He was sent to stay neutral. She made that impossible.

Edinburgh. A public commission, two architecture firms, and a design file timestamped eleven days out of place. Thomas Wyss has observed forty-one of these mediations in twelve years. He has never once been surprised.

Then the session is suspended and the courthouse is ordered empty for seventy-two hours.

Two people don't leave.

Sabine Vane is the architect whose work a larger firm now claims as its own. She has been sleeping on a folding cot in the warden's room and has told no one. Thomas is the one man in the building who writes everything down, and the one man who is not allowed to take her side.

Off limits. Forced proximity. A slow burn that makes you wait for it.

BEFORE YOU START
- Book Three of The Cold Open Series. A new couple. Stands alone, no need to read Books One and Two.
- Heat: open door. Steamy, never explicit. Nine chapters before the first kiss.
- Dual POV, first person.
- About 29,000 words, a two-hour read.
- Happily ever after. No cliffhanger. No cheating.
- Releases 6 October 2026 on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited.

ARC readers: all I ask is an honest review, at any star rating, on Goodreads before release and on Amazon on or after 6 October.