The Strategically Chaotic Series

Lexie Phillips has a bestselling novel, a thriving start-up publishing house, and a closet full of sarcastic T-shirts—but not a clue how to share office space with the six-foot-tall finance bro next door who looks like he was raised by spreadsheets and arrogance.

After years of working out of coffee shops and converted garages, Lexie and her best friend Maci finally land their dream office in a sleek downtown Chicago high-rise. Bound Books Publishing is on the rise, the paint is barely dry, and success finally seems within reach.

Enter Ben Maddox: brooding, brilliant, and built like every bad decision Lexie’s ever made. His financial firm occupies the space across the hall, and from the moment they meet, it’s clear they’re oil and water—with a side of combustible chemistry. He’s precision and pressed collars. She’s coffee stains and chaos. He thinks her “business” is cute. She thinks his face would look better with a book thrown at it.

Ben is precision in motion—until his firm needs him to impress a new client who values family men and flashy lifestyles. That's where Lexie comes in, his smart-mouthed neighbor and brand-new fake fiancé. Their fake engagement is supposed to be strictly business. No feelings. No drama. Definitely no flirting.

But when late-night strategy sessions turn into stolen glances and tequila-fueled confessions lead to lakeside kisses, things start feeling a little too real. Add one rockstar memoir, a random escape to Vegas, and a confession that rocks them to their core and all of a sudden being “professionally unprofessional” might be the smartest move either of them has ever made.

Fake dating was never meant to feel this good… or get this complicated.