Though I read this out of order (I've finished the Wrangler's Creek series except for a couple of the novellas), it was a nice opening to the series. Though Lily and Jake make few appearances in the future books, this did introduce a few familiar characters.

Lily's dream is to have her own horse training ranch. In the process, she has worked for several people, one of whom was her ex-boyfriend Ian. She broke things off with him when she caught him cheating on her; then he fired her. Now she's working for Jake, the ex from her teenage years and the one she's never forgotten. The problem is, she still wants him. Complicating matters is that Ian is still a pain in the butt.

Jake has finally made his dream come true thanks to a significant inheritance from his grandfather. Unfortunately, that has made him the target of ambitious women all over town. He's really tired of fending them off when he has better things to do with his time. Things come to a head when he finds a naked woman in his room and retreats to the barn for safety.

Jake and Lily still have intense sparks flying between them, but Jake is adamant about not getting involved with someone who works for him. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and he agrees to Lily's suggestion that they pretend to be back together. Playing that game is also playing with fire, and resisting gets harder every day. But Lily has also kept a secret from Jake and others, one that is about to create some complications. I ached for Lily and her fears of what it would do to her relationships with Jake.

The ending was pretty good. I liked the support Lily got from Lawson and enjoyed the sibling interactions. I loved seeing Lily's response to Ian. Once Jake got over his initial reaction, he came through nicely for Lily. I enjoyed how the author brought in Logan McCord from the previous series and the plans that he and Jake have for Ian. I also liked how Jake and Lily cleared the air between them and admitted their feelings. ( )