The Plus-One Protocol

By Brea Zee

The Plus-One Protocol
Series: The Binder Files, Book 1 Hero: Ryan Cole Heat Level: Steamy

She had him filed under Category One - one event, clean exit, no complications - before she knew he was the keynote speaker.

Mia Voss needs a convincing plus-one for her best friend's black-tie charity gala. She finds Ryan Cole on Binder: architect, Carroll Gardens-based, bio that reads "I design things that have to hold weight." She files him neatly - Category One - and briefs him on the script. One night. She has done this before. She is very good at this.
Ryan doesn't follow the script. He turns out to be the gala's keynote speaker who knows everyone in the room, doesn't need her to navigate anything, and has the maddening architect's habit of looking at a structure - any structure - and seeing exactly what it's holding up. Including the carefully constructed one Mia has spent years building around herself.
He doesn't play along with the performance. He plays with her instead. And three dates in, when he asks whether she likes having a system more than she likes what the system gives her, Mia exits so perfectly she impresses herself.
The problem is the conversation lives in her head for three days. And then she goes to Brooklyn.

Perfect for readers who love:
smart heroines who run their own show, heroes who find the scaffolding charming, fake-dating that stops being fake, and a romance where the most romantic moment is a woman showing up without a plan.

Fake Dating - He Falls First - Forced Proximity - He Sees Through Her

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GXS724KH
• ISBN13: 9798258002655
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"