Messy Love on Mango Lane

I was ready to bloom in the Big Apple—until small-town love got in the way.

I was this close to making my dreams come true. Hightailing it out of small-town Florida for the Big Apple, I went to art school and was in the running for the perfect job when the aunt who raised me died. Good news: She left me everything she had. Bad news: That includes her flower shop, which I have to run successfully for a year before I'm allowed to sell it.

So now, I'm back where I don't want to be, trying to fix up a business that seems to be better at providing shelter for raccoons and cockroaches than making money. And that's when he shows up . . .

Kade Maverick. The guy who bullied me in high school. Owner of the sparkling green eyes I've never been able to ignore. He's changed somehow. It's not just that he's got a scar on his face from a motorcycle accident. He's . . . vulnerable? He has a four-year-old niece he's caring for, and he's willing to do anything to help me fix up the store.

As business starts to boom, we're getting close. Too close. Everything feels perfect.

But I'm going back to NYC when my year is up, and he's just not a part of those plans. Right?