Named one of the Best Romances of 2020 by Apple, Kirkus, PW, Washington Post, NPR, BookPage, OprahMag, EW, Insider, Buzzfeed, Bustle, and Amazon!

USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him “rescuing” her from their office building goes viral...

Danika Brown, a brilliant and bisexual PhD student, knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.

When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along in this hilarious fake dating romance. Turns out his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?

Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, Zaf, a grumpy former athlete who is secretly a hopeless romantic, is determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.

The easy lay this witchy academic dreamed of is now more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?

“Talia Hibbert is a rockstar! Her writing is smart, funny, and sexy..." - Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Little Bridge Island and Princess Diaries series

Featured in OprahMag, Bustle, Parade, PopSugar, New York Post, Essence, Travel & Leisure, Ms. Magazine, TheSkimm, Betches, Shondaland, Buzzfeed and more...

Book Talk

Join the conversation