Feeling Fiery

Life gets awkward when two opposites find love is their unexpected adventure.

Fiadh O’Cleary is ready to celebrate all summer after becoming a tenured associate professor of fermentation and brewing. Within hours of turning in her grades and going home for the break, she finds a letter in her city apartment informing her she’s now single because she’s boring. Worse, she discovers her carefully laid out plans of teaching students the art of making hard cider in a proper space that is not a makeshift lab, her dream of all dreams, is close to gone.

An evening of commiseration with her best friend leaves her with a throbbing head and a litany of emails for day-trip adventures. Fiadh calls the adventure company to cancel and is informed by the grumpy man on the phone, Maverick Graves, that the programs are nonrefundable. Despite trying charm and then flat-out protest, she cannot change his mind. Her choices are kissing the money goodbye or a summer of experiences she is not prepared for. Maverick thinks nature has all the answers Fiadh needs. On an adventure day, rain pours, and she finds herself in a defunct old cider mill. With repairs and proper care, the space would be better than anything the city could ever offer. But the mill comes with Maverick.

As her timeline grows shorter, she finds arguing with Maverick is more fun than not being around him. His quiet nature is intoxicating and intellectually addicting. The upcoming school year means she must figure out whether there’s a way to be all in with Maverick and the mill, or if she’ll have to hit pause and retreat back to her comfortable routine of university life.

Plans are hard to make when there are distractions everywhere, and Maverick Graves is a distraction.