When a fire sweeps through the dock in Cutters Cove, destroying Reid's home, Scarlet offers her long-time friend and hot blood mage an interim place to stay. The arrangement seems simple: he helps with yard work and slides a few drinks her way at the local bar in exchange for a bed. A friend helping a friend. When Reid needs saving from a surly brunette at Jinxed, Scarlet steps in, playing the act of his girlfriend and breaking his only rule. He doesn't kiss. Forced to live together, tension builds, and with it comes an unspoken desire neither of them are willing to acknowledge. A friendship smudged by confused hearts. Because Scarlet doesn't date friends, and Reid doesn't date, ever. But when Scarlet's apothecary can no longer provide Reid with the tonic he's taken for years, he becomes increasingly guarded, to the point she thinks he's hiding something. Scarlet hates secrets, but uncovering the truth might be the only way they can truly fall in love.