"Emmy Bonaire has built a successful career as a historian by anticipating the worst outcome and avoiding it at all costs. What she couldn't foresee was her history museum having to combine with the science museum across campus. Even worse, Emmy now has to share an office and design an exhibition with an annoyingly attractive fellow curator, Dr. Ryan Andersson, a paleontologist whose optimism is only topped by Emmy's skepticism of him.
Ryan considers himself a likeable guy. That is, until he meets Emmy. She seems immune to his midwestern charm and attempts at professional collaboration. Not one to let something go, Ryan embarks on a personal campaign for Emmy to like him. For the museum's sake, of course. Not at all because the gruff historian piques his interest.
As Emmy and Ryan evolve from begrudging coworkers to steamy stolen kisses in the archives, their academic work benefits as well. But when their collaborative exhibition becomes critical to both of their successes—while their career goals become further unaligned—extinction seems imminent."
"Phoebe Whitford has mostly drifted through life, grateful that without a set plan, she completed graduate school, settled into a career, and become the go-to advice giver for her people. But after first watching her brother and then her best friend fall in love, she's wondering when—or if—it will ever be her turn. One night, at the bar she's been frequenting for years, Phoebe asks her favorite bartender a question that changes everything.
Declan McFadden loves his bar. It may not have been the dream his family had for him, but he's built a life he's proud of, cobbled together like the tattoos on his body. Six years ago, he asked Phoebe out and she responded with silence. Content with being friends, he still gets a buzz every time she visits. When Phoebe proposes an arrangement between them, he agrees, grateful for any time with her can get. Maybe away from the bar, they could become something more.
The more time they spend together, the more Phoebe and Dec learn about their individual desires and struggles. How can two independent people rely on each other to help them make their best futures? And does that future include each other?"
