Only a bad nanny knows what it’s like to kiss the boss.
CEO millionaire, Max Fletcher is a single dad in desperate need of a nanny.
Cozy Barlow is in the middle of her self-appointed “gap year” and doing everything she can to detach from her past.
But when her sister begs her to interview for the nanny position of a high maintenance client, she doesn’t have a good enough reason to say no.
And when Max locks eyes on the twenty-something in a tie-dye sweatsuit who pitches the idea of daydreaming all summer—he prepares to give this bad nanny the boot.
One problem: Max’s little girl thinks this plus-sized in body and spirit nanny might be her new bestie, so she hires her on the spot.
Now Max is stuck with this bizarre woman who hates everything he represents—corporate greed, money, status, power.
But one stormy night when the power goes out, he discovers Cozy doesn’t hate him. In fact, he’s the leading role in her fantasies.
Fantasies, he would very much like to make a reality.
My boss’s head turns forward as his jaw shifts from side to side, his body vibrating with irritation. “You can’t just go around touching men’s eyebrows, Cassandra.”
“Why not?”
“Because it makes them think you want to sleep with them.” His voice is acidic as he stares broodingly back at me.
I inhale sharply at his response. It’s definitely not the way I’m used to him speaking to me. I’m also not used to seeing him at a bar. At my bar specifically. Which is why his opinion on this situation doesn’t mean anything to me.
I jut my chin out defiantly. “Other men’s thoughts are not my problem.”
“No, but they’re mine,” he growls and then swivels in his stool. His denim-clad legs straddle me as he hovers closer, blanketing me in his mouthwatering cologne and the spicy scent of the whiskey on his breath. His brow furrows as he scrutinizes my entire face. “You would really hook up with another man with my mark still on you?”
Excerpt:
“Max, I’m going to bed,” Cassandra groans, pulling her cotton robe tightly across her chest as she steps outside and leans against the side of the house. “Let’s just forget this horrible evening ever happened.”
“I can’t forget,” I bark, pointing at my head like a lunatic as I continue to pace. “Because I have a daughter. And knowing that she could grow up someday and have messed-up thoughts about her physical appearance will never be something I’m okay with.”
Cassandra’s brows knit together. “What?”
“What you said about me throwing you over my shoulder earlier? First of all…I could do that. Feel free to challenge me on that. I love a challenge.” I turn on my heel to march the other way. “But second of all, who cares if I couldn’t? Do you think that makes you any less worthy of someone? It doesn’t. It’s a superficial nothingburger of a thing. It tells nothing about the person you are or the beauty you possess.”
I pause to prop my hands on my hips, hitting her with a lethal glare before I deliver the next bit. Her lips are parted, her eyes are wide and glistening in the security light as she falls back against the white siding.
She looks like an angel.
“Third of all, you are not now, nor could you ever be a convenience hook up. In fact, you are the most inconvenient hook up of my life. Which is why I need you to hear the next part.”
“There’s more?” she gasps, her fingers touching her parted lips.
“A lot more, Cassandra,” I growl, my voice echoing off the house as I stalk toward her…
When romance novelist, Kate Smith, finds her long lost writing mojo in the customer waiting area of a tire store, the complimentary coffee isn’t the only things that’s hot. But sexy mechanic, Miles Hudson, is just up for a friendly test-drive of her new book idea. At least, that was the agreement…
Number 1 Amazon Bestselling author Amy Daws writes spicy love stories that take place in America, as well as across the pond. She’s most known for her footy-playing Harris Brothers and writing in a tire shop waiting room. When Amy is not writing, she’s likely making charcuterie boards from her home in South Dakota where she lives with her daughter and husband.
Follow Amy on all social media channels, including Tik Tok under @amydawsauthor
Title: Etched in Honor Series: Aspen Pack #1 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Paranormal Romance Release Date: May 23, 2022
BLURB
NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan returns to the world of paranormal and Pack worlds in the thrilling and dynamic new Aspen Pack series.
