The Other Brother by Hazel Kelly

I never imagined I’d hit rock bottom.
To be honest, the only thing I expected less was him.
From the moment our eyes met across the zucchini, something woke in me and started dusting away the cobwebs I’d let gather around my heart.
Not that there was anything loveable about the guy. He was gentle as a scorpion when I met him, and his venomous words stung me more than once. Which was fine. Really. Detesting him made it easier to do my job. Easier to sleep at night.
But it was all a front, a costume, a lie. He’d simply been a beast for so long he didn’t know how to stop stomping around his castle, his grudges clanging behind him like a rusted ball and chain.
Yet even the most hardened men can change. Even the most stubborn can learn to admit when they’re wrong.
Not that Ash was wrong very often. At least, not when it came to me.
And now I feel hopeful again. Beautiful. Enchanted.
All because of a beast.