# Willa Rourke

> Spicy contemporary romance. Twenty-eight standalone novellas across four
> unconnected workplace series, sold direct as paperbacks. Every paperback
> comes with its ebook and its full audiobook, free. Chapter one of every
> book is free to read on the site in full.

Author: Willa Rourke (pen name). Publisher: Greenlight Publishing.
Site: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com

## Sections

- [The register — every measurement, all 28](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/register.html)
- [How the books are printed and delivered](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/printing.html)
- [Machine-readable catalogue (JSON)](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/data/catalog.json)
- [The shelf — every title](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/shop.html)
- [Chapter one of every book, free](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read.html)
- [Every trope, explained](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes.html)
- [Glossary of the workplace jargon](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/glossary.html)
- [How spicy they are, book by book](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/heat.html)
- [Reading order](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/reading-order.html)
- [Questions](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/faq.html)
- [About the author](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/willa-rourke.html)
- [Box sets](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/box-sets.html)
- [Returns and privacy](https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/policies.html)

## What this is

Willa Rourke writes spicy contemporary romance about women who keep the invoice — first person, open door, short enough to finish in a night.

The women in these books are consultants, athletic trainers, dispatchers, timekeepers, lookouts and public information officers. Each is the person in the room holding the document everybody else needs signed, and every book is partly about whether she will sign it.

There are four series and they do not cross. Nobody from Manhattan turns up in Idaho. Each is seven standalone couples, and each ends with the building still standing and the lease still ugly.

First person. Open door, explicit, adults 18+ — 95 scenes across the twenty-eight,
with a scene map per title at https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/heat.html.
About 30,000 words each, 114 to 144 printed pages, roughly two hours to read
and a little over three to listen to.
Endings: 24 happy ever after, 4 happy for now, stated on every product page.

## Editions and availability

- EPUB: available (an EPUB and a registered ebook ISBN per title)
- Audiobook: available (ACX masters and a registered audiobook ISBN per title)
- Paperback: not yet available (a print-ready interior and wrap per title, and a paperback ISBN added to isbn_registry.yaml)

The paperback is the edition this shop sells and it is not finished yet, so
nothing can be ordered today. The ebook and audiobook editions are complete
and each carries its own ISBN, listed per title below.
All twenty-eight are also available in Kindle Unlimited.

## Buying

Trade terms are unverified proposals: the print spec, the price ladder, the postage and the delivery windows have not been checked against a print quote or a carrier invoice.

You buy the paperbacks; the ebook and the full audiobook of every title in
the order come with them at no extra charge, on the receipt. That is $6.98 of
digital per book and $195.44 across the whole shelf, plus 91 hours of audio.

Single paperback $14.00, falling with quantity:
  1 or 2       $14.00 each
  3 to 6       $12.75 each
  7 to 13      $12.00 each
  14 or more   $11.25 each
  one series   $79.00 ($11.29 each)
  all 28       $289.00 ($10.32 each)

Book: 5.5 x 8.5 in digest, perfect-bound, matte laminate, 60# uncoated cream.
Delivery: United States 8 to 11 days; United Kingdom 6 to 9 days; Europe 9 to 13 days; Canada 12 to 16 days; Australia and New Zealand 13 to 18 days; Rest of world 15 to 24 days.
Packaging is deliberately discreet: plain box, no cover art or title on the
label, card statement reads Greenlight Publishing.

## The four series

### The Hartwell Group — Billionaire workplace, Manhattan
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/workplaces/hartwell.html
Women who keep the invoice. Men who can buy a building and still have to ask.
Seven standalone couples. No character appears in more than one series;
there are no crossovers or cameos between the four.
Recurring vocabulary: the invoice, the deliverable, the board seat, the run-of-show, the term sheet, the fortieth floor.

### The Fenwick Pike — Pro hockey, Fenwick, Minnesota
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/workplaces/fenwick.html
A roster, not a college house. Trainers, reporters, video, player safety, ice invoices, the lease.
Seven standalone couples. No character appears in more than one series;
there are no crossovers or cameos between the four.
Recurring vocabulary: the clipboard, the quiet room, the scratch list, the 5:00 ice, the barn key, the lease.

### The Dry Line — Contract wildland fire, Haskett, Idaho
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/workplaces/dryline.html
Women who keep the hours and the window.
Seven standalone couples. No character appears in more than one series;
there are no crossovers or cameos between the four.
Recurring vocabulary: the sit, the time book, the window, the copper thumbtack, the cache, the red flag.