The betrayal that had nearly taken out the Aspen Pack has passed, but the ramifications of starting with a new hierarchy are taking their toll on Audrey Porter. Once traitor to the former leaders for trying to save their people, now she’s the Beta of the Pack and must try to hold their shattered remains together. Only she never expected the man from her past to awaken memories long since buried.
Gavin Powers is the new Tracker for the Aspen, yet it feels as though he’s always been part of the Pack, rather than a newcomer trying to heal a people long since thought forgotten. There are secrets within the den that could alter how the world sees shifters, and if Gavin isn’t careful, his attraction to Audrey could ruin everything.
There is a mysterious new enemy on the horizon, one long since vanquished into myth. As the darkness surrounded the Packs is unveiled, it will take a wolf and a lioness to unbury the past and fight for their future—or risk losing everything before it begins.
I dodged the blacked-tipped talons handily but nearly tripped over the wolf to my side. I winced as I jumped over Ronin and didn’t let the fact that he cowered beside me insult my cat. After all, he was a new wolf. And he didn’t know exactly how to fight yet. This wasn’t exactly the training I had planned for the day, but there was no going back now, not when I needed to fight whatever these things were.
It looked like a man, a normal man, with excessive strength. Its eyes were dark-rimmed, but I couldn’t see its irises to tell what color they were. And its fingernails had turned into claws, or perhaps the talons I had once thought. But they looked as if they had been dipped into black ink. The nails were black for sure, but even the fingertips seemed to radiate that darkness.
I had never seen the like, but as I was part of the Aspen Pack, I knew that not all was what it seemed, and there were many unknowns out there.
I let my claws push through my fingertips and raked the nails down the back of one. The man in front of me let out a shocked gasp, then fell to his knees. I didn’t want any of that black tar or whatever it was to touch me. My cat didn’t like the scent of it, and frankly, neither did the human part of me.
I was a lion shifter in the middle of a wolf Pack, a wolf Pack that was like none other.
And my cat already had enough and arched its back up.
There were two of these creatures in front of me, and they didn’t scent of the rogues that we had been fighting for years, nor did they scent of wolf.
I wasn’t sure if they were a witch gone bad or not, but whatever they were, we needed to deal with it before it was too late.
I grumbled a bit, then found a branch to toss at Ronin. Ronin gave me this odd look, his human face looking puzzled, and I sighed before I made sure he held the stick, and I pulled the dagger out of my boot.
I used my claws on the creature’s back, but I wasn’t about to get anywhere near its mouth.
My senses told me it wasn’t a good idea, no matter what it was.
I used the dagger to stab the closest creature at the base of the skull and twisted. It let out a scream, one abruptly cutoff, before it fell to its knees, its body at an odd angle on the ground.
I went to the other one, but it came at Ronin quickly, ignoring me. I cursed under my breath, my cat ready to slice at those who endangered our people. Ronin was under our watch, and we refused to let him get hurt because we weren’t strong enough.
I kept moving towards it, but Ronin smacked the thing with the branch.
Well, that was one way to fight it. Probably not the best way, but we were getting somewhere. At least I hoped so.
Ronin smacked it again, but then the creature gripped the branch and shook it. He tossed Ronin twenty feet back, and my brows winged up.
Well then, that was some strength. He probably could even beat Hayes when it came to strength, and that polar bear was the strongest person I knew.
It seemed it was time for me to stop pussyfooting around, as it were, and take care of this thing.
It was bleeding from the claw marks, and the blood was red, so I counted that as something to take note of, but I wasn’t sure what it meant.
I didn’t want to wait to find out, so I moved forward and tossed my dagger directly into the creature’s eyes.
It screamed, pulling at the dagger but not falling down.
That image would haunt my nightmares for years to come. Considering the number of things that already haunted my nightmares, that was saying something.
“Okay then. Why won’t you die?”
“This is only the beginning,” the creature growled as he pulled the dagger out of its eye.
I swallowed hard. I hadn’t been aware it could talk. I had no idea what it was, but it wasn’t dead from a dagger to the eye, and it stepped forward once, twice, and fell.
Oh good. It was dead. Thank the goddess because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was supposed to do now.
I sighed and then went to take my dagger back.
Ronin sat on the ground and looked up at me before lowering his gaze.
