Before You Go: A Slow-Burn Romance of a One-Night Stand, a Runaway Bride, Betrayal, and the Truth Love Couldn't Hide

She came to sell the inn.

He came to make sure she couldn't.

Neither of them expected to fall.

Annie Callahan hasn't set foot in Port Willis since they buried her husband. Three years of silence and guilt have brought her to one conclusion: sell the Sandpiper Inn, outrun the memories, and finally stop punishing herself for what she couldn't fix. She arrives in Maine ready to sign the papers and leave before anyone notices she's back.

But Griffin Cole is already there.

Her late husband's childhood best friend. The man who inherited the other half of this crumbling coastal inn. The man who has spent three years channeling his grief into the only place that still feels like home — and who will not let Annie cash it out and disappear.

He came ready for a fight. A cold one. Controlled.

He didn't come ready for the way she flinches when someone raises their voice. He didn't come ready for the way she scrubs the kitchen alone at 3 a.m., like she's trying to wash away a stain only she can see.

Forced under one roof through a coastal summer, they wage war with renovation plans and old accusations. She wants distance. He won't give it to her. He thinks he knows who she is — the woman who failed his best friend. But the closer he gets, the less certain he becomes.

And Annie is starting to realize the man she thought was granite has a laugh that feels like coming home.

Then the town's annual regatta pushes them into the public eye together. One reckless night unravels the fragile truce they've built. And the secret Annie has carried across three silent years — the one that could change everything Griffin thought he knew — can't stay buried any longer.

Before You Go is a slow-burn and emotionally wrought contemporary romance about grief, guilt, forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers tension, and the devastating courage of choosing to stay.

Perfect for readers who love small-town romance, coastal settings, brooding heroes, fake-relationship slow burns, and emotionally charged love stories in the tradition of Zoe Dod and Elle Kennedy.

Standalone romance with a hard-earned happy ending.

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Lydbog: 28. juni 2026