### The Blue Ticket — Regional airline, Calder, New Mexico
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/workplaces/blueticket.html
Women who keep the hold.
Seven standalone couples. No character appears in more than one series;
there are no crossovers or cameos between the four.
Recurring vocabulary: the MEL, the book, the jumpseat, the 05:40 show, the irregular, the certificate.

## Every book

### Month Nine — A Spicy Boss Billionaire Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 1. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-month-nine.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-month-nine.html
29,174 words, 20 chapters, 114 printed pages, about 117 minutes to read, 3h 06m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Boss and employee, Grumpy and sunshine, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-941-9; audiobook 979-8-90623-942-6; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do not sleep with the man who signs the invoice. I already left a boss who stole my work and then tried to take me with it.

Grant Hartwell hired me anyway. Six weeks to stop his logistics division from bleeding out. A glass cage on the fortieth floor. A board that wants his name off the door. He is ice in a meeting and careful with my margins, and he keeps finding reasons to still be in the building when I am.

The late nights are the job. The way he says my name is not. One trip. One penthouse that is supposed to be two rooms. I can walk when the deliverable is done.

If I stay, it is because I choose him. Not because he bought the hour.

### Shared Bid — A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 2. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-shared-bid.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-shared-bid.html
30,402 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 122 minutes to read, 3h 10m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Enemies to lovers, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-943-3; audiobook 979-8-90623-944-0; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I have spent two years taking Derek Hawthorne’s bids apart in public. He has not forgiven a single number, and I have not given him one to keep.

Then a third firm outbids us both. Hartwell and Blackwood get shoved into one war room, one model, and a sandwich I am not sharing on purpose. Equals. Rivals. The hate is the thinnest cover I have ever worn. I find the cut he hid: 2,140 people sitting in a toggle I was not on.

I will not lose this file because I like his mouth. He will not keep a second set of books. If we burn the deal, we burn it honest.

### Run of Show — A Spicy Forbidden Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 3. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-run-of-show.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-run-of-show.html
30,226 words, 18 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 121 minutes to read, 3h 07m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Grumpy and sunshine, Forbidden, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-945-7; audiobook 979-8-90623-946-4; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I am being paid to run the Hartwell Gala. I am not being paid to want Blake Hartwell in a room I have timed to the minute.

He is my ex’s best friend. The spare brother. The one who sat with me once and did not try to fix my crying. The run-of-show is clean. The almost-kiss is not. Then Tyler comes back for the night I built, charming and late, and the friend code I invented starts to look like a cage I made for myself.

I already spent two years being someone’s supportive girlfriend. I will not do it again. Blake either shows up as the main character or he does not get a cue.

### Marked in Red — A Spicy Fake Engagement Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 4. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-marked-in-red.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-marked-in-red.html
30,421 words, 18 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 122 minutes to read, 3h 09m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Fake dating and fake engagement, Marriage of convenience, Forbidden, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-947-1; audiobook 979-8-90623-948-8; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I win in court and still cannot pay rent. My father’s treatment is on the desk. The math does not work.

Chase Preston walks in with a clause: six months as his fiancée on paper, enough money to keep the practice and the man who raised me, and an estate lawyer who has to believe it. I say no. Then I look at the bills. The contract is clean. The practice of pretending is not. Public nights. A house that still smells like his grandmother. A performance that starts as evidence and turns into a mouth I am not paid to want.

When the inheritance clears, leaving is the only honest clause I have left. Unless I rewrite it.

### School Gate — A Spicy Second Chance Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 5. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-school-gate.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-school-gate.html
30,333 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 121 minutes to read, 3h 08m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy for now.
Tropes: Second chance, Single mother and secret child, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-949-5; audiobook 979-8-90623-950-1; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do school pickup, legal aid, and the kind of tired that does not get a montage. Reid Mercer left Manhattan without a number. I found out I was pregnant two weeks later.

Five years on, Hartwell’s VP of Operations is back, and our son has his eyes. Leo is six. The aftercare invoice is real. Reid does not get a shortcut, a check, or a press-ready family. He grovels or he leaves again. The papers will try to write us anyway.

There is no ring in this book. I am still angry at the end. Coming back is the floor, not the ceiling. No on-page harm to the child.

### After the Panel — A Spicy Age Gap Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 6. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-after-the-panel.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-after-the-panel.html
29,982 words, 18 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 120 minutes to read, 3h 06m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Age gap, Boss and employee, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-951-8; audiobook 979-8-90623-952-5; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I am the youngest VP Hartwell has ever made, and every room still asks who I slept with to get the chair.

