After sundown, Ember Hollow’s library belongs to Nell Harrow—quiet, order, and the myth that the past can’t find her. Then the drop box spits out a battered novella and an envelope stamped with a thorned halo—the mark of the commune she ran from.
Sheriff Cass Holt arrives on a tripped alarm and a promise to listen. They open the letter together: Keep me where you keep the others. A dare disguised as a request. A line neither of them can ignore.
To survive, they write rules—locks, patrols, honest check-ins—and a vow to speak desire out loud. Heat blooms in the stacks, slow and deliberate, until the quiet becomes a door they choose to walk through.
Anonymous confessions. A stolen register. Money laundered through ‘charity.’ A town that would rather smile than look. Break-ins. Smoke under the archive door.
She knows catalogs and ghosts; he knows storms by the smell. Together they turn patience into a weapon and paperwork into a fuse.
Every choice cuts close: his badge or her body, his restraint or her history, their refusal to hide—especially when danger parks across the street and waits.
He isn’t her savior. She isn’t his case. They are two adults building a sanctuary on purpose—pages and cameras, truth and tenderness hot enough to light the dark.
When the truth finally climbs the courthouse steps in handcuffs, Nell has one more decision to make in the aisle where it began: close the book…or write a life.
📌 Tropes
📚 Librarian × Sheriff • 🕯️ Cult Escape & Reckoning • 🔍 Conspiracy Unraveled • �� Slow-Burn to Scorching • 🛡️ Protective but Ethical Hero • 💬 Consent-Positive Romance • 💔 Betrayal & Redemption • 🧨 Arson & High Stakes
🎭 Genres
❤️ Romantic Suspense • 🕵️ Crime/Thriller Elements • 🌶��� Steamy Contemporary Romance • 🏡 Small-Town Drama
⚠️ Contains steamy scenes, adult language, and dark themes. For readers 18+
Sheriff Cass Holt arrives on a tripped alarm and a promise to listen. They open the letter together: Keep me where you keep the others. A dare disguised as a request. A line neither of them can ignore.
To survive, they write rules—locks, patrols, honest check-ins—and a vow to speak desire out loud. Heat blooms in the stacks, slow and deliberate, until the quiet becomes a door they choose to walk through.
Anonymous confessions. A stolen register. Money laundered through ‘charity.’ A town that would rather smile than look. Break-ins. Smoke under the archive door.
She knows catalogs and ghosts; he knows storms by the smell. Together they turn patience into a weapon and paperwork into a fuse.
Every choice cuts close: his badge or her body, his restraint or her history, their refusal to hide—especially when danger parks across the street and waits.
He isn’t her savior. She isn’t his case. They are two adults building a sanctuary on purpose—pages and cameras, truth and tenderness hot enough to light the dark.
When the truth finally climbs the courthouse steps in handcuffs, Nell has one more decision to make in the aisle where it began: close the book…or write a life.
📌 Tropes
📚 Librarian × Sheriff • 🕯️ Cult Escape & Reckoning • 🔍 Conspiracy Unraveled • �� Slow-Burn to Scorching • 🛡️ Protective but Ethical Hero • 💬 Consent-Positive Romance • 💔 Betrayal & Redemption • 🧨 Arson & High Stakes
🎭 Genres
❤️ Romantic Suspense • 🕵️ Crime/Thriller Elements • 🌶��� Steamy Contemporary Romance • 🏡 Small-Town Drama
⚠️ Contains steamy scenes, adult language, and dark themes. For readers 18+