Elsie Hannaway has perfected the art of living double lives—adjunct professor by day, fake girlfriend by other day. Juggling low pay and high expectations, she crafts whatever version of herself the situation demands.
But when Jack Smith, experimental physicist and human buzzkill, barrels into her carefully curated world, everything collapses. Jack isn’t just the brother of her favorite client—he’s the man who torpedoed her mentor’s career and now controls her shot at tenure.
Elsie is ready to ignite an academic war. What she isn’t ready for? Jack’s devastating charm, long smoldering looks, and the rare feeling of being seen—without all the pretending.
With her dream career dangling by a thread and her heart sneaking into enemy territory, Elsie must decide: protect her theories or risk everything for a very real love?
