Luscious Ladies of Clairborn #1
Lone Star Layover: BWWM Plus Size Rivals-to-Lovers Forced Proximity Romance (Luscious Ladies of Clairborn)
An ice storm derails a flight layover and leaves two rival professors in one hotel room — with too much time together.
Celeste
The universe has a sick and twisted sense of humor. I spend months avoiding Alex Callahan — the department’s resident philosophy god with a disdain for data — and now I’m stuck in Dallas with him for forty-eight hours.
Worst part: there’s only one hotel room and one king-sized bed.
This is not how I imagined preparing for my first national conference. I should be rehearsing my presentation, not negotiating pillow boundaries with a man who makes me want to throw my laptop and kiss him in the same breath.
But then the ice storm grows worse, the airport shuts down, and time stretches out like the silence between us. Somehow, hours of professional tension turn into people-watching and quiet confessions. I learn he hates numbers because they’ve always hated him back. He learns I swim laps to make sense of the world when it stops making sense.
I was supposed to prove myself to colleagues, to my department, maybe even to him. But as the world outside freezes, something thaws between us, something warm and terrifying and impossible to ignore. I came here to advance my career. Now I’m wondering what happens when the storm clears and we can’t hide from what’s melted beneath the surface any longer.
Alex
Celeste Vaughn is brilliant, infuriating, and far too easy to think about when I shouldn’t. She’s everything that threatens the order I live by: ambitious, intuitive, and refreshingly unafraid to call me out. I’ve spent months pretending our rivalry is intellectual, that my interest is purely professional.
It’s not — never has and never will be.
Now the storm has trapped us together, and every hour strips away another layer of distance. She teases me for being pretentious; I catch myself memorizing the curve of her smile. She works through data models, and all I can think about is how she smells like rain and determination.
I told myself not to touch or want her. But proximity has its own gravity, and she pulls me in like an orbit I can’t escape. When the storm finally breaks, I’ll have to fly to Tucson and pretend nothing happened. Pretend I didn’t fall for the woman who made me see the world — and myself — differently.
***
When an ice storm strands academic rivals Celeste Vaughn and Alex Callahan at a Dallas airport, months of stolen glances and clenched restraint boil over. One hotel room, one bed, and a line neither planned to cross — until wanting each other stops being theoretical.
Contains open-door romantic content.
A novella that can be read in one or two evenings. Guaranteed HEA.
Celeste
The universe has a sick and twisted sense of humor. I spend months avoiding Alex Callahan — the department’s resident philosophy god with a disdain for data — and now I’m stuck in Dallas with him for forty-eight hours.
Worst part: there’s only one hotel room and one king-sized bed.
This is not how I imagined preparing for my first national conference. I should be rehearsing my presentation, not negotiating pillow boundaries with a man who makes me want to throw my laptop and kiss him in the same breath.
But then the ice storm grows worse, the airport shuts down, and time stretches out like the silence between us. Somehow, hours of professional tension turn into people-watching and quiet confessions. I learn he hates numbers because they’ve always hated him back. He learns I swim laps to make sense of the world when it stops making sense.
I was supposed to prove myself to colleagues, to my department, maybe even to him. But as the world outside freezes, something thaws between us, something warm and terrifying and impossible to ignore. I came here to advance my career. Now I’m wondering what happens when the storm clears and we can’t hide from what’s melted beneath the surface any longer.
Alex
Celeste Vaughn is brilliant, infuriating, and far too easy to think about when I shouldn’t. She’s everything that threatens the order I live by: ambitious, intuitive, and refreshingly unafraid to call me out. I’ve spent months pretending our rivalry is intellectual, that my interest is purely professional.
It’s not — never has and never will be.
Now the storm has trapped us together, and every hour strips away another layer of distance. She teases me for being pretentious; I catch myself memorizing the curve of her smile. She works through data models, and all I can think about is how she smells like rain and determination.
I told myself not to touch or want her. But proximity has its own gravity, and she pulls me in like an orbit I can’t escape. When the storm finally breaks, I’ll have to fly to Tucson and pretend nothing happened. Pretend I didn’t fall for the woman who made me see the world — and myself — differently.
***
When an ice storm strands academic rivals Celeste Vaughn and Alex Callahan at a Dallas airport, months of stolen glances and clenched restraint boil over. One hotel room, one bed, and a line neither planned to cross — until wanting each other stops being theoretical.
Contains open-door romantic content.
