The Man I Hate

I gazed through my living room window, toward his front door. In a wine-induced stupor, I stumbled along the razor's edge that separated love from hate. Soon, I was bound to fall. It was anyone's guess on which side I'd land. Braxton Rourke's cell phone number was included in the contacts of Hollywood's A-List actors and actresses, successful musicians, and professional athletes. When a problem arose, Braxton fixed it. Receiving an "I need help with-" text from Selena Gomez, Ryan Gosling-or the police-was a common occurrence. A well-dressed protector who appeared like an actor himself, he was sickeningly handsome, confident, and spoke with an educated authority. I met him while settling the estate of my deceased parents. Enamored by his tailored Italian suit, bravado gait, and undeniable charisma, I suggested the unthinkable. A one-night stand. He agreed, but only because I was leaving in three days. His life, he explained, couldn't include a woman. For the three days that followed, I watched him come and go, knowing we'd never be anything other than two people who shared a magical moment in the front seat of his Range Rover while parked outside a trendy Hollywood diner. Then, the unthinkable happened. A bizarre of series circumstances forced us to be neighbors. The Man I Hate is a stand-alone full-length (90,000 word) novel with no cheating, no sex outside the relationship, no abuse, and an HEA. It depicts a love-hate relationship between two consenting adults and is a steamy contemporary romance novel.