
ENEMIES TO LOVERS
Brielle Hartley swore she’d never return to Willow Creek, the small town packed with too many memories and one infuriating man she hoped to forget. But when her mother needs help, Brielle is forced back home—only to discover that the first person she runs into is the last man she ever wanted to see: Jaxon Reed, the boy who spent their senior year getting under her skin…and apparently still has the talent.
Now older, broader, and annoyingly irresistible,Jaxon has become a respected volunteer in the community. But he hasn’t changed his habit of poking at Brielle’s nerves. Their reunion strikes immediate sparks some angry, some dangerously magnetic.
What begins as avoidance turns into constant collisions: at the farmers market, around town, and eventually at the community garden project they’re roped into running together. With every stubborn argument and every unexpected moment of softness, the walls between them weaken. Tension turns into chemistry, chemistry into longing, and longing into something neither of them wants to admit.
As Brielle fights the pull she feels toward the man she once despised, Jaxon battles with the guilt of the past and the fear that he’s already blown his second chance. What they don’t realize is that the very history that pushed them apart may be the key to bringing them together.
Enemies? Absolutely.
Attraction? Undeniable.
Love? Inevitable…if they’re brave enough to take it.
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Chapter: Thank You for ReadingIf you’ve reached this page, it means you chose to spend your time here with these characters, this town, this love story and that means more than I can properly put into words. Stories are a shared experience. They don’t exist fully until someone reads them, feels them, carries them forward. And you did that. Thank you.This book began as a simple idea: what if two people who thought they were enemies were really just terrified of how deeply they could love each other? From that single question grew Brielle and Jaxon, Willow Creek, the chaos of family life, the storms, the forgiveness, the laughter, the quiet moments that matter just as much as the dramatic ones. You walked with them through all of it—through tension and longing, heartbreak and healing, passion and peace.Romance, at its core, isn’t just about desire. It’s about choice. It’s about staying when leaving would be easier. It’s about learning someone’s flaws and loving them anyway. Brielle and Jaxon didn’t fall in love be
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: Final Bonus: Always UsThe sun dipped low over Willow Creek, painting the sky in soft streaks of gold and lavender as Brielle stood barefoot in the backyard, grass cool beneath her feet. The air hummed with late-summer warmth, cicadas singing their familiar evening song. The house behind her was alive. Laughter spilled through open windows. A screen door slammed. Someone—probably Rose—shouted, “I didn’t do it!” followed immediately by Lily’s offended gasp. Mason’s deeper voice chimed in, attempting authority he hadn’t quite mastered yet. Emma’s laughter rang out, bright and unrestrained. And somewhere inside, a baby cried. Brielle smiled. She pressed a hand over her heart, letting the moment settle. There had been a time when she’d feared this—fear of loving too deeply, fear of staying, fear of being seen completely. And now, here she was, surrounded by proof that love hadn’t broken her. It had built her. “Mom!” She turned just in time to catch Rose barreling toward her, curls bouncing wildly. “Lily
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: BONUS CHAPTER 6: Emma’s First Crush & Mason’s Protective EraThe first sign something was wrong was that Emma Reed, normally the loudest person in the house besides the blender was quiet. Not “I’m plotting something” quiet. Not “I’m hiding a snack” quiet. This was… careful quiet. The kind that made Brielle’s mother instincts stand up like alarm bells. Brielle was rinsing strawberries at the kitchen sink when Emma drifted in, hovering by the counter like a tiny ghost in a glittery headband. She cleared her throat once. Then again. Brielle didn’t turn around right away. She’d learned that if you moved too fast with Emma, Emma retreated into herself like a turtle. So Brielle kept her hands in the water, calm and casual. “Hey, Em,” she said softly. “You okay?” Emma’s voice came out small. “Can I… ask you something?” Brielle dried her hands slowly and turned, leaning her hip against the counter. “Of course.” Emma’s eyes darted toward the hallway, then back. She whispered like the walls had ears. “Not in front of Mason.” Brielle’s brow lift
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: Bonus Chapter 5: Caleb’s First WordsThe first time Brielle heard it, she thought she imagined it. Because there was no way no way their baby boy had just formed an actual word with his tiny mouth, between a slobbery grin and a dramatic, offended squawk. She froze in the kitchen like someone had pressed pause on her entire life. Jaxon looked up from the sink, hands still covered in soap suds. “What?” Brielle didn’t answer right away. Her eyes locked on Caleb, who was sitting in his high chair like a king on a throne, crumbs on his cheeks, a drool bib hanging crooked, and a little curl flopping onto his forehead like he knew he was cute and planned to use it for evil. Caleb smacked his hands against the tray with the intensity of a tiny drummer auditioning for a rock band. Then he leaned forward—serious face, determined eyes—and let out what sounded like: “Da.” Brielle gasped so hard she almost swallowed air wrong. Jaxon blinked. “What did he say?” Brielle pointed like Caleb had just confessed to a crime. “He… h
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: BONUS CHAPTER 4: Lily & Rose: Double TroubleThe first sign that the day was going to go sideways was the suspicious silence. Brielle should’ve known better than to trust silence in a house with five kids—especially when two of them were five-year-old twins with matching grins and a shared love of chaos. She stood at the kitchen counter, cracking eggs into a bowl, while Jaxon flipped pancakes on the stove like it was his personal morning ritual. Emma and Mason were at the table arguing about something that sounded like a “serious ethical debate,” but was probably just a disagreement over whose turn it was to feed the dog. Caleb babbled from his high chair, chewing the corner of a teething toy and glaring like he was personally offended by breakfast taking longer than two minutes. And Lily and Rose? Nowhere. Brielle wiped her hands on a towel and looked up. “Jaxon.” He didn’t even glance away from the pancake pan. “Mm-hmm.” “Where are the twins?” Jaxon’s spatula paused for half a second, then resumed. “In the house.” “T
Last Updated: 2025-12-31
Chapter: Bonus Chapter 3: The Great Hoodie IncidentThe call came at 10:47 a.m.Brielle was in the back room of the shop, unpacking a shipment of handmade candles, when her phone buzzed against the counter. She glanced at the screen and sighed softly.WILLOW CREEK ELEMENTARY — FRONT OFFICEShe answered immediately.“Hi, this is Brielle Reed.”“Mrs. Reed,” the secretary said in a carefully neutral voice—the kind that always meant something had happened. “There’s been a… situation involving Emma and Mason.”Brielle closed her eyes.“Are they hurt?”“No, no,” the woman said quickly. “No injuries. Just… feelings.”Of course it was feelings.“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Brielle said, already reaching for her purse.The Scene of the CrimeEmma sat stiffly in a plastic chair outside the principal’s office, arms crossed, chin lifted in defiance. Mason sat beside her, slouched low, staring at his sneakers with exaggerated innocence.Between them sat the hoodie.Pink. Oversized. Soft fleece. Emma’s favorite.The principal, Mrs. Howard, smiled
Last Updated: 2025-12-31