Love at First Novel by Gu Lingfei

Tatum had no clue the driver was sweating bullets over him stealing his job. As he drove, he shot Elora a quick question. "Sleep okay last night?"

At breakfast, with her little brothers around, both he and Elora had kept their cool, acting like nothing was up.

"Pretty good," she said, then let out a dainty yawn. She laughed at herself. "Slept fine, but I stayed up too late. Still dragging. Can you whip me up a coffee later? I'm useless without it."

She pulled long hours daily and barely slept. Coffee was her lifeline, though lately, even that was losing its punch. She used to down a cup in the morning and feel wired all day. Now?

Two cups barely kept her going, and sometimes she'd crash hard even after an evening dose.

"You got it," Tatum said with a nod.

"You should've taken an extra day off," he added, concern lacing his voice. "You got back way too late yesterday. Don't run yourself into the ground-health's what matters."

time to notice the world

means there's always a pile of stuff to handle. I pushed some things off during my break, but if I

Ormond family was a powerhouse, with their

us hugging.

went quiet for a beat before replying. Your mom cornered me this morning too. Asked a bunch of questions. I

up downstairs. He figured she'd caught

same way he did, Tatum stopped stressing. If he could win her over, the rest of the

My parents will love you. If there's any hitch,

I laid it out for her last

made it clear: her marriage,