The Neighbor's Son

Ryan Harken comes home for the summer expecting quiet streets and familiar routines-until he finds Derek Johnson. Older. Controlled. Impossible to read. and impossible for Ryan to stop noticing. He's also the man Ryan has been watching from across the street for years. When Ryan ends up working for Derek on a historic lake house restoration, proximity turns into pressure, and every boundary starts to feel optional.
Derek believes distance keeps life contained. Ryan refuses to pretend nothing is happening. And in a town where nothing stays hidden, neither of them can outrun what's already begun. Some connections don't fade. They close in.