Kate Bennet owns a small bookstore in the breathtaking Central Coast town of Cambria, California. Two years out from a divorce that left her emotionally fragile, she's starting to think that maybe she's ready for love again-or at least for a fling with a hot man. Jackson Graham is a local chef who's controlling when it comes to food, careless when it comes to love, and temperamental when it comes to just about everything. When Kate's friends set things up between Kate and Jackson, she expects some casual pleasure followed by a hasty goodbye, but Jackson's long-term crush on Kate means that he's in this one to win. The problem is, neither he nor Kate knows whether he can change the self-defeating habits that usually send women scurrying for the door.