Hometown Heartbreaker by Maisey Yates

He knows that Copper Ridge’s newest bartender is running from her past… but will he recognize that she’s his last chance at salvation before she leaves town?

Aiden Crawford knows all about responsibilities. He’s already shouldering more than his share when beautiful drifter Casey James cruises into town with a broken car, a chip on her shoulder, and enough secrets to have her ready to leave Copper Ridge the second she can afford the auto mechanic’s bill. Aiden has no time for long-legged, sultry-eyed complications, especially when he catches her joyriding in his father’s car, but when he realizes that she’s hungry and homeless, he grits his teeth and does what he does best: takes on another person’s problems as his own.

Casey is no man’s charity project—she takes care of herself and that’s all she needs to survive. But in the gruff and ruggedly gorgeous Aiden, she finds a man whose demons match her own—and who tempts her to stop running once and for all. Yet even if she finds the courage to stay, can she convince him that a future together is possible before time runs out?

When I’m in the mood for fun and contemporary, I look to Maisey Yates. I really love this Copper Ridge series, and as it turns out I’d missed this novella!

This one takes place before One Night Charmer, Ace’s book. Here we see Casey roll into town and her car breaks down. So she gets a job at Ace’s bar and camps out. No big, she’s done it before. She’ll earn enough cash to get her car fixed, then be on her way.

Aiden walks into Ace’s bar to get his alcoholic dad out of there. Casey happens to be the bartender. And she wants the tab settled. Aiden’s solution? Tosses her his dad’s keys to his truck and says hold it as collateral until tomorrow. Well, Casey has to walk in the dark to a campground that’s several miles away, so she figures “hold as collateral” could totally mean “use this truck to drive home and bring it back in the morning.” Po-tay-to / Po-tah-to right?

Except Aiden catches Casey bringing the car back the next morning.

“You could have asked,” he said.

“Yeah well, you seemed like you were in a little bit of a hurry, so I thought maybe not. Actually, I thought you probably wouldn’t know, since I didn’t figure you would be back for it this early.” She shrugged. “Calculated risk. It failed. That happens. But no harm, no foul. You got your car back, and I didn’t get ax murdered on my way home from work. Everyone wins.”

I just think they’re so cute together. Casey is kind of hard at first, she’s had a rough life and is sassy and a smartass, but she softens. And he softens. And they melt together and it’s hot.

I enjoyed it, it’s fun, it’s sexy, and snarky, because it’s a Maisey Yates book. 😉