Next To You

Lane is in the middle of an identity crisis. Her friends are all partnered up, her career is leading nowhere, and simply put? She's not happy. So after a night out celebrating (drinking) on her birthday she makes one hell of an impulsive purchase. A giant, yellow, forty-eight passenger school bus that she intends to make a home.

With little-to-no renovation experience but a large sum of inheritance money, Lane enlists the help of her friend Matt—a mechanic by trade, handyman by practice, and hottie by nature. While their mutual attraction is undeniable, Matt and Lane have silently agreed that a friendship is the only thing that could ever exist between them. Matt's a total family guy with "settle down with me" tattooed across his forehead whereas Lane is entirely commitment-averse.

So, when Matt offers to help her with the bus and in the bedroom with no strings attached, Lane’s feelings evolve faster than you can say "just good friends." But she soon discovers that in order to build something new, she has to first heal her past.

Next To You is a standalone friends to idiots to lovers romance featuring a tattooed, anxious, chaotic bisexual lead and a cinnamon-roll hero with a heart of gold and filthy mouth. Featuring meddling friends, an escapee pet rabbit, an aggressive amount of siblings, and a doomed wedding. Read as these two friends who are definitely *not* in love attempt to keep their sex free from attachments and find their happily ever after, after grief has put a pause on life.

Trigger warnings: Sudden death of parent from car accident (referenced throughout) Anxiety/PTSD symptoms and treatments.