Romance

A Contract for One Kiss - They meant to fool everyone but their own hearts

By Laura Bellini

Listen with Sir Michael Caine™ and 1,000+ voices

Get for $5.10

Length6h 23m

About this audiobook

One weekend. One carefully planned lie. One kiss that changes everything. Iga Malec has spent years building a life that belongs entirely to her. At twenty-eight, she's an ambitious costume designer with her own studio, a demanding career, and a chance to win the theatre contract that could transform her future. She knows how to create convincing costumes, how to work under pressure, and how to protect her independence. What she doesn't know is how to protect her heart from her best friend. Paweł Sadowski is thirty-three, a talented theatre actor, and the one man who can make Iga laugh even when everything is falling apart. They've been friends for five years. They know each other's habits, ambitions, disappointments, and weaknesses. Or at least they think they do. When Paweł allows his family to believe that he and Iga are finally a couple, an innocent misunderstanding becomes a dangerous arrangement. His mother is delighted, a family weekend is approaching, and correcting the mistake suddenly seems much harder than simply playing along. Paweł asks Iga for one favour: pretend to be his girlfriend for two days. Iga agrees, but only after establishing strict rules. Separate bedrooms. No invented romantic history. No unexpected displays of affection. No promises about the future. And, most importantly, the truth must be told when the weekend ends. It should be simple. After all, Paweł is an actor, and Iga knows everything about creating believable appearances. But when their hands meet beneath an autumn sky, when a quiet conversation becomes an intimate confession, and when a kiss happens without anyone watching, the boundaries between friendship and desire begin to disappear. Suddenly, the greatest danger isn't that Paweł's family will discover the deception. It's that Iga might fall in love with the man she's only supposed to be pretending to love. As their attraction deepens, the two discover a closeness neither expected. Paweł sees the vulnerable woman behind Iga's fierce independence. Iga begins to understand the emotional cost of his lifelong determination to keep everyone he loves happy. Yet real feelings don't automatically make an old lie harmless. When Paweł wants Iga beside him at his upcoming theatre premiere as his genuine partner, the unresolved deception threatens everything they're beginning to build. Iga refuses to become another character in a story designed to satisfy his family's expectations. She wants love, but not at the expense of her freedom. He wants a future with her, but must learn that protecting people from disappointment isn't the same as being honest with them. Can two people who know how to make everyone believe in a love story learn to live one without pretending? Set against the atmospheric streets of Łódź, intimate theatre spaces, and an autumn family home surrounded by an old orchard, A Contract for One Kiss is a passionate contemporary romance about friendship becoming love, emotional vulnerability, trust, personal independence, and the courage to tell the truth. A standalone love story for readers who enjoy fake dating, friends-to-lovers romance, slow-burning attraction, heartfelt intimacy, and emotionally complex relationships with adult characters who must earn their happy ending. This publication was prepared using tools that support the creative process, including artificial intelligence solutions. The final concept, structure and editing are the responsibility of the author.

Friends to Lovers Psychological Fake Dating Slow Burn Romantic Comedy Journey Family Healing Redemption Identity