His wolf was in the golden glow surrounding his iris, and my cat wanted to reach out, bat him on the head, and then hug him close.
Ronin wasn’t submissive by any means, nor was he a paternal wolf. He was a dominant, but so in the middle of the chain that he could wobble either way depending on who was around him. And my cat was one of the most dominant shifters in the Pack.
It didn’t matter that the rest of them were wolves except for a select few. My cat was Beta of the Aspen Pack and had held that title longer than any other leader within the Pack. Everyone else had gained their connection and responsibility after everything had changed.
I alone remained.
My heart ached, but I pushed away the pain.
Just because the rest of the hierarchy was relatively new in the past year and a half didn’t mean we were falling or breaking.
I just happened to be the only one with experience.
Experience that was met with hatred in some eyes, but I was good at ignoring that.
I leaned down in front of Ronin and gripped the back of his neck as I would a pup. He looked up at me then, meeting my gaze for an instant before lowering his eyes but not his chin.
My cat purred in happiness. That was showing who was more dominant, but not lowering. And that I counted as progress.
“Are you okay? Did their claws or teeth or anything else out of the ordinary touch you?”
Ronin shook his head. “No, I’m fine. I’m fine, but I messed up.”
I shook my head. “Whatever that was, was far stronger than either one of us was prepared for.”
He looked up at me then for just an instant and blinked in surprise. “You don’t know what that was?”
I didn’t want any more lies in my Pack, not after years of pain and sacrifice and nothing but lies. So I told him the truth. Chase would have to find his own path and tell me exactly what he wanted the rest of the Pack to know in general. After all, he was my Alpha and had once been my friend.
I pushed that thought away and squeezed the back of Ronin’s neck again. The younger wolf relaxed marginally, and I knew he liked the action. “I don’t know what that was. We’re going to find out, though. It was strong, so strong that I had to use my dagger rather than my claws or strength. You did what you could, and while you aren’t ready to hold a weapon on you at all times like that, we’re getting there.”
“I nearly tripped you,” he grumbled.
“We were just finishing a long training session when those whatever they were slithered out of the trees as they did. They came on us out of nowhere, and we’re both exhausted after our training.”
He wrinkled his nose, and I knew he smelled the lie on that.
“Okay, you were exhausted. I’m tired. Does that make your wolf feel better?” I asked, putting a lighthearted note in my tone.
Ronin nodded. “Yes. Sorry. I’m still getting used to all these scents and everything.”
My heart ached for him, and my cat wanted to reach out and lick his face just to make sure that he felt better. Doing that in human form with a new wolf, one that didn’t know me well, was probably not the best thing.
“Everything’s okay. We are going to figure out what these are and put them in the basement so that way our Healer can take a look at it.”
“Maybe the other Packs know?”
That made me smile. “Hopefully, the others do. They’ve all dealt with many strange things.”
“Well, we have our own strangeness,” Ronin said with a bit of pride, and I felt it too. The Aspen Pack was unique in that we were not just wolves. Other than a few people who held our secrets, the rest of the world thought the only shifters out there were wolves. After all, they were the ones that had been forced to be revealed to the public. And after a war and scary end of times, humans and wolves lived in a decent harmony. The fact that the government had wolf sympathizers helped. Any scary laws that could have restricted the movements and freedoms of anyone magical in nature were now scrubbed off the table indefinitely.
Wolves and witches were able to live freely.
Cats and bears, on the other hand, were unheard of.
I knew of a couple of cats that roamed the earth as individuals, but I was the only lioness that I knew of near here other than Aimee. There was a lynx shifter as well, and she was my best friend, but other than that, it was just me here.
And there was only one bear that I knew of.
Perhaps there were other secret Packs that held them, and I had the hope in my heart that there were. But even most wolves didn’t know we existed, and that had been for a reason years before.
Now I wasn’t even sure what the reason could be.
I looked down at the two dead bodies next to me, my cat hissing, and ran my hand over Ronin’s back. Then I stood up and helped him do the same.
“We should head back into the den, behind the wards. But we need to tell the others what happened.”