Julian Blackwood is forty-two, the independent chairman, and the man who has been asking me the one question that actually matters for two years. He is not my boss. The line is still real. After the panel, a hotel is a choice we both make with our eyes open. Fifteen years. Mentor and the woman he is not supposed to want. When the board wants me as a secret or a scandal, I walk in with the numbers. I do not ask him to save me.

I earned the seat. I will not let a rumor be the only story they get.

### Nightstand Ring — A Spicy Arranged Marriage Romance
The Hartwell Group, Book 7. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/hartwell-nightstand-ring.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/hartwell-nightstand-ring.html
30,109 words, 22 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 120 minutes to read, 3h 10m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Marriage of convenience, Billionaire romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-953-2; audiobook 979-8-90623-954-9; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I will marry for a clause. Not a feeling. My board will not bless the Hartwell acquisition unless I wear a ring that proves loyalty, and I have never trusted a deal that came with family attached.

Tate Hartwell is the youngest brother — the one nobody is sure of, the one who collects art instead of a title. Separate bedrooms. One year. Brussels. A ring that keeps landing on the nightstand because metal catches on towels. I price him. He stays priced. Then he stops running, and I have to decide if I will too.

This is the hottest book in the series. I still keep the term sheet.

### No Contact — A Spicy Workplace Sports Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 1. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-no-contact.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-no-contact.html
30,003 words, 20 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 120 minutes to read, 3h 04m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-955-6; audiobook 979-8-90623-956-3; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do not clear a captain because he asks nicely. I already lost a job to a smile and a second hit.

Ward Keene took one that should have ended his week. He wants Saturday. I write NO CONTACT in block letters and put him in the quiet room. The last trainer here signed a sheet he should not have signed. I will not be the next name on that clipboard. His father is grading the broadcast from a recliner. The lock on the closet sticks. He is used to being believed. I am used to being the person who ruins a night.

If we break protocol, I will hate it on the page. The ice is not a favor I owe the C.

### Scratch List — A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 2. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-scratch-list.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-scratch-list.html
29,427 words, 20 chapters, 114 printed pages, about 118 minutes to read, 3h 03m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-957-0; audiobook 979-8-90623-958-7; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I have a list of men I will not waste tape on. Miles Varga is on it. He does not do standups. After he breaks a rookie's nose in a scrum that looks like a letter, I need a quote and he needs me to stop writing dirty.

The GM makes him sit with me. He answers in one word until he does not. I will not sleep with a source. Then I do. He asks me to kill a line. I refuse. He gives me a better fact. The family calls. I run the correction without making him a saint.

The story closes first. He is not the story.

### Split Squad — A Spicy Workplace Sports Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 3. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-split-squad.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-split-squad.html
30,028 words, 20 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 120 minutes to read, 3h 07m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Fake dating and fake engagement, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-959-4; audiobook 979-8-90623-960-0; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

The sponsor wants a charming goalie for a charity weekend. Henrik Solberg throws up before starts and cannot do a camera. I am PR. I put myself on the plus-one list rather than hire a mouth.

The lie works with his hands. It fails with his mouth. When they try to buy a kiss for a camera, he says no on the ice. I kill the deal. I still write the statement first. The fake ends. He still shows up at my door with coffee I did not ask for.

I invent girlfriends for sponsors. I do not keep them for the league.

### Two-Way — A Spicy Age Gap Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 4. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-two-way.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-two-way.html
30,040 words, 20 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 120 minutes to read, 3h 06m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Age gap, Older woman, younger man, Forbidden, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-961-7; audiobook 979-8-90623-962-4; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

Theo March thinks video meetings are optional. I am thirty-six, the video coach, and not his lesson. He is twenty-three.

Ruthie makes him sit every session or go back down. We fight about a weak-side gap in a dark room that was supposed to stay professional. He gets sent down for hockey, not for me, and I will not let him turn that into a romance. When he comes back up he is better and still too young. I will not be a story about a staffer who could not keep her hands off a call-up.

I timestamp everything. Including this.

### Recall Notice — A Spicy Second Chance Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 5. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-recall-notice.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-recall-notice.html
30,360 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 121 minutes to read, 3h 07m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy for now.
Tropes: Second chance, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-963-1; audiobook 979-8-90623-964-8; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

The league sent me to Fenwick because I know the coach and because no one else wanted February. Cal Duryea used to be my husband. I kept Bell.

I am not here to save his job. I am here to decide if a man who likes winning more than brains can keep a bench. He does not ask me to bury it. He asks me to be accurate. I am. The report keeps him on a leash. We do not remarry in this book. I take a key after the file, not during it.

This is not a soft reunion. I still have a flight unless the key is real.

