Margot Hayes Sleeps with Strangers

She built her life on control. He's about to shatter every rule she's made.

Margot Hayes is a brilliant attorney who has mastered the art of keeping people at arm's length. After a devastating betrayal years ago, she's perfected her formula for satisfaction without risk: anonymous encounters in hotel bars, one incredible night, then goodbye forever. No names. No numbers. No second chances. It's a system that's worked flawlessly for three years, protecting her heart while fulfilling her needs.

But when she approaches a devastatingly handsome stranger at her favorite hotel bar after another courtroom victory, she has no idea she's about to meet the one man who will upend everything.

James doesn't follow her rules. He's magnetic, intense, and somehow manages to see past every defense she's carefully constructed. Their night together is supposed to be like all the others, memorable but forgettable, a perfect moment frozen in time before they both walk away. Except James doesn't walk away. He shows up at her firm as the new partner, turning her carefully compartmentalized life into chaos.

Suddenly the man who knows exactly how she sounds when she comes undone is sitting across from her in morning meetings, and Margot's ironclad control is slipping through her fingers like water.

But James is carrying secrets of his own, shadows from a past that drove him to accept a cross-country transfer and start over in a new city. He wasn't looking for a relationship any more than Margot was, but something about the fierce, guarded woman from that first night has gotten under his skin.

As they're forced to work together on a high-stakes case, the chemistry between them becomes impossible to ignore. Every stolen glance, every accidental touch, every late night at the office reviewing depositions crackles with the memory of what they shared and the promise of what they could have, if either of them were brave enough to take the risk.

When the case turns dangerous and threatens to expose vulnerabilities neither of them wants to face, Margot and James must decide what matters more: the walls they've built to protect themselves, or the connection that keeps pulling them back together.

She's spent years perfecting the art of walking away. He's spent months learning how to stay. Together, they'll discover that the riskiest thing isn't opening your heart, it's living your whole life afraid to let someone in.