Don’t Go Faking My Heart by Kate Watson

It should be a match made in heaven, except she’s only attracted to jerks, and he’s a cinnamon roll…with burnt edges.
I, Ashley Jane Moore, am a glorious disaster.
Listen, I like myself, but the men in my life typically don’t. Not my dad and certainly not my manipulative ex. The one exception is my best friend, Rusty. He’s the ultimate farm-boy-next-door, and he has a way of making me feel less disaster, more glorious.
We’d be perfect for each other if it weren’t for two things: he friend-zoned me instantly, and I only seem to go for jerks.
But when one of those jerks—the manipulative ex—comes back into my life to steal my heart and the account I’m working on, Rusty does the noble thing and pretends to be my boyfriend.
But we may be a little too convincing. Because the more we pretend, the more real it feels.
Rusty:
I had to kiss her.
It was the only way to protect the woman I love from her narcissistic ex, and she happily went along. And the longer we keep up the charade, the happier she seems.
I knew fake dating Ash would be torture, but I didn’t expect something even more excruciating to come from it: hope. Because as Ash and I play house, I get the sense she’s starting to see me differently.
As much as I want that, I can’t let her see too deeply. If she does, I’ll lose her forever.