Cider Cove Sweet Southern RomComs

Sometimes a person speaks before thinking.. She's just bought the flower shop and he's taken over the hardware store for his dad. Sounds peachy, right? Sure, until they both want an assistance grant from the city...and now Emma and Aaron are rivalsandneighbors. Emma: Ive always believed that flowers can brighten any occasion and make anyone's day, but nothing seems to cheer up my handsome-but-grumpy neighbor, Aaron Stansfield. Owning a flower shop next to his hardware store means our paths cross all the time, and its usually just a conversation about how hard it is to run a small business in a small Southern town. Which it is. I'm barely keeping my head above water and he has a family legacy to uphold. But it would be nice to talk about somethingbesideswork, especially after our flirt-fest at Halloween last year. People do that, right? Apparently not us, because the city of Cider Cove is holding a community project where participating small businesses have the opportunity to win a significant grant. And I need that money. Aaron wants it too, and when I see him at the information meeting, I can't control myself. I sit next to him and tell him I'm going to take the prize. After all, park rebuild + flowers = winning combo. So when he issues a darethat we submit one application and work together to ensure the winmy stupid crush kicks in and takes him up on it. So now we're workingtogetheron the community project, and I start seeing a different side of Aaronthe side thats kind, thoughtful, hardworking and frustratingly...sweet. He may be grumpy, but hes also the one whos always there when I need him. As our rivalry turns into something more, I can't help wondering:Could this very disastrous dare be the start of something wildly wonderful?

Sometimes the friend zone is breached... He's her office crush, and she's the colleague he can't stop thinking about. But with HR's no-fraternization policy breathing down their necks, Lizzie and Matt have to get creative if they want to explore what's brewing between them… Lizzie: I've been stuck in a corporate rut for years, but it's not all bad-there's Matt. Smart, funny, drop-dead gorgeous Matt, whose eyes make me forget how much I hate filling out toxic material regulation paperwork. It's not like anything can happen between us. ChemTech's relationship rules are stricter than a chemistry final, and honestly, I don't think I could survive the embarrassment of submitting a detailed dating log to HR. But then Matt invites me to dinner and a concert-as friends. Fake friends, to be exact. He claims it's the perfect loophole, and I know I should say no. Except...he's Matt. And who am I kidding? I want to go out with him more than I want a handful of my favorite chocolate-covered almonds. Caught between the thrill of potential romance and the fear of corporate consequences, I find myself at a crossroads. Matt's offer is tempting, leaving me questioning everything I know about risk and reward. Navigating dinners and concerts and movies as "fake friends" seems harmless enough, but with every glance and shared laugh, every conversation and tender moment, the heat between us turns into a bonfire and the façade of friendship crumbles. And now I have to decide: Is our connection worth risking my career?