Vertical Lines — Kristen Kehoe

An artist and a smart girl. A staid family and a broken one. She's adorably literal; he's big and quietly emotional. Jordana Richards was determined to make the best of her post high school life, despite the fact that nothing about her current college experience was of her choosing: not the school or the major, and definitely not the place. But it wasn't home, so that's something. Yet, the harder she tried to fit in, the less she felt like she did. Until the night she said screw it. Until the night she walked out on her parents and bought her very own piece of cake. The same night she met Brooklyn Novak: brooding artist, huge man, overall scary human being who took a keen interest in her. Brooklyn was out of ideas. He had no art, because really, his subjects had no soul. When the girl at the convenience store clicked her way into his life on five hundred dollar shoes and the fumes of a tantrum, this changed. Jordana Richards: the rich girl with a mission who gave Brooklyn the spark he needed to create again. Uncomfortable with their attraction, Brooks and Jordan strike a deal: he'll help her have fun, she'll be his muse for as long as he needs. Simple. Yeah right. The more time they spend together, the more both of them realize that what started out as a convenient relationship is now transitioning to vital, and neither knows how to deal with it. When a truth comes to light that has the potential to break both of their worlds, Jordan and Brooks have to decide how deep their feelings really go, and just how much they are willing to sacrifice in order to be together.