She’s spent ten years secretly loving her brother’s best friend.
He’s spent ten years pretending he doesn’t love her back.
Tessa O’Connor is fearless at fifty stories above Chicago. A tough, ambitious commercial roofer with calloused hands, a sharp mouth, and a dream of building her own company , she refuses to let anyone especially her overprotective brother tell her what she can or cannot do.
Wyatt Hayes has one job: keep everyone on the construction site alive.
As a master tower crane operator, he trusts rules, precision, and control. After watching a friend fall to his death five years ago, Wyatt has built his entire life around never making the same mistake twice.
Then Tess gets evicted.
With nowhere else to go, she moves into Wyatt’s immaculate apartment and straight into the one temptation he has spent years trying to resist.
His best friend’s little sister.
His new roommate.
The woman he has never been able to stop wanting.
Living together is supposed to come with rules: no crossing boundaries, no distractions, no complications.
But rules are easy to break when every argument crackles with attraction.
On the job site, their radio battles become legendary. At home, stolen glances and late-night conversations make keeping their distance nearly impossible. And when Wyatt helps Tess fight for the future of her dream company, the walls he has spent years building begin to crumble.
One stormy night, they finally give in.
What begins as one forbidden kiss becomes a secret relationship neither of them is prepared to lose.
But Wyatt's past isn't finished with him.
When a terrifying accident triggers the trauma he's spent years burying, his fear of losing Tess threatens to destroy the very thing he loves most. And when a violent storm puts her life in real danger, Wyatt is forced to choose between the safety of emotional distance and the terrifying vulnerability of loving her completely.
Tess won't give up her career.
Wyatt can't keep running from his past.
And neither of them can pretend their hearts aren't already all in.
Because loving her means accepting the danger.
And sometimes, the hardest thing to do is trust the person you love enough to let them reach for the sky.
Heavy Machinery & Heavy Hearts is a steamy contemporary workplace romance featuring brother’s best friend, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, roommates, secret relationship, protective hero, blue-collar romance, and a hard-won happily-ever-after.
