Six Months Contract Love

by Deanna W Smith

After losing her dream career in a brutal corporate scandal, architect Indigo Thornfield returns to the quiet hometown she once swore she’d escape forever. Burned out, emotionally exhausted, and desperate to hide the ruins of her life from her judgmental family, she makes one reckless mistake:

She lies.

Now, Indigo claims she’s dating Theo Ravencrest — the warm-hearted owner of a struggling small-town café who is secretly fighting to keep his business from collapsing.

To survive family pressure and their own personal disasters, the two agree to a six-month fake relationship contract. No emotions. No complications. Just a temporary arrangement between two people trying to hold their worlds together.

But between rainy mornings, cardamom lattes, quiet confessions, and the slow rebuilding of broken dreams, the line between pretending and falling in love begins to disappear.

Sometimes the strongest foundations are built from ruins.