Jillian Parks doesn’t need her hybrid scorpion pepper to set her pulse racing. Wildly charismatic rancher Jack Reed does that all on his own in this scorcher from Gigi Templeton.

Don’t ever think I didn’t want more time with you, darlin’.

Those were her college boyfriend’s last words to her after a phone call summoned him home to Texas. In the ten years since, Jack Reed has taken over his family’s ranch, and Jillian Parks has experienced devastating losses with traumatic repercussions.

Now a reclusive insomniac, she podcasts about the specialty hybrid chili peppers she grows in her Seattle greenhouse, keeping a closed door between her and the past. But when Jillian’s producer coaxes her to make a surprise call in to Jack’s YouTube BBQ channel, their chemistry still sizzles!

An invite to the ranch for a follow-up collab is a scary proposal for Jillian. But forward movement is key to her recovery, and it’s time to take the bull by the horns. With Jack’s commanding yet soothing presence, maybe this charismatic cowboy is just the right ingredient to help her heal—while adding a different kind of spice to her life.

With works ranging from contemporaries to rock star romances to romantic suspense to paranormals, Gigi Templeton is an international bestselling author. Her novels and novellas have been published under three pseudonyms by traditional publishers, including St. Martin’s Press and Hachette/Forever, digital publishers such as Harlequin’s Carina Press, and serialized fiction apps such as Radish Fiction and YONDER. Templeton’s Spiced Right won the Mid-Michigan Romance Writers of America’s (MMRWA’s) Best Banter Contest in November 2022. She was also a finalist for the Romantic Times Best Book of the Year and Seal of Excellence.

Templeton lives in Arizona with her real-life hero and her rescued Maltese, and she is currently studying culinary arts and food photography. Read her blog and sign up for her newsletter at www.ggtblog.com and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @ggtbooks.