Beg, Borrow, or Steal

A Novel

By: Sarah Adams

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's summary

Two feuding former high-school sweethearts are unexpectedly reunited as coworkers and neighbors in this rivals-to-lovers romance by author of The Cheat Sheet and When in Rome.

Emily Walker prefers to be in complete control of her life—which is probably why she hates Jack Bennett so much. It’s been years since she’s seen her former high school sweetheart, but when Jack returns to town as both her colleague at the local elementary school and her new neighbor, she’s confronted with the past. Luckily, he’s nothing like she remembered, now stubborn and unpredictable, obviously hardened by his years away from Rome, Kentucky. Good thing she has no interest in getting to know this new Jack Bennett. She’d rather spend time writing the handsome and charming men in her romance novels—a secret hobby that no one knows about.

Jack Bennett is not in love with Emily Walker no matter what his ex-fiancée suggested when she called off their wedding. Coming home to lick his wounds, he wants nothing more than to ignore Emily and focus on his teaching job and the mystery novel he’s writing under his secret pen name. All of that proves impossible when he finds himself living directly next door to Emily herself and working across the hall from her.

Neither has a clue about each other’s secret writing lives until Emily accidentally submits her explicit manuscript to the school principal. Seeing her desperation, Jack extends his help. . . for a cost. As they navigate the challenges of stealing back her manuscript, meeting deadlines, avoiding nosy townspeople, and even attending a high school reunion that brings an unexpected visitor to town, a passion begins to burn much hotter than their hatred ever did.

But is their flame the lasting kind, or will it burn out as quickly as it ignited?

©2025 Sarah Adams (P)2025 Random House Audio