Cowboys & Hot Sauce by Annee Jones

One fake date. One small-town festival. One chance to turn sparks into forever.

Scarlet
The plan was simple: win the Sweetwater Summer’s End hot sauce contest, impress a few key investors, and prove to my grandmother I’m ready to take over the family business. What I didn’t plan? Small-town gossip running hotter than my habanero honey glaze after I showed up solo.
Enter Burke Tate—quiet, steady, devastatingly handsome. He’s the type of man who calculates risks, not takes them… except now he’s agreeing to fake date me for the festival weekend to help me save face.
But as we “pretend” our way through carnival rides, kissing booth mishaps (don’t ask), and a barn dance under the stars, the line between fake and real starts to blur. And I can’t stop wondering if Sweetwater—and Burke—might be exactly the kind of slow-burn sweetness I’ve been searching for.

Burke
Scarlet Landry has been setting Sweetwater’s gossip mill ablaze since she showed up with her food truck, her big-city ambitions, and a proposal I wasn’t prepared for: be her fake boyfriend for the festival weekend.
I should’ve said no. I’m the quiet brother—the numbers guy, not the charming one. But I’ve been carrying a quiet crush on Scarlet since high school, and this was my chance to step up.
Now holding her hand feels natural. Laughing with her feels like home. And kissing her? That was never part of the plan, but it’s all I can think about.
She says this is just for show. But I’m starting to hope I can convince her it’s for keeps.

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From sun-drenched festivals to starlit fairs, summer is the season for sweet surprises and swoony first kisses. Join the Sweet Kisses Club for heartwarming love stories that celebrate small-town charm and summertime magic.