The Terms of Us by Natasha Derouchie

Julian North doesn’t believe in love.
He believes in leverage.

When his family pressures him to settle down, he drafts a contract, clean, controlled, and emotion-proof.

A marriage on paper.
No complications.
No expectations beyond the fine print.

Lucy Bennett agrees for practical reasons. With a mother whose health is fragile and a family that depends on her steadiness, security isn’t a luxury; it’s survival.
What she doesn’t expect is how real it begins to feel.
Because somewhere between shared mornings and unguarded moments, the lines start to blur. Julian softens. The walls shift. And Lucy dares to believe that what they’re building might be more than a carefully negotiated arrangement.

Until she says three words he doesn’t know how to receive.
And everything fractures.
Silence replaces closeness. Distance replaces warmth. And when outside forces begin to pull at the fragile foundation they built, Lucy is left questioning whether she was ever more than a convenient choice.

She’s spent her life being strong for everyone else.
She won’t beg to be chosen.
Julian has always controlled the narrative of his life.
But love was never part of the contract.
And when Lucy walks away, he’s forced to confront the one thing he’s never risked before…
Vulnerability.

The Terms of Us is a contemporary billionaire marriage-of-convenience romance featuring grumpy/sunshine tension, emotional slow burn, family interference, a heroine who knows her worth, and a hero who has to fight for his happily ever after.

Guaranteed HEA.