Smoke Show. A Marriage of Convenience Romance - Thea Lawrence;Ben Browning

All their lives, Frankie Hughes and Daphne Carmichael were inseparable... until one night, 17 years ago, three little words altered the course of their friendship.

Permanently.

Frankie stayed in Emerald bay, dealing with addiction and severe PTSD following a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Now, years later, he's the head of Emerald Bay University's Sociology Department, and he's traded his faith in love for no strings attached hookups... with a few extra scars to show for it.

But that doesn't mean he ever stopped thinking about the girl who got away.

Daphne's gone on to international stardom for her music, becoming known as The Heartbreak Queen. She's won Grammys, sold out stadiums, and made hit after hit, all while balancing being a single mom to her 12-year-old daughter, Violet.

But when her grandfather dies, she's forced to come home and confront the past she left in the rearview... all due to his final wish:

Find a husband by her 37th birthday in order to inherit her family's bar, or sever her last ties to Emerald Bay for good.