Grounding Us: A Small Town, Single Dad Second Chance Romance

She climbed the corporate ladder until it broke. He's the hometown mechanic who is going to help her rebuild.

Aelin fled her small hometown at eighteen, terrified of being trapped. Ten years later, she's achieved everything she thought she wanted-a corner office, a massive salary, and a soul-crushing burnout. After losing her prestigious job and her savings to a corporate clawback, she retreats to her late grandmother's drafty house in the dead of winter, running on nothing but fumes.

Enter Reyes Jockal. The boy she left behind is now a rugged, quiet mechanic and a devoted single dad. He doesn't offer empty platitudes or demand explanations. Instead, he replaces her blown tires, fixes her weatherstripping, and stocks her empty fridge. With every act of service and every quiet moment shared by the fire, Reyes shows Aelin that true strength isn't carrying the weight of the world alone-it's letting someone else hold the other end.

But when the city calls with the ultimate career comeback, Aelin must decide: will she return to the glass tower that broke her, or stay in the arms of the man who put her back together?

Grounding Us is a swoony, low-angst, small-town romance featuring a fiercely capable single-dad mechanic, a burnt-out heroine finding her peace, and a guaranteed happily ever after.