Off Duty

One overworked resort director. One maddeningly observant colleague. And a Mediterranean vacation she cannot stop trying to manage.

Tessa Mercer can create a flawless escape for every guest at Cala Vela—except herself. Even on leave with her four closest friends, the resort's Director of Guest Experience keeps answering calls, fixing problems, and proving she is indispensable.

Interim Operations Director Rhys Donovan is her professional equal, not her boss. Calm, Australian, and far too perceptive, he refuses to praise Tessa for running herself into the ground. Instead, he routes the next problem to the duty team and asks what she wants from the space left behind.

A stolen moonlit swim turns their friction into a high-spice, fully open-door romance shaped by caretaking, negotiated control, and the relief of receiving without owing. But a luxury wedding, staff shortages, and the edge of an island storm keep pulling Tessa back to work—and Rhys will not build a relationship from the minutes nobody else claims.

If they want a future beyond the vacation, Tessa must learn that choosing rest is not the same as failing. Rhys must decide whether caring for her is worth giving up the easy exits that have defined his life.

She knows how to make herself needed. Can she let herself be wanted?

A sun-warm Mediterranean HEA where care is offered and never imposed.

Put the duty phone down and find out who she is when nobody needs her.