Snowbound secrets, shifter wars, family lies, and epic battles — September delivers it all.

The Paradise #3
Sourcebooks Casablanca
July 2026
On Sale: July 7, 2026
Featuring: Knox Callahan; Lottie
336 pages
ISBN: 1464219486
EAN: 9781464219481
Kindle: B0G21ZJTVR
Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook
Add to Wish List

Amazon

Kindle

Read Kindle Preview

UNTIL IT GETS REAL

Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown
Author Book List

Caution: Fake relationship in progress. Try not to fall in love.

Charlotte "Lottie" Johnston, the only woman on her construction crew, has had enough or the catcalls, teasing, and flirting from the men on her team. So when she spots Knox Callahan on the job site, she hatches a plan: a fake boyfriend arrangement to keep the guys in line.

Knox agrees. After all, pretending to date Lottie might also keep his meddling Aunt Bernie from setting him up with a date every weekend. What starts as a simple arrangement soon is anything but as the crew looks for signs to prove Lottie and Knox are pretending.

Between long workdays, shared lunches, and stolen laughs, their make-believe romance begins to feel dangerously real. But while Knox's roots are planted deep in small-town soil, Lottie's work will send her hours and miles away. Settling down in one place might be scary, but that's what it will take to build a life together.

Excerpt

“I need a boyfriend,” Lottie whispered seductively as she threw a long leg over the bench beside the picnic table and sat down close to Knox. “Are you game?”

What was wrong with this woman? She had appeared to be kind of sweet at his brother’s wedding when she introduced herself as Charlotte Johnston.

Maybe he heard her wrong.

“Would you repeat that, please?” he asked.

“Do you need to get your hearing tested?” Her voice went from silky smooth to as rough as 40 grit sandpaper.

“I hear just fine—most of the time,” he answered and then realized what day it was. “April Fools.”

“I’m serious as a…” she started.

He held up a palm and butted in before she could finish. “You are a pretty good actor, but I’m not falling for her joke.”

His thoughts went back to Spanish Fort where Aunt Bernie, the matchmaking queen of north Texas, was already hard at work attempting to set him up with blind dates every weekend. The Universe [DD1] might have just plopped a good situation down into his lap, but then again, this was most likely the workings of Bernie. She could be very manipulative, and she and Lottie had spent time together at his brother Tripp’s [DD2] wedding.

Lottie flipped her straw-colored braids over her shoulders and nudged him on the shoulder and crossed her heart with her finger. “This is no one’s idea but mine, and it’s not an April Fool’s joke, I promise.”

“Yeah, right,” Knox said.

“No one put me up to it.”

Knox shook his head. “Not happening, and I still don’t believe this is anything but another attempt to fool me.”

“I just need a boyfriend for six weeks, and then we’ll go our separate ways.”

“Are you talking about a fake boyfriend?” Knox asked.

“Of course. What did you think I meant?”

“You need to be clear when you sit down beside a man and whisper sweet nothings in his ear that sound desperate and more than a little bit scary.”

She threw up her palms. “You should have known what I was asking without me having to say it. It’s a simple yes or no answer. Bernie told me that you weren’t seeing anyone, so I figured you would be a good guy to ask.”

So, Bernie was at the core of the whole thing after all.