The mess that is my life started with one too many tequila shots. Well, I guess you could say the disaster really started two years ago when I met Sterling Jacobson, my best friend's older brother, for the first time. He's off limits, someone I can never have. So why do I have to want him the most? I really need to get him—and the night we shared—out of my head. There's no better way to do that than on a summer trip to Sicily with my best friend. That was the plan until everything went sideways.

A long time ago, in a suburban high school not so far away, a closeted nerd (me) and a closeted soccer star (Hutch) fell in love and planned to make their public debut at prom. Until Hutch bailed at the last minute, leaving me with a broken heart and unworn tuxedo. Tale as old as time, right? I spent the past ten years working to forget Hutch, returning to our old high school to teach and make new memories that could erase ones of him. I thought Hutch was ancient history, off living his professional athlete life.

Asher’s dream job: Interior design: check. His dream boyfriend, Park Bo Gum: not check (sadly). Straight as a board, childhood bff Zar: check. Zar becoming his boyfriend: che—wait, what?!

With a baseball scholarship to Easton University and awesome family and friends, my life is pretty golden. Except, things have never come together for me in the romance department. Until Kellan Crawford walks onto the field as the team's newest bat boy. Bells and whistles go off in my body, and just like that, I'm totally crushing on a guy for the first time in my life. Too bad he's the coach's son and officially off-limits.

Harrison Phillip Fletcher III isn't supposed to be here. Not in Burlington, Vermont, not running Vino & Veritas, a quaint inclusive bookstore and wine bar, and definitely not still alive, at 42. Also not supposed to be here? An unexpected delivery of chickens. Finn Barnes knows chickens. The burly organic farmer knows all about rare breed poultry, but dealing with a hot older bookseller is an entirely different matter. City-slicker types like Harrison never end up staying in Vermont for the long-term. They should steer clear of each other. But the flare of attraction is mutual.