There was no doubt that Chase as Alpha would be able to feel that something had indeed happened.
The others would as well since Steele was the Enforcer, and he could feel outside threats to the Pack. This just felt like such a different threat that I wasn’t sure he would be able to tell what it was.
Cruz might be able to tell as well, but he was the Heir and felt so lost that I wasn’t even sure he would know to respond at all. It didn’t matter that he was a dominant wolf. We were all so far out of our depths, it was a little scary.
I rubbed at my chest and then was reminded again that I wasn’t the only cat shifter around. At least the only lioness around. I wanted someone of my own kind, even if it didn’t make sense. I should see Aimee. And check on her. She was a lioness like me because of what I had to do to save her.
I shook my head, remembering the Talon Pack lioness who now lived in a Pack of wolves as I did.
She was strong, mated to the Healer, and could handle anything on her own.
At least, that’s what I figured. It wasn’t like I could truly speak to her often these days, not with my needing to be with the Aspens as much as I was.
I turned to see Steele coming towards me, a glare on his face as always. I didn’t know him well, though that was only because I had to hide my true loyalties for so long that I didn’t know my Pack as I should.
He gave me a tight nod as he looked around at his lieutenants. “What happened here?”
I raised a brow because he wasn’t as dominant as I was. The only person that was within this Pack was Chase, and even then, some days, it didn’t feel like it.
Steele just shook his head, his own wolf understanding that he didn’t get to growl at me like that in front of others. We were all still finding our place, figuring out how to work together as a cohesive unit. The fact that I hadn’t had a cohesive unit with the previous hierarchy spoke volumes. We were taking our cues from the Redwoods and Talons. But even then, the Redwoods had decades of learning to work together and were an actual family. The hierarchy before the current generation was still around, guiding them. They weren’t elders per se, but they were a tight unit.
The Talons, on the other hand, had to rebuild from the ground up at one point, and so we were trying to follow their lead. Much like the Central Pack was doing. Though their Pack had been completely demolished, only coming back with a blessing from the actual moon goddess, the goddess of wolves.
I shook my head and looked over at Steele. “I don’t know. I’m trying to figure it out myself.”
I explained about the dark claws and the fact that it had spoken even after we had shoved a dagger into its eye. Steele raised a brow, then pulled out his phone. “We should talk with the Redwoods and the Talons. They might have seen something when they were down south.”
I frowned, then remembered that nearly a year ago the Tracker for the Redwood Pack had gone down south to meet another Pack of all things and had come up with something similar. The dark smudges and black bite marks.
“Do you think it’s that? I thought that those were genetically modified rogues or whatever that they had found.”
“Not exactly. The dead bodies that piled up happened to be because of that rogue, the wolf that had gotten out thanks to the drug that is no longer a problem within our borders. However, the black marks seemed to be something different.”
I cursed under my breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“I only think I know it because I was talking with Gina.”
Gina was the Enforcer of the Redwood Pack, his counterpart, and had more experience than he did, but only barely.
“Okay. I’ll talk with Chase then. Do you guys have this settled?”
“We do. We’ll meet up with Wren.”
A smile slid over my face at the mention of my best friend’s name. Wren was a lynx shifter and our Healer.
As long as she was connected to the Pack, she could use those bonds to heal those around her. She was also an MD and kept up with her medical studies throughout her years. She had been a doctor before the goddesses had called on her to become the Healer of our Pack. It had fit, and now she worked on the mystical side and the medical side.
“Hopefully, she’ll figure it out, and hey, I hear there’s a new geneticist joining the Pacific Northwest Pack Alliance.”
I grinned. “Is that the name that you’re going with now?” I asked.
Steele rolled his eyes. “I think Cruz is having a little too much fun with the other Packs forming names. But since we’re working so close together, the Pacific Northwest Pack Alliance seems to be working with the four of us.”
That made me smile because it wasn’t just the Redwoods and the Talons any longer. The Aspens were going to bring things to the table, and I knew the Centrals were doing the same. Even though the Centrals had a dark past with the Redwoods, we had just as much of a dark one with the Talons.
