Overview

A 3 AM false alarm. A paint-covered artist. One look that changes everything.

Captain Vera Donnelly has spent twenty-two years putting everyone else first—her crew, her family, the strangers she pulls from burning buildings. She's controlled, competent, and completely closed off. The last thing she needs is a distraction.

Iris Cole is anything but safe. A queer artist known for provocative nude portraits celebrating bodies of all kinds, she's loud, stubborn, and refuses to apologize for taking up space. When a 3 AM false alarm brings Vera to her building, Iris is furious—until she sees the captain staring at her unfinished painting like it matters.

One look becomes a gallery opening. A gallery opening becomes a night neither of them planned for. And suddenly Vera is feeling things she buried years ago, while Iris is falling for a woman who might never let her all the way in.

But when a tragic call shakes Vera to her core, she does what she's always done—shuts down and shuts everyone out. Now Iris has to decide: walk away from a woman who won't let herself be loved, or fight for something real.