Bookish with Benefits

Romancing the Workplace

A Friends-With-Benefits, Forced Proximity Romance with Undeniable Chemistry

His muse is missing. His manuscript is a mess. And his only hope? The woman who doesn’t believe in happily-ever-afters.

Lara Yates fixes love stories for a living, but she stopped believing in them a long time ago. As a sharp-tongued editor, she knows romance follows a formula, and real life rarely delivers the perfect ending.

Bestselling author Rory Keane, on the other hand, has built his career on happily-ever-afters—until he hits a creative wall. With a deadline looming and his book falling apart, he needs help, and Lara is the only one who can whip his manuscript (and him) into shape.

Their deal? She keeps him on track. He makes sure she has a little fun. No emotions, no complications, just late-night brainstorming sessions and strictly professional tension. But as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Lara and Rory are forced to ask themselves: is this just another story… or the start of something real?

This is a low-spice/closed door romance.

©2025 Alia Smith (P)2025 Alia Smith