My stomach ached at that thought, and my cat scratched at me, so I pushed that thought away and sighed. “I need to go meet with Chase.”
“I take it training’s over then?” he asked, looking at Ronin.
Ronin lowered his head, and if he were in wolf form, his tail would’ve been tucked between his legs. I moved forward, went on my tiptoes, and ran my hand through his hair. “You’re fine. We’ll finish up the day after tomorrow. I know you have your studies.”
The kid, and he really was a kid, only in his early twenties, beamed at me. “Yes, true. Thank you so much for your help. I know I’m getting better, right?”
“You are. You fought well today. We weren’t expecting this, but we made it out because we had each other. So thank you.”
His eyes widened before he walked away, speaking with another wolf his age that was a Lieutenant. That Lieutenant was far stronger in dominance but had just an edge of maternal nature to her that she seemed to ease Ronin’s wolf.
“You’re good with him.”
I looked at Steele. “I’m trying. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing.”
He swallowed hard. “I feel like that too. Even though you’ve been Beta for longer, you had to be a different Beta before.”
I knew he’d said it as a compliment, but it felt like a slap nonetheless. “I know. But we have new wolves joining the Pack every week, it seems.”
“We do. And that’s something that Chase is going to want to talk to you about,” he added with a grimace.
“What?”
“Allister’s here.”
I blinked at his mention of the Thames Pack Alpha. The Thames Pack was over by the actual Thames River in England. “I didn’t realize he was visiting.”
“He wanted to meet with our alliance, or whatever else he wants to call it. And in doing so, he brought with him a lone wolf that’s been with them for a while but wanted to come back to the United States. And since the Centrals and the Aspens are pretty much recruiting for Pack members at this point, he figured this guy would work out well with us.”
“Oh. Okay. What does it have to do with me?”
“As Beta, Chase wants you to help him get acclimated to the den. He’s going to blood him in later today.”
“Him? Just one?”
“There are two women that are joining the Central Pack, from what I can tell. But we get the Tracker.”
My lion perked up, her tail swishing back and forth. “He’s a Tracker?”
“He is, and has the talent for it, and since our Pack doesn’t actually have one as part of the hierarchy, Chase says the moon goddess will bestow the new guy with the title.”
A Tracker was someone who could follow the Pack lines and use extrasensory abilities to find anyone within the Pack. If magic or other impediments were in the way, it didn’t always work, but a Tracker was great to have. We hadn’t had one in a decade. Not since our former Alpha had killed him for daring to disobey him.
I swallowed hard, thinking of another Tracker that I’d met in my lifetime. One I didn’t want to think about too hard because it hurt even to imagine.
“I guess since I’m the Beta, it’s my job to see to the needs of the Pack.”
Steele saluted me as he turned back to work with the dead bodies that I had left behind, and I shook my hair out before making my way towards the den.
The den was situated in the northern part of California, amongst the Redwood trees, much like the Redwood namesake Pack that was a little more north of us. We took over Washington, Oregon, and California once you put all of the Pack territories together. We were a large group, but insular.
Our wards protected the den itself, but a lot of our Pack lived outside the den, within the communities of humans and witches. That was how it should be. A den was a place to come home to.
It hadn’t been like that for so long that it almost felt odd to think that now this den could be healthy once again.
I walked through the wards, past the sentries, and let the magic settle over my skin. My cat preened, enjoying the tingles of magic, and I shook my head at it.
Silly cat.
She wanted to run, to let the world look at her glorious golden pelt, but I ignored her. We had things to do. We could laze in the sun later.
I turned the corner, my cat perking up, an odd scent hitting her nose.
I frowned, wondering why it scented so familiar.
“Audrey. You’re here. Good,” Chase, my Alpha, stated as I came towards him, but my heart stuttered, my skin breaking out into a cold sweat. I couldn’t focus. Not on him.
It couldn’t be.
This wasn’t him.
It was a ghost, a death. This was nothing. I was dreaming. Maybe I had been bitten by whatever I just fought, and now I was dead.
Because this couldn’t be true.
“Audrey, you know Allister, and this is Gavin. He’ll be a new member of the Aspen Pack.”
