Because Of Them (Bound By Time Book 1)

“I gave him the power to be what I needed, and he took it for granted.”

Fourteen years of friendship. One engagement ring. And the girl who finally stopped waiting for the boy who never bothered to see what was right in front of him.

Isabella and Mason have been inseparable since they were fifteen. Through boarding school, recovering from a tragic loss, and bad dates with really bad guys, Mason has been her anchor—her safe haven. But behind her forced smiles and their standing Takeout Thursday tradition, Isa has spent over a decade hiding a devastating secret:

She’s been hopelessly in love with her best friend.

“I let him believe I was weak because he needed to be needed.”

Then Mason picked up a ring for another woman. Worse yet he asks her to help him through it all.

Realizing there is nothing left anchoring her to New York, Isa accepts a job across the country in Los Angeles. Packing up isn’t just a career move—it’s her survival strategy. She’s done playing the fragile girl who needs saving, and she’s ready to build a life on her own terms, especially when a charming new stranger shows her what it feels like to be chosen first.

Mason thought he was playing it safe by staying in his comfort zone. But when Isa announces she’s leaving, his carefully ordered world implodes. Driven by panic and a fear he can’t control, he pushes her further away—until she’s completely out of reach.

He never expected to miss her like this. She never expected him to follow her.

Standing on her doorstep in LA, showing up at her office, her dates, and her home, Mason refuses to let fourteen years of love be erased in six months. But to win her back, he’ll have to convince the woman who rebuilt herself without him that he’s finally ready to tear down his walls and say the words she bled fourteen years waiting to hear.

Because of Them is Book 1 in the Bound by Time series—a deeply emotional, high-angst friends-to-lovers contemporary romance featuring a 14-year slow burn, a fierce heroine taking back her power, and a hero who learns the hard way how to fight for love.