What do beavers and baked goods have to do with love? Well, everything for Liliana Travis, the owner of the local coffee shop, Higher Grounds. Her day job is serving caffeine highs, but her love life is at an all-time low. A meticulous planner ever since high school, she has a checklist for her perfect man and even plans for how she wants this future romance to unfold. But her carefully laid plans are about to be upended by something, rather someone, completely unanticipated from her past.
 
Dominic Moore has always been the hometown celebrity of Mountain View. The former captain of the high school football team turned NFL pro is the definition of the “golden boy”. But when Dom is caught in a scandal, he returns home to Mountain View to help his recently widowed grandmother open her dream bakery… and do some soul searching.
 
For Lili, Dom’s return is both exciting and a total gut punch. Her high school crush is back in town, but also fresh competition for her small business. To make matters worse, the nationwide baking competition, the Upper Crust Challenge, has come to town and bets are firmly on the table. Is it rivalry or romance as buttons are pushed, banter exchanged, and sparks fly? Maybe not everything in life can be perfectly anticipated…
 
For fans of The Kiss Quotient and The Soulmate Equation, Anticipation is a sweet and spicy debut from Rue Harlow that is sure to be addictive.