Gavin. That was the name of the stranger, the stranger with the eyes.
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
Blazing heat, laugh-out-loud humor, and an abundance of swoon-worthy moments make this sexy new standalone romance by New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melissa Foster unputdownable.
No cheating, no cliffhangers, and guaranteed to leave you breathlessly in love with the fiercely loyal and wickedly naughty Bradens.
What happens when you find your soul mate but she belongs to someone else?
Months ago, famed wedding-gown designer Jax Braden met the woman of his dreams when a bride-to-be came in for a consultation. He’s tried to move on, but there is no forgetting beautiful, smart, and refreshingly real Jordan Lawler, or the loneliness she cleverly tries to hide. When Jordan hires him to design her wedding gown, Jax knows he’s in trouble, but he cannot walk away. As business meetings turn to late-night confessions, their connection deepens, igniting passion too strong to deny. They’re drawn into an inescapable and forbidden love. Loyalties are tested and hearts are frayed, but neither will cross that invisible line in the sand. Come along for the sexy, emotional ride as Jax and Jordan face their toughest competitors yet—their hearts.
Melissa Foster is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than 100 novels. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance and women’s fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Melissa’s emotional journeys are lovingly erotic, always family oriented, and feature fiercely loyal heroes, smart, sassy heroines, and complex relatable issues. Melissa enjoys chatting with readers and book clubs. Send her an email invitation to your next event!
Melissa Foster is celebrating the release of her new contemporary romance, Maybe We Won’t! Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!
Title: Maybe We Won’t
Author: Melissa Foster
Genre: Contemporary Romance
About Maybe We Won’t:
A sexy and soul-stirring novel about love, family, and rediscovering what matters most by Melissa Foster, the New York Times bestselling author of Maybe We Will.
When workaholic Boston attorney Deirdra de Messiéres is passed over for a well-deserved promotion, she takes a two-month hiatus to show her boss just how much he needs her and heads home to Silver Island. But beyond seeing her sisters happy, home is not where Deirdra’s heart is. She has no interest in their family restaurant, the Bistro, or reliving hurtful childhood memories, and absolutely no interest in spending a single second with Josiah “Jagger” Jones, the Bistro’s too-laid-back musician and chef. Sure, the hippie is hot, but he drives her nuts. The guy lives in a van with his dog, and he can’t even commit to a solid work schedule. To make matters worse, he’s always around. She needs to get off the island, stat.
Jagger has overcome his own personal trials to place stock in life’s pleasures: family, friends, peace…and if he has his way, one positively beautiful, absolutely uptight attorney. Jagger knows he’s the perfect person to help Deirdra deal with her hurtful past and find her way back to being happy.
A chance encounter leads to deep conversation, and night after liberating night, Deirdra lets down her guard. But neither has plans to stay on Silver Island. Free-spirited Jagger has wanderlust, and Deirdra has a career to return to. They’re on different paths, and plans for a future together don’t stand a chance. But when has anything gone according to plan?
The Silver Harbor series is published by Montlake Romance and will be available in paperback and audio formats at all book retailers, and exclusively in digital format for Kindle and Kindle apps. Download a free Kindle reading app here: http://bit.ly/FreeKindle_App1
Deirdra de Messiéres lay in her childhood bedroom on Silver Island thinking about her upended life. She’d worked her ass off for the last several years as a corporate attorney for a tech firm in Boston, and after her promotion to assistant general counsel last year, she’d thought she was on the fast track to becoming general counsel when the slot opened up—until the GC had a heart attack and her slave-driver boss, Malcolm, had hired a referral from outside the company through his good-old-boy network.
The bastard.
He’d sprung that little nugget on her three days ago, after which Deirdra had announced her two-month hiatus, effective immediately. Everyone had been shocked, including Deirdra. She’d never taken time off and had made herself available in the evenings and on weekends since she’d first started with the company. She’d had to. It was a dog-eat-dog industry, and with six other attorneys on board—four of whom were men—she’d wanted to stand out. Yes, she was well aware that she was putting the company she’d given her all to in a pickle, especially since the new general counsel couldn’t start for another two months. But that was the point. Let them suffer without her impeccable mind handling everything under the sun. She was confident in her game plan and certain Malcolm would quickly see the error of his ways.