### Last Change — A Spicy Forced Proximity Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 6. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-last-change.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-last-change.html
30,637 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 123 minutes to read, 3h 11m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-965-5; audiobook 979-8-90623-966-2; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I rent leftover ice at 5:00 and invoice anyone who chews it. Lev Morin is the last-change winger the Pike just claimed, and his extra sessions eat my hour.

I tape the invoice to the GM's door. He laughs until he sees the cars in the lot. We split 5:00 and 6:00 like adults, and then we do not. A rumor he is moving again makes me stupidly kind. I will not ask him to stay. I will bill a scrape.

He has never stayed in a town long enough to learn the Zamboni schedule. I have.

### Barn Key — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Fenwick Pike, Book 7. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/fenwick-barn-key.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/fenwick-barn-key.html
32,750 words, 20 chapters, 126 printed pages, about 131 minutes to read, 3h 24m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Save the building, Hockey and sports romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-967-9; audiobook 979-8-90623-968-6; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

A furniture-chain owner wants the Harbor Barn as a tax story and a teardown. I have the extra key and the books. Owen Pell has the A, then the C when the captain's year is medically finished.

The numbers do not work. We keep the building anyway. We do not kiss for cameras. I still have a lender call at eight. If we lose the Barn we lose the town. If we keep it we work in the same hallway.

Last book in the series. No reunion dinner. The lease is ugly and kept.

### Holdover — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Dry Line, Book 1. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-holdover.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-holdover.html
34,949 words, 20 chapters, 134 printed pages, about 140 minutes to read, 3h 35m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Boss and employee, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-969-3; audiobook 979-8-90623-970-9; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do not sign a line I cannot see. I already sat a boss who wanted acres more than a window.

Roan Pettit wants Bench Draw without my time. Squad boss. Last season still in his chest. I keep the map, the copper thumbtack, and the hour. He is careful with hose and careless with the sit, and he keeps finding reasons to still be in the cache when I am.

The holdover is the job. The way he waits for my window is not. One night after Wynn locks the cage. I can walk when the acres are caught.

If I stay, it is because I choose the man who initials the sit. Not because he asked nicer.

### Time Book — A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
The Dry Line, Book 2. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-time-book.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-time-book.html
32,358 words, 20 chapters, 124 printed pages, about 129 minutes to read, 3h 22m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-971-6; audiobook 979-8-90623-972-3; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do not sign hours I did not see. Ghost hours are theft, and I already lost a book to a man who smiled while he padded it.

Soren Watt wants hazard on a sit I did not watch. Sawyer. Red pen. Three days of audit while he hates the word useful. I find a two-hour ghost on another saw — not his — and I still do not like him. He brings the true sheet. I initial one line. He is two lines down.

The time book is the job. The records room after Peach leaves is not. I will not thank him for telling the truth. That was the work.

Hours are hours. I close the book on that.

### Red Flag — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Dry Line, Book 3. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-red-flag.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-red-flag.html
31,292 words, 20 chapters, 120 printed pages, about 125 minutes to read, 2h 54m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Fake dating and fake engagement, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-973-0; audiobook 979-8-90623-974-7; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

County wants a face on a red-flag day. I kill takes. I invent a plus-one, not a girlfriend.

Helitack Joss Tamber will not be a poster. He holds still for one still. I take the hand back for the water. When they want a kiss on the pad while a school tour is in the lot, I refuse. The body comes after the bus leaves. I write not a couple and delete it because it is none of their business.

I do posters for the county. I do not date them. The fake ends. He is not in the frame.

### Lookout — A Spicy Age Gap Romance
The Dry Line, Book 4. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-lookout.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-lookout.html
32,231 words, 20 chapters, 124 printed pages, about 129 minutes to read, 3h 22m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Age gap, Older woman, younger man, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-975-4; audiobook 979-8-90623-976-1; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I am thirty-eight and a steel box on Quartz. The 05:00 radio is real. I will not be a lesson.

Engine Phelan Orr is twenty-four and brings water I did not ask for. I send him down. Then I let him stay ten minutes. Rules. Door. When the road is empty I lock the tower after. Daylight is five minutes. I send five minutes. He sits on his hands until I say otherwise.

I keep both a late step and a pretty one. On the last page he is not on the frequency. I still key the radio at 05:00.

### After Action — A Spicy Second Chance Romance
The Dry Line, Book 5. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-after-action.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-after-action.html
37,849 words, 20 chapters, 144 printed pages, about 151 minutes to read, 3h 54m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy for now.
Tropes: Second chance, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-977-8; audiobook 979-8-90623-978-5; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I keep the name Dace. I file the burn. Rian Holt left after Mule Creek without a note I could use.

