TEN YEARS GONE

She’s the music journalist who won’t cover his band. He’s the rockstar who’s been writing songs about her for ten years. Three weeks on a tour bus will force them to face the truth.

Sloane Blackwood built her career with one rule: don’t cover Mercury Rising. When her editor assigns her to the band’s farewell tour, she can’t refuse without explaining why frontman Grayson Cole was her best friend—until he ghosted her a decade ago without explanation. Now she’s trapped on a tour bus for three weeks with the man who broke her heart.

Grayson left at eighteen because his abusive father threatened to destroy Sloane’s college scholarship if he didn’t disappear. He chose to break her heart rather than her future. Every song he’s written since—the ones Sloane has been reviewing for years—has been about the girl he left behind. “Cascade.” “Ten Years Gone.” Love letters she never knew were hers.

Three weeks of forced proximity means nowhere to hide. Sound checks where she sings backup and he looks at her like she’s everything. Hotel rooms with only one bed. Late-night conversations on a tour bus rolling through the dark. Sloane recognizing herself in his lyrics. Grayson watching her play guitar for the first time in a decade.

The tour ends in their hometown of Cascade Falls, where Grayson will tell the truth from the stage—his father’s threats, why he left, and that he’s been in love with her for ten years. Some songs take a decade to finish. But they’re worth the wait.

TROPES:
• Friends to Lovers
• Second Chance Romance
• Rockstar Hero & Music Journalist Heroine
• Forced Proximity
• One Bed
• He Fell First, Never Stopped Loving Her
• He’s Been Writing Songs About Her
• Small Town Return
• Public Confession
• Slow Burn Romance

HEAT LEVEL: Steamy (On-page intimacy with emotional focus, detailed love scenes in later chapters)