Challenged by the Next-Door Veteran

Faking it with my hot ex-military neighbor was never part of the plan.

Ben Mercer wasn’t supposed to be anything more than the quiet man living on the other side of my paper-thin wall. Then I take a tumble down the basement stairs and end up in his arms, discovering just how solid, strong, and distracting my neighbor really is.

When my ex shows up as the guest of honor at the town festival, Ben offers a solution: he’ll play my boyfriend for the weekend.

Hand-holding? Easy. Stolen kisses? Manageable. Keeping my hands off the rugged Marine who looks at me like he knows exactly what I’m thinking? That’s going to be a problem.

Ben says this is temporary. He’s leaving town on Monday, and neither of us is supposed to get attached.

But every touch and every kiss that feels a little too real makes those rules harder to follow.

We agreed to fake a relationship for one weekend. So why does letting him go feel impossible?


Challenged by the Next-Door Veteran is a short, sweet, and steamy small town instalove romance with a happy-ever-after. It can be read as a standalone or together with the rest of the books in the Curvy Girls of Bloomfield series.