He wants a sentence. I want a door that matches a time. I put the leaving on his kitchen table so he cannot use smoke as a bench. I will not remarry the story. I am still angry when I zip the bag. There is no ring.

Happily-for-now. Coming back is not a hyphen.

### Spike — A Spicy Forced Proximity Romance
The Dry Line, Book 6. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-spike.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-spike.html
35,822 words, 20 chapters, 136 printed pages, about 143 minutes to read, 3h 43m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-979-2; audiobook 979-8-90623-980-8; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I invoice the hour. Overhead Dov Marris wants ten minutes of a window that is not his.

He laughs that I billed a dump-in. I stamp received once. I file the crease. Saturday public is a lie; my 05:00 issue window is real. I donate 05:50 one morning and I still bill the rest. He cannot list the cars in the lot. I can.

The cache is the job. The hallway after lockup is not. He goes to optional. I stay with the form.

### Closed Area — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Dry Line, Book 7. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/dryline-closed-area.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/dryline-closed-area.html
30,960 words, 20 chapters, 120 printed pages, about 124 minutes to read, 3h 12m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Save the building, Firefighter romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-981-5; audiobook 979-8-90623-982-2; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I can count a column that does not work. Gid Barrow wants the cache lot for a pad. Markum Day can count and still has to ask.

The teardown lives under three numbers that fail. I have the brass extra and the packet. We keep the lot anyway. Last book in the series. I unmute the county at 7:59. The acre number is already said.

If they get the asphalt they do not get the cage. The lease is ugly and kept.

### Hold Item — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 1. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-hold-item.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-hold-item.html
32,885 words, 20 chapters, 126 printed pages, about 132 minutes to read, 3h 25m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Boss and employee, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-983-9; audiobook 979-8-90623-984-6; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I write the hold. I do not invent a CAT. I already sat a captain who wanted the ship more than the item.

Cole Bridger wants Ridge 14 out. The B-nut is a bead I can time. He almost launches without my hold. I sit the push. I sit him one duty day. He initials. He flies the item I signed. Last season is still in his ears. I am not a clinic.

The MEL is the job. The kitchen table is not. I keep the pencil. He keeps the sky if I say so.

### Squawk — A Spicy Enemies-to-Lovers Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 2. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-squawk.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-squawk.html
30,585 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 122 minutes to read, 3h 11m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-985-3; audiobook 979-8-90623-986-0; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I do not sign a theater squawk. Ghost write-ups are theft, and I already lost a book to a smile.

FO Nils Arden wants hours I did not see. I write the true line. I audit three days. I find a ghost on another name and I still do not like him. He brings the true sheet. I initial one line. He is two lines down.

Squawks are squawks. The records cage after Pax leaves is not the log. I will not thank him for that.

### Jump Seat — A Spicy Forced Proximity Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 3. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-jump-seat.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-jump-seat.html
30,153 words, 20 chapters, 116 printed pages, about 121 minutes to read, 3h 07m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Fake dating and fake engagement, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-987-7; audiobook 979-8-90623-988-4; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

Chamber wants a face in a jumpseat. I kill takes. I invent a plus-one, not a girlfriend.

Check airman Edan Moss holds still for one still. I take the hand back for the water. I refuse a kiss while a career-day bus is in the lot. The body comes after they leave. I write not a couple and delete it.

I empty the bag. I do not date a poster. The fake ends. He is not in the frame.

### Right Seat — A Spicy Age Gap Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 4. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-right-seat.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-right-seat.html
31,797 words, 20 chapters, 122 printed pages, about 127 minutes to read, 3h 16m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Age gap, Older woman, younger man, Boss and employee, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-989-1; audiobook 979-8-90623-990-7; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I am forty-three and a 05:40 show. I will not be a lesson.

FO Tobin Shay is twenty-six and wants a pairing I will not move. I send him to the right seat. Rules. Door. He sits on his hands until I say otherwise. On the last page someone else is in that seat. We are still a couple. The pairing board moved. I keep the show.

He is twenty-six. I do not call him a child after I kiss him.

### Irregular — A Spicy Second Chance Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 5. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-irregular.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-irregular.html
30,973 words, 20 chapters, 120 printed pages, about 124 minutes to read, 3h 12m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy for now.
Tropes: Second chance, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-991-4; audiobook 979-8-90623-992-1; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I keep the name Wren. I file the irregular. Coverage FO Bram Sills wanted a late boarded. He left after a go-around without a note I could use.

