Stuck with the Hero Downstairs by Ellie Faye

I inherited a fortune… and ended up living with the man least likely to fall in love with me. How did that happen?
The day I traded city chaos for small-town quiet, I didn’t expect to share a roof with Austin Adams—an ex–Navy SEAL turned accountant who folds his T-shirts like he’s still in basic training.
He’s calm where I’m chaos. Order to my mess. A storm I never saw coming.
At first, we barely spoke. He hid behind spreadsheets; I filled the silence with nervous chatter and burned muffins. But somewhere between shared breakfasts and late-night repairs in the barn, something shifted.
He started smiling more. I started breathing easier.
Three moments undid me: the way his hand brushed mine while fixing the fence, the rare laugh that escaped him when I tripped over a goat, and the night he held me like I was something precious.
Now every look feels dangerous, every silence charged.
Because the man I wasn’t supposed to want is the one person I can’t imagine losing—even if loving him might cost me everything.