The Deadbeat Next Door (Catalpa Creek #1)

My obnoxious, unemployed neighbor is the last man on earth I’d ever marry, but to save my job and my reputation in this small town I’ll have to pretend I’m his fiancée.

I’ve always played by the rules. I work hard and I take care of the people I love.

Sure my furniture hasn’t been updated since the sixties (I inherited it from my parents), I love classic movies, and I prefer sweater sets to mini-skirts, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to settle down with fifteen cats and accept spinster-hood.

I want to fall in love, marry the right guy–an upstanding, risk-averse, good citizen–and have kids. I just keep ending up on dates that go nowhere.

Lying to my boss, a woman who’s had it out for me since second grade, might not be my best idea ever, but the entire town is talking about my ‘wild’ night with my smug, unemployed neighbor, Cody Reynolds.

My boss threatens to fire me and I do the wildest thing I've ever done -- I tell her Cody is my fiancé.

Truth is, I didn’t even get to see my inconveniently gorgeous neighbor naked. Nothing happened. But small towns and school principals with vendettas don’t care about the truth when the gossip is this good.

Getting him to agree to my plan is easier than it should be, but I’m too happy to have saved my job to care. All I have to do is remember he’s not the right guy for me, and I’ll get through this sham engagement with my sanity intact. Right?

This fun, steamy romance is the first book in The Catalpa Creek series but can absolutely be read as a stand-alone. There is no cliffhanger and there is most definitely an HEA.