I wanted a door that held. I put the leaving on his table. I will not remarry the file. I am still angry when I zip the bag. Happily-for-now, not a hyphen.

The recorder stops before he gets to be sorry for the tape.

### Belly — A Spicy Forced Proximity Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 6. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-belly.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-belly.html
30,656 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 123 minutes to read, 3h 11m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Forced proximity, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-993-8; audiobook 979-8-90623-994-5; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I invoice the hour. Loadmaster Rafi Dew wants ten minutes of a window that is not his.

I bill a dump-in. I stamp August once. I sleeve the crease. Saturday on the fence is public. Sunday public is a lie; my 05:00 issue window is real. I donate 05:50 one morning and I still file the sheet. He cannot list the still. I have a clock.

The belly is the job. After lockup is not. He cannot have the hour. I keep the sheet.

### Certificate — A Spicy Workplace Romance
The Blue Ticket, Book 7. https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/volumes/blueticket-certificate.html
Free chapter one: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/read/blueticket-certificate.html
30,482 words, 20 chapters, 118 printed pages, about 122 minutes to read, 3h 09m as an audiobook.
Ending: happy ever after.
Tropes: Save the building, Aviation romance.
ISBN — ebook 979-8-90623-995-2; audiobook 979-8-90623-996-9; paperback not yet issued.
Paperback $14.00, with the EPUB and the audiobook free.

I can count a column that does not work. Oren Slade wants the routes for a tax year. Consultant Thom Reeve can count and still has to ask.

I unmute the bank at 7:59. The seat-mile number is already said. We keep the certificate anyway. Last book in the series. I still have a packet and a brass extra that opens the pedestrian door.

If they get the asphalt they do not get the hangar. The lease is ugly and kept.

## Tropes

### Forced proximity
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/forced-proximity.html
Two people who would each rather be somewhere else are held in one room, one truck, one suite or one 05:00 window until the thing between them stops being deniable.
The proximity is always the job, never a contrivance. A penthouse booked as two rooms, a records room after the crew goes home, an hour of ice two people both paid for. Nobody is snowed into a cabin.
Books: Month Nine, Shared Bid, No Contact, Split Squad, Last Change, Holdover, Lookout, Spike, Hold Item, Jump Seat, Belly.

### Enemies to lovers
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/enemies-to-lovers.html
They start on opposite sides of a real disagreement — a bid, a byline, a set of hours, a signature — and it is never a misunderstanding a single conversation would fix.
The fight is about work and it stays about work. Nobody apologises for having been right, and when they finally come together the disagreement is settled on the merits rather than dissolved by feelings.
Books: Shared Bid, Scratch List, Time Book, Squawk.

### Age gap
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/age-gap.html
Fifteen years, fourteen years, seventeen years — stated on the page, with the power difference named rather than decorated.
Four of the twenty-eight, and in three of them the woman is the older one. The age is never the obstacle by itself; the reporting line, the tower, the bench or the board is.
Books: After the Panel, Two-Way, Lookout, Right Seat.

### Older woman, younger man
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/older-woman-younger-man.html
She is thirty-six, thirty-eight, forty-three. He is twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-six. She holds the seniority and she keeps it.
No joke about it and no crisis about it. What she worries over is what it would do to her record, because the record is the thing she actually built.
Books: Two-Way, Lookout, Right Seat.

### Second chance
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/second-chance.html
They were together before. One of them left, and the reunion is a professional obligation rather than a coincidence.
These are the books that do not end on a ring. Coming back is the floor and not the ceiling, and the heroine is often still angry on the last page. The card says so before you buy.
Books: School Gate, Recall Notice, After Action, Irregular.

### Fake dating and fake engagement
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/fake-dating.html
A relationship performed for a sponsor, a county photographer, a chamber of commerce or an estate lawyer, with an end date and a written scope.
The arrangement is always a document and it always has the one clause that becomes the problem. Where the performance would cost somebody something real, she kills the shot.
Books: Marked in Red, Split Squad, Red Flag, Jump Seat.

### Boss and employee
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/boss-employee.html
One of them signs off on the other's work. The line is real, and crossing it is treated as a decision with consequences.
The woman reporting upward is never the one who loses her judgement. If a protocol gets broken she hates it on the page, and the record still gets written accurately afterwards.
Books: Month Nine, After the Panel, Holdover, Hold Item, Right Seat.

### Marriage of convenience
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/marriage-of-convenience.html
A wedding, or an engagement, entered into for a clause: a board vote, an inheritance, a loyalty test.
The term sheet outlives the feelings. She prices him, and she keeps the paperwork long after she has stopped needing it.
Books: Marked in Red, Nightstand Ring.

