The Pact, (Paperback)

<p><b>She built a life the world applauds-until coming home reminds her what her heart never forgot.</b></p><p>Maelyn Dukes is a competitive marathon runner with a successful gluten-free lifestyle brand-and a life built on speed. Sponsorships. Airports. Finish lines. Everything looks perfect from the outside... until she returns to Shady Oak, North Carolina for her ten-year high school reunion.</p><p>Home is supposed to be a quick stop. Instead, it becomes a reckoning.</p><p>Her mama's long-awaited county fair dream is finally taking shape. Old wounds and small-town memories surface. And Camp Kendrick-the steady, blue-collar farmer who's loved her since they were kids-steps back into her life like he never stopped being her safe place. Camp is work boots and quiet loyalty: early mornings, hard work, and the kind of devotion that shows up without needing credit.</p><p>When gossip flares and her past threatens her peace, Maelyn and Camp strike a one-week deal: a pretend relationship to survive the reunion and silence the talk. It's supposed to be harmless. Temporary. Easy.</p><p>But fake dating gets complicated when the feelings aren't pretend... and the life Maelyn built starts demanding more than she wants to give.</p><p>As career pressure tightens and the spotlight pulls her farther from everything that grounds her, Maelyn must decide what success really means-and whether the life she's running toward is worth losing the love that feels like home.</p><p><b>THE PACT</b> is a <b>clean, closed-door Southern romance</b> packed with <b>small-town charm</b>, <b>best friends-to-lovers tension</b>, <b>fake dating sparks</b>, a <b>blue-collar hero</b>, and a <b>hopeful happily-ever-after</b>.</p><p><b>Perfect for readers who love: </b></p><ul><li>clean small town southern romance</li><li>closed door best friends to lovers romance</li><li>fake dating clean romance small town</li><li>blue collar hero clean romance</li><li>second chance coming home romance clean</li><li>runner athlete romance clean</li><li>clean romance runner influencer small town</li></ul>

• The Pact, (Paperback)
• Author: Casey Peeler
• ISBN: 9798257794582
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: 2026-06-29
• Page Count: 208