Downloading PRACTICE SAYING US: A friends-to-lovers slow burn where one heart has waited for years, until a fake date reveals a hidden letter and the truth hits.
by S D BARAIYA (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
Rowan Hayes is days away from the biggest launch of her career: a live podcast season with sponsors watching, cameras rolling, and one mistake away from losing everything.
Then her ex drops a viral clip that makes Rowan look like a liar, and the sponsors want proof she is “stable” before they sign.
Rowan has one person she trusts enough to stand beside her in public.
Maya Patel. Her best friend. Her safe place. The one person she has never been brave enough to want out loud.
So Rowan asks for a favor that comes with rules, a deadline, and a lie they both promise will stay pretend.
Fake date Rowan for 21 days.
Smile for the photos. Hold hands at the dinners. Answer the couple questions.
Practice saying “us” until the contract is locked.
Maya agrees, because she always shows up for Rowan.
But Maya is not just playing a role.
She has spent years swallowing the truth.
She has spent years being the “friend,” never the choice.
And now Rowan is calling her “my partner” into microphones.
It would be unbearable… if it did not feel so real.
Then a vintage blazer. A crowded hallway. A hard edge of paper in a pocket.
A sealed envelope falls into Maya’s hands.
Dated five years ago.
In Maya’s own handwriting.
A letter she never meant Rowan to see, and never believed Rowan did.
Only one thing is worse than learning your best friend found your confession.
Learning she kept it.
And the last page is missing.
With sponsors demanding a live “love story” segment, cameras hunting for cracks, and an ex willing to weaponize anything for attention, Maya and Rowan are forced into a question neither can dodge anymore:
Was their “us” always real, or has one of them been practicing a lie?
Because once the letter surfaces, the rules stop protecting them.
And if Rowan cannot say the truth in daylight, Maya will not stay in the dark.
A high-yearning, slow-burn queer romance full of tension, secrets, and emotional payoff, featuring:
- Best friends to lovers
- Fake dating with a hard deadline
- A hidden letter and a missing page mystery
- Public pressure and private heat
- Consent-forward intimacy and aftercare
- No cheating, no love triangle
- A fully earned happily ever after
If you love romances where one heart has waited for years, where every chapter ends with a new question, and where “us” has to be chosen out loud,Practice Saying Us will keep you turning pages until the truth hits.