Against the Canvas

Sloan Parker believes in logic. Beckett "Beck" Callahan is pure chaos. And one moment of recklessness nearly destroyed them both. Sloan's world shattered during a prestigious university showcase when her meticulously crafted portfolio was destroyed in a studio fire. The last person seen fleeing the scene? Beck Callahan, the charismatic, rule-breaking painter who won the top prize, and the one man whose raw, instinctive genius Sloan secretly envied. A year later, Sloan returns to finish her degree, hardened by betrayal and poverty, with one goal: total, clinical control. But fate delivers the ultimate challenge: she is assigned campus housing with the very man she believes ruined her life. Beck insists he's innocent, and his attempts to apologize are as messy as his paint palette. Their fragile co-existence explodes when their professor forces them together for the mandatory senior showcase, a project cheekily titled, "Contrast of Control and Chaos." As their artistic rivalry escalates into long, volatile nights in the studio, the tension becomes a feverish form of foreplay. Beck's new style-raw, vulnerable, and beautiful-forces Sloan to question the lie she's been living. But just as their antagonism gives way to a devastating first kiss, external rumors resurface, labeling their collaboration as exploitive. To truly win her back, Beck must risk more than his heart. He must publicly expose the real sabotage behind the fire, even if it destroys his own reputation. Because for Sloan, love isn't about passion-it's about absolute, terrifying trust. They must learn that some fires are meant to burn down the past, not their future, Before We Burn completely.