The Studio Arrangement. Love by the Rules

Five hundred square feet. One queen bed. One fake engagement. And the one man she swore she'd never fall for. Nora Vance has built her career on control. As a fiercely ambitious investigative reporter at The Metropolitan Wire, she knows exactly what she wants-and exactly who stands in her way. Julian Cross is six-foot-three, infuriatingly stoic, devastatingly competent, and her biggest rival for the promotion that could change her life.
They challenge each other's stories, dismantle each other's arguments, and compete over every inch of the newsroom. Falling for him isn't an option. Then an administrative disaster threatens everything. An error places Nora and Julian's joint application for a prestigious investigative grant under a domestic cohabitation fellowship. To keep their careers and their shot at the grant, they have only days to convince a ruthless auditor that they're a genuinely committed couple.
Their solution? Fake an engagement. Move in together. Don't catch feelings. Simple. Except Julian's apartment is a cramped 500-square-foot studio with one bathroom, one queen bed, and nowhere to hide. They draw up strict rules: no unnecessary touching, no emotional attachments, and absolutely no crossing the line between pretending and reality. But rules become difficult to follow when Julian starts taking care of Nora in ways no fake fiancé should.
When staged kisses linger a little too long. When sharing a bed becomes less awkward-and far more tempting-than either of them expected. And when the man Nora thought she couldn't stand becomes the one person who makes her feel safe, the walls she's spent years building begin to crack. The closer they get, the harder it becomes to remember what's supposed to be fake. But just when Nora starts believing their arrangement could become something real, a rival threatens to expose their secret and destroy everything they've worked for.
Julian is forced to make an impossible choice, and Nora must confront the one thing she's spent her entire life avoiding: trusting someone with her heart. Because Nora believes depending on someone is weakness. Julian believes loving someone means carrying their burdens alone. Neither of them is prepared for what happens when they finally choose each other. The Studio Arrangement is a high-heat contemporary workplace romance featuring enemies-to-lovers tension, fake engagement, forced proximity, one-bed chemistry, sharp banter, a grumpy hero, protective devotion, and a hard-won happily-ever-after.