The truth was, she’d thought he wouldn’t let her walk out the door after her announcement. But her stern sixty-year-old boss had simply wished her a relaxing time and said she needed it. She’d already received dozens of calls and emails from colleagues who were shocked that she’d taken so much time off, but she struggled with disappointment over the ones that hadn’t come from her boss.
She still couldn’t believe Malcolm had said she freaking needed the break. As if she’d ever produced subpar work? That was a laugh. He’d had nothing but accolades for her jobs well done, and last year’s promotion had been proof of that.
Her frustration simmered to the boiling point. Ugh. She needed to stop overthinking the situation. Fat chance of that happening for a self-professed control freak. Deirdra not overthinking would be as weird as her younger sister, Abby, not seeing the bright side of things or their older half sister, Cait, trusting everyone at face value. Deirdra had a better chance of trying to transform into a bird and fly away.
If only . . .
She and her sisters were quite the trio, and they’d had a whirlwind few months. She and Abby had only discovered Cait existed in the spring, when they’d come back to the island to go over their mother’s will with one of their mother’s best friends, Shelley Steele. While Abby had embraced and trusted Cait unconditionally from the moment she’d met her, Deirdra had been cautious, given that their family house, restaurant, and meager inheritances were on the line. It had taken Cait some time to open up and trust them as well. But they’d gotten through those trials and tribulations and had become close. Cait was a wonderful addition to their family, and like Abby, she’d found solace and love on Silver Island.
Deirdra would not be following suit.
Beyond seeing her sisters happy, Deirdra had no interest in their family restaurant, the Bistro, or in the island on which she’d spent too many years trying to hold together the pieces of her alcoholic mother’s disheveled life, helping to run the Bistro and keep a roof over their heads. Deirdra had fled immediately after high school to attend Boyer University in Upstate New York with her bestie, Sutton Steele, and had finally started living her own life. But self-preservation had consequences, and Abby had been stuck caring for their mother in Deirdra’s absence. That sucked, but what choice had Deirdra had at the time? Stay on the rinky-dink island running a restaurant she resented and putting her drunk mother to bed while her dreams went to pot? Besides, Abby had encouraged her to go, and Deirdra had clung to that support like a lifeboat in her sea of guilt as she’d set out to prove herself to Abby and maybe even to stick it to her mother and show that she couldn’t hold her back.
Deirdra stared at the ceiling, discomfort simmering inside her. She’d thought her resentment toward the island and all that it represented might ease now that her mother was gone, but painful reminders lingered like ghosts in the wind, and the house and her bedroom were filled with them. Abby and Aiden had done a great job of sprucing it up. It was absolutely gorgeous. To anyone else it would seem warm and inviting, but there wasn’t enough paint on the planet to obliterate Deirdra’s painful memories. How many nights had she snuck out the window just to sit on the hill and look out at the water to keep from drowning in her mother’s wake?
Maybe she shouldn’t have come back, but she couldn’t do that to Cait. The start of her impromptu hiatus had lined up with the day Cait and all their friends were fixing up her new tattoo shop. Deirdra wasn’t big on manual labor, but she loved her sisters, and she’d needed to get out of Boston. She was glad she’d come, even if being on the island was uncomfortable. She’d gotten to witness Cait’s boyfriend, Deirdra’s childhood friend Brant Remington, get down on one knee in front of all their friends and propose. Deirdra couldn’t be happier for them, but come hell or high water, she was getting off this island tomorrow and going on a well-deserved vacation, the destination of which was yet to be determined.
The sound of the front door jarred her from her thoughts, and Abby’s giggles floated upstairs. She and her fiancé, Aiden Aldridge, couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Deirdra glanced at her phone. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. In the spring, Abby had moved back home from New York, where she’d worked sixty-plus hours a week as a chef. She’d met and fallen head over heels for Aiden in a whirlwind love affair. Together they’d revived the Bistro, and they were getting married in November.
