana, with her friends Aubrey Hale and Charly Henwood to open a bar, hoping to leave behind her traumatic past, including her abusive ex, Niko Sanchez, now in jail. She’s struggling to feel safe again. Eli “The Storm” Cole, a quiet and patient man, understands this feeling of guilt and loss, having lost his sister to domestic violence while he was away on the rodeo circuit. He feels drawn to Willow and wants to protect her, though she initially pulls away after a passionate kiss.
As Christmas approaches, Willow starts a support group at the bar called “Empowerment Elves” to help local women by making and selling Christmas decorations for a women’s shelter. However, when Willow receives threatening messages, Eli suggests they pretend to date for her safety. As they grow closer, they begin to confront their pasts and build trust.
Just as things are looking up for Willow, disaster strikes, shaking both her and Eli to the core. It takes time and deep reflection before they can find their way back to each other, but ultimately, they achieve their happy ending. This steamy, fake-dating Christmas story highlights Eli’s caring nature and how he helps Willow regain her confidence. The story sets up anticipation for Aubrey and Gunner’s future romance in the series.
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