### Grumpy and sunshine
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/grumpy-sunshine.html
One of them is short with everybody. The other is not, and is not naive about it either.
The grump is competent and quiet rather than cruel, and the sunshine keeps a spreadsheet.
Books: Month Nine, Run of Show.

### Single mother and secret child
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/single-parent.html
A child who exists, an aftercare invoice that is real, and a father who was never told.
One book, and it hands him no shortcut. No on-page harm to the child, no custody threat, and no press-ready family photograph at the end.
Books: School Gate.

### Forbidden
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/forbidden.html
A code somebody invented — the friend rule, the firm rule, the bench rule — standing between two people who are otherwise free.
The rule gets examined instead of obeyed, and it usually turns out to be a cage she built herself.
Books: Run of Show, Marked in Red, Two-Way.

### Save the building
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/save-the-place.html
Somebody wants the barn, the cache lot or the certificate for the land underneath it, and the numbers do not work.
The last book of each series. The building is kept, the lease is ugly, and nobody gets rescued by a cheque from a stranger.
Books: Barn Key, Closed Area, Certificate.

### Hockey and sports romance
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/sports-romance.html
Professional hockey from the staff side: trainers, reporters, video, player safety, PR, and the people who invoice for ice.
A roster, not a college house. No real teams and no league marks. The medical protocol is not a favour anybody is owed.
Books: No Contact, Scratch List, Split Squad, Two-Way, Recall Notice, Last Change, Barn Key.

### Firefighter romance
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/firefighter-romance.html
Contract wildland fire in Idaho: the cache, the time book, the lookout tower, the red-flag day.
No real wildfire is used as plot. The stakes are hours, windows and signatures, and the fire behaves like weather rather than like a villain.
Books: Holdover, Time Book, Red Flag, Lookout, After Action, Spike, Closed Area.

### Aviation romance
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/aviation-romance.html
A regional airline in New Mexico: dispatch, maintenance, the jumpseat, the 05:40 show, the belly, the certificate.
No real airline and no real accident case, and no joke about altitude. The paperwork is the tension, because in aviation it always is.
Books: Hold Item, Squawk, Jump Seat, Right Seat, Irregular, Belly, Certificate.

### Billionaire romance
https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/tropes/billionaire-romance.html
Manhattan money, seen from the side of the person who invoices it.
He can buy a building and still has to ask. She can walk when the deliverable is done, and the book only works because she means it.
Books: Month Nine, Shared Bid, Run of Show, Marked in Red, School Gate, After the Panel, Nightstand Ring.

## Glossary

Every title is a piece of real workplace jargon. Full page: https://www.twenty-eight-endings.com/glossary.html

