HEAT AT THE PASS

He was sent to dismantle her town's legacy, but she is about to dismantle his entire world.

Mari Vega lost her family's restaurant fourteen years ago to a ruthless out-of-state landlord, swearing she would never be at the mercy of a corporate entity again. Now, she is inches away from securing the General Manager lease for the Lantern Room, a flagship waterfront project that will anchor her community and permanently secure her future.

Theo Lindqvist is Tidewater Hospitality's sharpest regional director, deployed to the Oregon coast to claim the exact same property. Raised by a father who measures affection exclusively in profit margins, Theo needs this flagship launch to earn an elusive executive vice-presidency and finally prove his worth.

When a brutal coastal storm traps them together in the cannery test kitchen, their boardroom hostility ignites into a secret, high-stakes physical collision. But as the final presentation looms, Theo is ordered by his superiors to weaponize Mari's deepest financial vulnerabilities to secure his promotion.

With millions of dollars and a town's survival on the line, choosing each other means losing everything they have fought to build.

Enemies to lovers meets steamy workplace rivalry in this fierce small-town romance.