This Is Not a Meet Cute

A disastrous meet-cute forces a sunshiney event planner and grumpy hotel exec to work together—and to rethink their first impressions when sparks begin to fly.

LA-based event planner Caroline Dunne has always believed in a good meet-cute, and secretly hopes the universe has one waiting for her—maybe even with the impossibly handsome stranger she spots on her first day in the D.C. office. Unfortunately, that stranger turns out to be Smith Collier, the stern ex–Navy SEAL who runs her company’s hotel division—and their first encounter ends with him yelling at her, spilling coffee all over her favorite cashmere sweater, and demanding she move to D.C. for the next ten months. So, not very cute after all. . . .

Once in D.C., half of Caroline’s life is spent catering to the glamorous but manipulative CEO’s impossible demands, and the other half is spent under Smith’s relentless scrutiny. Except soon her clashes with Smith feel suspiciously like flirting, and as meetings, travel, and hotel openings continue to throw them together, Caroline discovers someone else entirely beneath his cold exterior—a caring, fiercely loyal single father who’s quickly becoming her favorite part of each day.

Smith is definitely not her meet-cute. But if Caroline were to trade her dream of the perfect rom-com for something far messier—and much more real—could he be even more?