Off Limits

She came home to start over.

He was the one man she was never supposed to want.



Emma Carlisle needs a reset-three quiet months back in her childhood neighborhood before she returns to the city and the life she planned. No drama. No distractions. Definitely no dating.



Then she sees Marcus Hale.



He's the man next door. The steady presence she grew up trusting. And worse-he's her best friend Sophie's father.



Marcus is older, guarded, freshly divorced, and painfully aware of what Emma is to him: off-limits. But the more time they spend in the same orbit, the harder it gets to breathe around each other... and the easier it becomes to forget the rules.



A glance turns into a touch. A touch turns into a secret.

And once they cross the line, there's no pretending it meant nothing.



Because if Sophie finds out, it won't just break a friendship-it could destroy a family. And Emma has finally learned the difference between being wanted and being chosen.



Marcus knows the risk.

Emma doesn't care.



Off Limits: Next Door is a steamy, emotionally intense best friend's dad / forbidden / age-gap romance with slow-burn tension, secret meetings, a protective hero who tries to resist, and a heroine who refuses to be controlled-ending in a hard-won happily ever after.