Shameless. The Coastline Collection, #2

Photographer Tessa came to Seabrook for three quiet months. No interviews. No new clients. No extra attention. No one who remembered the scandal before they knew the truth. After a public mistake turned her life into a story strangers thought they understood, Tessa no longer wants to be seen. The camera that once helped her make sense of the world now reminds her how quickly an image can become a judgment.
Seabrook is supposed to be temporary. A small coastal town. A rented cottage. Black coffee. A place to breathe until the noise fades. But Seabrook has never been good at letting people stay invisible. There is a harbor café, a bookstore full of familiar faces, a summer festival, old photographs waiting to be remembered, and Rhys, the baker everyone in town seems to love. He smiles easily, jokes at the right time, and shows up with coffee exactly when he is needed.
But the closer Tessa gets, the more she sees what everyone else misses. Rhys has his own way of hiding. He has learned to be useful, easy, cheerful, and needed. He has learned to say goodbye before anyone else gets the chance to leave. She hides from judgment. He hides behind being loved by everyone. And neither of them knows what might happen if they stop performing long enough to be real. When Tessa's past resurfaces online and a new professional opportunity offers her a way back into the work she once loved, she has to decide who she wants to be now: the woman who runs again, or the woman who is finally no longer ashamed to be seen.
Shameless is the second book in The Coastline Collection, a series of interconnected standalone small-town romances set in the seaside town of Seabrook. Each book follows a different couple and can be read on its own.