Cream and Punishment (Smitten in the Mitten)

When baker Dekker Piper moves next door to the man whose life she once accidentally destroyed, she does the only reasonable thing: she starts stress-baking enough pastries to feed a small nation.

Set in the charming Michigan community of the *Smitten in the Mitten* series, this sweet and hilarious second-chance romantic comedy follows Dekker as she attempts to rebuild her life—only to find Max Fuentes living twenty feet away from her front door. Max has every right to hate her. He has every reason to make her days miserable. And yet, infuriatingly, he just... doesn't.

That's the problem.

Dekker knows how to handle an enemy. She does not know how to handle a gorgeous, warm, inexplicably patient man who smiles at her like she didn't turn his world upside down. Every time she braces for the retaliation she deserves, Max disarms her with kindness instead—and somehow that feels worse. She finds herself watching him, waiting, wondering what angle he's playing. Because nobody is this good. Nobody forgives this easily. Right?

As forced proximity does what forced proximity always does, Dekker starts to question whether Max is biding his time—or whether she's been so convinced of her own guilt that she never stopped to consider he might have moved on. The real question isn't whether Max will get his revenge. It's whether Dekker will let herself believe she deserves something sweeter.