Description: Lucas Bennett has always had terrible luck with romance. Every confession crashes and burns, every date goes wrong, and even the universe seems determined to mock him. But when one rejection leaves him with a question he can't shake-why does no relationship ever work out?-Lucas starts pulling at threads he was never meant to notice. The answer keeps leading him back to Adrian Ellis, his oldest friend: a calm, reliable philosophy professor who has been at Lucas's side through every romantic disaster. Adrian has spent years quietly loving Lucas while pretending friendship is enough. He knows exactly how badly the truth could ruin everything, so he keeps his distance, swallows his feelings, and tries to survive the constant temptation of being the person Lucas trusts most. Then one awkward night turns into another, boundaries blur, and circumstances keep pushing them closer-shared beds, late-night care, accidental intimacy, and eventually the kind of domestic closeness neither of them can ignore. Lucas may be dense, but even he can tell something is changing. Now he has to figure out whether Adrian is simply the one person who never leaves... or the one person he has been looking for all along. Because if Lucas waits too long to understand his own heart, friendship may not be the only thing at risk. Author Biography: Aria Blackwood crafts passionate romance novels with complex heroes, fierce heroines, and love that defies all odds.