MEL — Minimum Equipment List. The document saying which broken things an aircraft may legally fly with, under what conditions, and for how many days. A defect carried under it is a hold item, and the clock on it is real.
Squawk — A defect reported by the crew and written into the aircraft logbook. Writing one grounds an aeroplane until somebody signs it off, which is exactly why nobody writes one to make a point.
Jumpseat — The spare seat in the flight deck or cabin, used by crew riding along and by authorised observers. Getting one is a courtesy and a paperwork trail at the same time.
Right seat — The first officer's seat. The left seat is the captain's. Which seat somebody sits in is the whole hierarchy, stated without anyone having to say it out loud.
Irregular operations — The industry's term for a day that has come apart: weather, diversions, cancellations, crews running out of hours. Known as IROPS, and it is where a regional airline is actually tested.
Belly — The lower cargo hold. What goes in it, how it is loaded and what it weighs is somebody's signature, and the aeroplane flies on that signature being right.
Certificate — The air carrier operating certificate. It is the airline. Lose it and there is no company, whatever the fleet is worth.
Show time — The time a crew must physically report, not the time the aeroplane leaves. An 05:40 show is a 04:00 alarm, and it does not move for anybody.
Time book — The record of hours worked on a wildland fire assignment, hazard pay included. Hours are money, so signing for an hour nobody watched is theft rather than a favour.
Holdover — A fire that survives from one burning period into the next — sometimes through a whole winter — and comes back when conditions turn. It is not out because it looks out.
Red flag warning — A National Weather Service warning that fire weather is about to turn critical: wind, low humidity, dry fuel. Crews plan the day around it, and the county wants a photograph of it.
Lookout — Somebody posted where they can see the fire behaviour and the crew at the same time, on a radio, whose one job is to call it before it becomes everyone's problem. Also the tower they sit in.
The cache — The fire cache: the warehouse that issues tools, hose, pumps and protective gear to crews, against a signature, inside a window.
Spike camp — A camp put in close to the line so crews do not lose hours travelling back to the main incident base. Fewer showers, more sleep.
After action review — The structured debrief held after an incident: what was planned, what happened, and what accounts for the difference. It gets written down, and the writing is the point.
Closed area — Ground closed to public entry while fire operations run. The closure is an order with a boundary and a signature, not a suggestion.
The sit — The situation report: the current picture of a fire, written by Plans and initialled by people who saw it. Nobody should sign one for ground they did not look at.
Quiet room — The room a player is taken to for concussion evaluation, away from the bench and the noise. Going in is not optional, and coming out is not the player's decision.
No contact — A stage of return-to-play: the player may skate and practise but may not be hit. Written on a clipboard in block letters, and the captain does not get to negotiate it.
Scratch list — The players not dressed for tonight's game. Being on it is a message, and everybody in the room can read it.
Split squad — A roster divided in two so the club can be in two places on the same day. Somebody has to go to the charity weekend.
Two-way — A contract paying one rate in the top league and a much lower rate in the minors. A player on one is always aware which side of the line he is standing on.
Recall notice — The paperwork calling a player up from the minors. It arrives, it is filed, and somebody's life changes on a form.
Last change — The home team's right to put its line on the ice after the visitors have committed. The final say, handed over by the rulebook.
The barn — What people who work in a rink call the rink. Cold, loud, leased, and the reason the town has a Saturday night.
Run of show — The minute-by-minute schedule for a live event: who moves, who speaks, what happens at 20:14. Written by one person, and everything visible depends on it.
Term sheet — The summary of a deal's terms, usually non-binding, agreed before the lawyers write anything long. It is where the real negotiation happens.
Marked in red — A contract that has come back with changes struck through it. Every red line is somebody moving risk from their side of the table to yours.
Month nine — The point in a twelve-month plan where the numbers stop being a forecast and start being a result. Too late to blame the plan.
EBITDA — Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. The number consultants argue about, because it is the one that decides whether a division lives.

## Questions

Q: Do I have to read them in order?
A: No. All twenty-eight are standalone: one couple, one ending, no cliffhanger. Reading a series in order gets you the office gossip and the building everybody is fighting over, and nothing else.

Q: Do the four series connect?
A: No. The Hartwell Group, The Fenwick Pike, The Dry Line and The Blue Ticket share an author and nothing else. No character appears in two universes and there are no cameos.

Q: How explicit are they?
A: Heat 4 to 5 on a five-point scale. Open door, on the page, and central to the story rather than decorative. Adults only, 18+.

Q: Do they all have a happy ending?
A: Twenty-four end happy ever after. Four end happy for now — the fifth book of each series — and every one of those says so on its card, on its page and in its blurb before you buy. Finding that out on the last page would be a broken promise, not a twist.

Q: How long is one?
A: About thirty thousand words, roughly two hours to read and a little over three to listen to. Short enough to finish in a night, which is the length they were written to be.

Q: Can I read some of it first?
A: The whole of chapter one is free here for every one of the twenty-eight, with no email address asked for.

Q: Are these on Kindle Unlimited?
A: Yes, all twenty-eight. Nothing here asks you to stop borrowing them. This shop is for the copy you want to keep.

Q: What do I get if I buy the paperbacks?
A: The paperback, the ebook and the full audiobook of every title you order. The digital editions are not an upsell and not a separate purchase — the download links are on the receipt.

Q: Why buy direct instead of from a retailer?
A: Because a retailer sells you one format at a time. Here the ebook and the audiobook come with the paperback, the price falls as you buy more, and the parcel carries no cover art and no title on the label.

Q: Can I buy just the ebook or just the audiobook?
A: Not here. The digital editions are sold on their own through the usual shops, and all twenty-eight are in Kindle Unlimited. This shop sells the paperbacks, and it puts the other two in the box.

Q: Is the packaging discreet?
A: Yes. Plain outer box, no cover art, no title and no imprint on the shipping label. The card statement reads Greenlight Publishing.

Q: How long does delivery take?
A: Six to nine days in the UK, eight to eleven in the US, longer further out. The ebooks and audiobooks do not wait for the post — those links are on the receipt the moment you order.

Q: Are there content warnings?
A: Every book page lists its tropes and its ending, and each book opens with a content note. The recurring ones are workplace power dynamics between consenting adults, explicit sex and adult language.

Q: Who is Willa Rourke?
A: A pen name. One author, four workplaces, twenty-eight books, published by Greenlight Publishing.