Hopeless - Elsie Silver

Beau Eaton is the town prince, a handsome military hero with a tortured past.

I''m the outcast bartender, a shy girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

He''s thirty-five and all man, I''m twenty-two and all . . . virgin. He''s also my fiancé. Correction: my fake fiancé.

We start out as a bet. He doesn''t believe that anyone holds my last name against me. So he offers me his to prove a point.

It''s a win-win. He gets a break from his concerned family''s prying, and I get a chance to shed my family''s reputation while I save up to ditch this small town.

He says all I have to do is wear his ring, follow his lead, and pretend I can''t keep my hands off of him in public.

But it''s what happens between us in private that blurs all those carefully drawn lines . . .

It''s what transpires behind closed doors that doesn''t feel like pretending at all . . .

This engagement was supposed to be for show. This agreement? It has an end date.

He once told me he''d never fall in love.

And yet here I am, head over heels for my fake fiancé.