Breaking Character

She hired him to play a part. He's risking everything to be real.Journalist Clara Morgan deals in facts, but her life has become a lie. After her fiancé cheated on her weeks before their wedding, she can't face the pitying looks or the empty chair at social events. Her solution? The Stand-In Agency. For a steep hourly rate, she hires a companion who checks all the boxes: handsome, charming, and emotionally unavailable.Julian Foster is an actor whose life was derailed by a tragedy he can't outrun. Acting is the only way he can survive the guilt of the car accident that took his fiancée. As "e;Gabriel Thorne,"e; a wealthy oil tycoon, he can be the perfect man—as long as the clock is running.But when Clara hires him for her sister's wedding, the lines between the script and reality begin to blur. A terrified drive through the rain and a panic attack at the altar reveal the broken man beneath the bespoke suit. Clara, who swore off vulnerability, finds herself comforting the man she pays to comfort her.As a rival journalist digs for dirt and Clara's ex resurfaces, Julian must decide if he's ready to drop the act. But breaking character means breaking the agency's strict rules—and risking the only heart he's learned to trust since the crash.