Her Wicker Guardian

I came to the bonfire to burn the last piece of a marriage I barely managed to escape.

I did not come to make another man.

But after too much wine, too much truth, and one joke about why so many women say they’d rather meet a bear than a man alone in the woods, my friends and I dismantle the wicker bear we’re building for the town festival. We decide to make ourselves a third option.

A man.

Broad shoulders. Strong hands. A chest woven from green willow.

It’s ridiculous.

Until they convince me to add something of my own: the ring I brought to throw into the fire.

Then I whisper a wish I’ve never said aloud to another living soul.

I press my palm to his chest.

His heart beats beneath my hand.

Now the man we made is alive.

He’s powerful enough to frighten half the town, gentle enough to make me question everything I thought I knew about strength, and somehow he heard every word we said while we were creating him.

Including the things women say when we think no men are listening.

Including the things I never wanted any man to know.

Especially my wish.

I wanted to feel safe again.

I never expected safety to look at me like I’m the only woman in the world.

And I definitely never expected people in town to decide a man like him shouldn’t exist.

Her Wicker Guardian is a high-heat contemporary monster romance featuring a woman who has sworn off men, a powerful living wicker hero with a mind and heart of his own, a small town with very strong opinions, and one wildly unconventional happily ever after.