A novella that can be read in one or two evenings. Guaranteed HEA.
Ratings & Reviews
Format
Kindle, 95 pages
Published
February 17, 2026 by Tartanium Press
An ice storm derails a flight layover and leaves two rival professors in one hotel room — with too much time together.
Celeste
The universe has a sick and twisted sense of humor. I spend months avoiding Alex Callahan — the department’s resident philosophy god with a disdain for data — and now I’m stuck in Dallas with him for forty-eight hours.
Worst part: there’s only one hotel room and one king-sized bed.
This is not how I imagined preparing for my first national conference. I should be rehearsing my presentation, not negotiating pillow boundaries with a man who makes me want to throw my laptop and kiss him in the same breath.
But then the ice storm grows worse, the airport shuts down, and time stretches out like the silence between us. Somehow, hours of professional tension turn into people-watching and quiet confessions. I learn he hates numbers because they’ve always hated him back. He learns I swim laps to make sense of the world when it stops making sense.
I was supposed to prove myself to colleagues, to my department, maybe even to him. But as the world outside freezes, something thaws between us, something warm and terrifying and impossible to ignore. I came here to advance my career. Now I’m wondering what happens when the storm clears and we can’t hide from what’s melted beneath the surface any longer.
Alex
Celeste Vaughn is brilliant, infuriating, and far too easy to think about when I shouldn’t. She’s everything that threatens the order I live by: ambitious, intuitive, and refreshingly unafraid to call me out. I’ve spent months pretending our rivalry is intellectual, that my interest is purely professional.
It’s not — never has and never will be.
Now the storm has trapped us together, and every hour strips away another layer of distance. She teases me for being pretentious; I catch myself memorizing the curve of her smile. She works through data models, and all I can think about is how she smells like rain and determination.
I told myself not to touch or want her. But proximity has its own gravity, and she pulls me in like an orbit I can’t escape. When the storm finally breaks, I’ll have to fly to Tucson and pretend nothing happened. Pretend I didn’t fall for the woman who made me see the world — and myself — differently.
***
When an ice storm strands academic rivals Celeste Vaughn and Alex Callahan at a Dallas airport, months of stolen glances and clenched restraint boil over. One hotel room, one bed, and a line neither planned to cross — until wanting each other stops being theoretical.
Contains open-door romantic content.
A novella that can be read in one or two evenings. Guaranteed HEA.
Celeste
The universe has a sick and twisted sense of humor. I spend months avoiding Alex Callahan — the department’s resident philosophy god with a disdain for data — and now I’m stuck in Dallas with him for forty-eight hours.
Worst part: there’s only one hotel room and one king-sized bed.
This is not how I imagined preparing for my first national conference. I should be rehearsing my presentation, not negotiating pillow boundaries with a man who makes me want to throw my laptop and kiss him in the same breath.
But then the ice storm grows worse, the airport shuts down, and time stretches out like the silence between us. Somehow, hours of professional tension turn into people-watching and quiet confessions. I learn he hates numbers because they’ve always hated him back. He learns I swim laps to make sense of the world when it stops making sense.
I was supposed to prove myself to colleagues, to my department, maybe even to him. But as the world outside freezes, something thaws between us, something warm and terrifying and impossible to ignore. I came here to advance my career. Now I’m wondering what happens when the storm clears and we can’t hide from what’s melted beneath the surface any longer.
Alex
Celeste Vaughn is brilliant, infuriating, and far too easy to think about when I shouldn’t. She’s everything that threatens the order I live by: ambitious, intuitive, and refreshingly unafraid to call me out. I’ve spent months pretending our rivalry is intellectual, that my interest is purely professional.
It’s not — never has and never will be.
Now the storm has trapped us together, and every hour strips away another layer of distance. She teases me for being pretentious; I catch myself memorizing the curve of her smile. She works through data models, and all I can think about is how she smells like rain and determination.
I told myself not to touch or want her. But proximity has its own gravity, and she pulls me in like an orbit I can’t escape. When the storm finally breaks, I’ll have to fly to Tucson and pretend nothing happened. Pretend I didn’t fall for the woman who made me see the world — and myself — differently.
***
When an ice storm strands academic rivals Celeste Vaughn and Alex Callahan at a Dallas airport, months of stolen glances and clenched restraint boil over. One hotel room, one bed, and a line neither planned to cross — until wanting each other stops being theoretical.
Contains open-door romantic content.
A novella that can be read in one or two evenings. Guaranteed HEA.