Sub-genre: dark romance (psychological dark romance with suspense elements)
Tropes: friends to lovers, second chance, forbidden love, forced proximity, brother's best friend, childhood crush, protective MMC, morally gray MMC, touch her and die

Synopsis:
Logan Cooper has spent her life holding everyone else together. A soft-spoken people-pleaser who collapses under pressure but refuses to burden anyone around her, she’s content managing the Camellia Club and hiding inside her routines—until her brother’s best friend returns to town.

Blake Weber is the man who shattered her trust over a decade ago, and the one she’s never really let go. She promises herself she’ll keep her distance to avoid betraying her brother, Royce, and the inevitable heartbreak when Blake’s cutthroat nature has him choosing himself over her.

Blake has built his career on control—sharp-minded in the courtroom and composed everywhere else. The only person who’s ever seen the turbulence underneath happens to be his best friend’s little sister. With her, his control fractures. He may have left Abilotte, but his eyes never drifted far from her. Now that he’s back, he’s done pretending he doesn’t want her.

Rising threats, trauma recovery, and forced proximity pull them closer than either of them is prepared for. Their chemistry ignites. Logan begins to heal, while Blake finally starts to unravel. As their relationship deepens, Logan must decide whether she can trust the man who would risk everything for her.

When the danger Logan has been desperately trying to avoid crashes into her world, every boundary Blake has snaps. Protecting her means crossing lines he’s held firm for years and risking everything he’s built. As buried wounds rise to the surface, they’re forced to face the demons that haunt them both—and the truth they’ve denied for years.

He was always hers.
She just didn’t know it.