Overview

In the town of Honey Bay, reputation is everything. And no one guards theirs more fiercely than Mayor Leona Blake.

At forty-two, Leona is the first Black woman to ever hold Honey Bay’s highest office. Elegant, composed, and immaculately professional, she’s built her entire career on precision and restraint—offering flawless leadership while keeping her personal life sealed behind layers of polished control. The town sees a pillar of strength. What they don’t see is the woman beneath—the one who’s been alone for a long time, and prefers it that way. Or so she tells herself.

Enter Tess Harper.

Brash, brilliant, and freshly bruised from a career setback, Tess is a political consultant with a reputation for turning candidates into national contenders—and ruffling feathers while she’s at it. When the state party sends her to Honey Bay to refine Leona’s campaign image, neither woman expects the slow-burn tension that sparks between them. Especially not Tess, who’s sworn off mixing business with… anything personal. And certainly not Leona, who’s spent her entire adult life keeping desire under lock and key.

But Honey Bay is watching.

And when Leona’s opponent launches a ruthless family-values campaign, pressure mounts for her to project the perfect life—even if that life is a carefully staged illusion. Tess pushes her to show vulnerability. Leona resists, terrified that the truth—the woman she used to be, the woman she still is—will cost her everything.

As the storm of political scandal brews, old wounds resurface and buried secrets refuse to stay hidden. The deeper Tess digs into Leona’s past, the more dangerous the truth becomes. For her career. For the campaign. And for the walls Leona has spent years building.

What happens when the woman hired to protect your image begins to see through it?

And what happens when two women who’ve spent their lives playing it safe realize they might finally have something worth risking?

Scandal & Softness is a slow-burn, high-stakes sapphic romance featuring:

• A guarded, elegant mayor with a hidden past
• A sharp-tongued consultant who doesn’t believe in playing nice
• Small-town political tension with real-world resonance
• Found family, fierce women, and fiery chemistry
• Emotional healing, power dynamics, and the vulnerability of falling in love—when you’ve made hiding a habit

This is Book 4 in the Honey Bay Series, but can be read as a standalone.

Welcome back to Honey Bay, where even the steadiest lighthouse can’t keep you from being drawn to the fire.