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Expected 25 Oct 26A new, shockingly forbidden standalone from New York Times bestselling authors Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland…
Sometimes one floor is all that separates the life you planned from the life you never saw coming…
Moving to New York with my boyfriend, Calder, was supposed to be a fresh start.
A new city. A new job. A beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn we'd call home. The beginning of our forever.
There was just one catch: Calder’s best friend lived in the apartment downstairs.
Rafe—a gifted artist who smashed glass into masterpieces. With his unruly blond hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through me, he was impossible to ignore.
He was also completely off-limits.
Yet somehow, every walk past his apartment or trip to the basement laundry room turned into another deep conversation neither of us ever wanted to end.
At first, it was innocent.
Then I found myself looking forward to running into him again.
Before long, I was creating opportunities to be around him.
Somehow, Rafe and I made each other feel seen in ways neither of us expected.
I tried to ignore our connection, reminding myself that Calder’s best friend was the last man on Earth I could ever fall for.
But with every stolen moment, that lie became harder to believe.
Maybe some love stories aren't about finding the right person—but what happens when you find them too late.
Sometimes one floor is all that separates the life you planned from the life you never saw coming…
Moving to New York with my boyfriend, Calder, was supposed to be a fresh start.
A new city. A new job. A beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn we'd call home. The beginning of our forever.
There was just one catch: Calder’s best friend lived in the apartment downstairs.
Rafe—a gifted artist who smashed glass into masterpieces. With his unruly blond hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through me, he was impossible to ignore.
He was also completely off-limits.
Yet somehow, every walk past his apartment or trip to the basement laundry room turned into another deep conversation neither of us ever wanted to end.
At first, it was innocent.
Then I found myself looking forward to running into him again.
Before long, I was creating opportunities to be around him.
Somehow, Rafe and I made each other feel seen in ways neither of us expected.
I tried to ignore our connection, reminding myself that Calder’s best friend was the last man on Earth I could ever fall for.
But with every stolen moment, that lie became harder to believe.
Maybe some love stories aren't about finding the right person—but what happens when you find them too late.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 25, 2026
About the author
Penelope Ward
113 books26.1k followersPenelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty novels.
In 2014, Penelope’s fourth book, Stepbrother Dearest, became the #1 bestselling independently published Kindle ebook of the year on Amazon.com and was credited with igniting an entirely new subgenre of romance. Her 2016 smash hit RoomHate debuted at #2 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Penelope is an Audie Award Winner and three-time Goodreads Choice Romance of the Year Nominee. Her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly and Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review).
Penelope’s novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
She can often be found chatting live with her readers in her private Facebook group, Penelope’s Peeps.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty novels.
In 2014, Penelope’s fourth book, Stepbrother Dearest, became the #1 bestselling independently published Kindle ebook of the year on Amazon.com and was credited with igniting an entirely new subgenre of romance. Her 2016 smash hit RoomHate debuted at #2 on The New York Times Bestseller list. Penelope is an Audie Award Winner and three-time Goodreads Choice Romance of the Year Nominee. Her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly and Publisher’s Weekly (Starred Review).
Penelope’s novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
She can often be found chatting live with her readers in her private Facebook group, Penelope’s Peeps.
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