Elodie Marsh is twenty-six, three months behind on rent, and holding the gavel at a charity auction she helped organise to save the vineyards she loves. She is not supposed to bid. She is definitely not supposed to win her own boss. Theo Karalis is forty-one, freshly widowed his father's estate, and desperate enough to put himself on the block. When Elodie accidentally takes the lot, Theo insists on honouring the date - and one day in Napa turns into six weeks of secrets. But the harvest is failing, the estate manager is lying, and Theo's ex-wife wants the property for herself. Elodie has one chance to prove what she's worth - and it has nothing to do with the bid. An age gap boss romance set in wine country, with a slow burn and a heroine who refuses to be surplus.

Elodie Marsh is twenty-six, three months behind on rent, and holding the gavel at a charity auction she helped organise to save the vineyards she loves. She is not supposed to bid. She is definitely not supposed to win her own boss. Theo Karalis is forty-one, freshly widowed his father's estate, and desperate enough to put himself on the block. When Elodie accidentally takes the lot, Theo insists on honouring the date - and one day in Napa turns into six weeks of secrets. But the harvest is failing, the estate manager is lying, and Theo's ex-wife wants the property for herself. Elodie has one chance to prove what she's worth - and it has nothing to do with the bid. An age gap boss romance set in wine country, with a slow burn and a heroine who refuses to be surplus.

Marisol Vega audits hedge funds for a living. She has never met a set of books she couldn't crack, and she has never once been afraid of a man with money. So when the Antonov Foundation's numbers come up eleven million short, she does the unforgivable thing: she walks into the pakhan's office and tells him to his face. Kirill Antonov, who owns her now. Dmitri Antonov, who would kill for her and might have to. Lev, the family's fixer, who knows exactly who took the money and won't say. Three signatures on the transfer. Three men with three reasons to lie. Marisol makes them an offer: she'll find the thief. In exchange, each of them owes her one favor, named later. They agree. They think they're humoring her. By the time she calls in the third favor, she is standing at the head of their table, and none of them can remember agreeing to anything at all - only that they would agree again. Some women marry the empire. Marisol Vega intends to run it.