Libby Kimmelman is overwhelmed. As the admissions director at an exclusive Manhattan private school, she's awash in bribes from parents desperate to get their offspring into the school. Her apartment is going co-op, and she can't afford it without financial help from her obnoxious ex-husband. Her thirteen-year-old daughter has discovered boys, music, and rule-breaking. Her sister-in-law is determined to set her up with a boring guy from the local synagogue.

And then there's Vermont transplant Ned Donovan, whose smart, scrappy son longs to attend Libby's school. Ned's a widower, a carpenter, sexy as sin—and wild about the fireplace in Libby's living room. Ned wants to fix up her apartment. Libby believes he could fix up her life...if only she could be sure that his love isn't simply the biggest, most dangerous bribe she's ever received.

Winner of the RT Reviewers Choice Award for best contemporary romance of the year.