Flesh rots. Bones remain.

And some bones have a story to tell. Forensic anthropologist, Dr.

Decca Crowley, is no stranger to death. Between traveling across the state of Tennessee to investigate skeletal remains, responding to mass casualty events with her team, and sitting in bedside vigils as a death doula in her "time off," she's exhausted.

She’s run herself ragged to avoid the dark shadows that lurk in her rundown, inherited home. And the even darker ones that live in her heart.

Putting in more work hours also meant putting off any hope of a love life. That part’s been easy.

Until now. Her good friend (and not-so-secret crush) Gus, has just graduated from Greek Orthodox seminary, and in order to be ordained as a priest, he must marry—or else serve as a monk.

For Gus, lifelong celibacy is a fate worse than death. Purely out of the goodness of her heart—or so she's convinced—the ever-practical and selfless Decca proposes a marriage-of-convenience between herself and Gus.

He’s desperate for the companionship; and she could definitely use someone to talk to (other than the 200 year-old skeleton she's piecing together on her dining room table. )But she didn't really think he'd say yes.

When the bride and groom finally start to admit their long-held, more-than-platonic feelings for each other, it could be the end of their cozy arrangement. There's too much at stake to fall in love and risk their marriage.

But if they find the right framework--the bones of love--it could be their key to happiness. The Bones of Love is an interconnected standalone in the Last Responders Romance series.

Although darkly humorous, spicy, and deeply romantic, it contains serious themes centered around religion and the nature of work in deathcare. .