{"product_id":"this-time-around-9798991814829","title":"This Time Around","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlake-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI thought I was done with love. One night with the wrong guy was all it took to unravel me-proof that I'm not as tough as I seem. So I swore off men, convinced I needed to work on myself. Heal myself. But life has a twisted sense of humor. Just when I settle on solitude, I crash-literally-into Luke.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy best friend's older brother. The one I've always wanted but never let myself peruse. He's everything I told myself was off-limits: older, accomplished, heartbreakingly unattainable. And worse-he sees right through me. Every time I try to keep my distance, he looks at me like I'm the one thing he's been waiting for.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut crossing that line could cost me everything. Even if not crossing it is already tearing me apart.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLuke-\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI didn't spend years pining after Blake. That's not how it happened.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBack then, she was just my sister's best friend. A little wild, always around, always laughing too loud. I had a wife, a life I thought made sense.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eQuietly, slowly, my marriage was crumbling around me; over long before I admitted it out loud. And somewhere in that silence, there she was-Blake. Not trying. Not even looking at me that way. Just... being her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd suddenly, I couldn't stop seeing her.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt wasn't some big romantic moment. It was a tangle of small ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow five years later, she's here. Still trying to pretend we're just friends. Still keeping me at arm's length. But I've already lived through loving the wrong person. I know what that feels like.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis-what's between us-it's the first thing that's felt real in a long time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd I'm not walking away from it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harper James Books LLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/28\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798991814829\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 356\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.78lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.79d","brand":"Harper Rae James","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52933717557429,"sku":"9798991814829","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/this-time-around-9798991814829","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}