You cannot rush a cure. That is the first thing and the last thing, the alpha and the omega of my whole trade. When you lay a consolidant into a flaking surface — the adhesive that creeps under the lifting paint and re-marries it to the panel — there is a stretch afterward, days of it, sometimes weeks, where the thing looks worse than ever and you are forbidden to touch it. The cure has to happen on its own time, in its own chemistry, while you stand back with your hands behind you and trust...

Paper Vows is a serialized fake-marriage billionaire romance audiobook, written by Mia. New episodes daily.