Deirdra tried to focus on the distant sounds of Silver Harbor sneaking in through the open window instead of the cacophony of laughter, low conversations, and prolonged silences, followed by loud lustful sounds coming from downstairs. If only she were back in Boston. She preferred her noisy neighbor’s stereo blasting classic rock and oldies at all hours over this. At least that she could dance to.
Needless to say, she was a little jealous of her sisters’ love lives. Not that she’d had time for a man, or anything else besides work, these last few years. More noises floated upstairs. She closed her eyes, willing them not to have sex in the living room or, worse, in the kitchen. She had to eat at that table. Oh God, that’s probably what Aiden is doing. She squeezed her eyes shut. Deletedeletedelete!
What was she thinking, staying in her old bedroom? She should have stayed in the apartment over the garage. Why hadn’t she thought of that from the get-go?
A loud thud rattled the walls, followed by more laughter.
Deirdra flew out of bed. She was not going to listen to a play-by-play of Abby and Aiden having sex. She put on her silk kimono and headed downstairs, praying she wouldn’t catch them in a compromising position. She stopped on the bottom step, eyeing the trail of clothing that led past the steps and down the hall to their bedroom. Thank God. Hurrying into the kitchen, she snagged the key to the apartment off the hook by the side door and quietly slipped outside. She crossed her arms against the brisk September air as she climbed the steps to the apartment above the garage.
A streak of moonlight lit a path down the hallway to the bedroom. She took off her kimono and slipped under the warm covers, closing her eyes as she sank into the mattress. Something moved beside her, and her eyes flew open just as that something licked her face. She screamed and jumped out of the bed, flailing for the light switch. A bark rang out, and a cold nose hit her crotch. She swatted at it as she flicked on the lights, illuminating an amused Josiah “Jagger” Jones pushing languidly from the bed as his dalmatian, Dolly, nosed Deirdra’s privates. The twentysomething hippie worked at the Bistro as a part-time musician and part-time chef.
“What are you doing here?” She twisted away from Dolly, her eyes catching on Jagger’s naked body. Holy mother of hotness. Broad shoulders and a few wordy tattoos on his ribs vied for her attention, but her eyes locked on the dusting of dark chest hair trailing down lickable abs, and her thoughts skidded to a halt at the impressive cock dangling between his legs. She couldn’t look away. Her loneliest parts clenched with desire, while her boggled mind tried to make sense of the perfect manscaping, which didn’t fit the image she held of the hemp-clothing- and sandal-wearing, too-damn-laid-back guy for whom she had no patience. Not that she’d ever imagined him naked. Well, not too often anyway. He may not be her type—give her a man in a suit any day—but she couldn’t deny that Jagger was hot, and he had a great voice, the kind that fantasies were made of. His hair wasn’t bad, either: dark, thick, and wavy. The kind of hair she’d love to hold on to while his face was between her legs.
Dolly licked her, snapping her back to the moment.
Holy crap. She was losing it. She was thirty years old, and he couldn’t be more than twenty-four or -five. She needed to get off the island and scratch that particular itch with a man who was more her speed . . . age . . . Holy cow, his body . . .
Dolly licked her again, jerking her mind back into submission.
“Dolly!” She turned away, glowering at Jagger, who was watching her with a big-ass grin.
“Like what you see?” he said far too casually. He lazily raked a hand through his hair, his leather and beaded bracelets slipping down his wrist.
About the Author:
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, new adult romance and women’s fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Readers adore Melissa’s fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens, Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summer, Harborside Nights, and the Wild Boys After Dark. Melissa’s emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented.
Melissa also writes sweet and clean romance under the pen name Addison Cole.
Melissa has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Her interests include her family, reading, writing, painting, friends, helping others see the positive side of life, and visiting Cape Cod.
Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails from her readers. Visit Melissa on social media or her personal website.
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Title: One Way Back to Me Series: The Wilder Brothers #1 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: April 18, 2022
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When the Wilder brothers retire from the military and are forced to learn a new life, things get interesting in the start to a brand new steamy, contemporary romance series from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan.
I never thought I’d see her again. After one dance at a wedding, I knew she was for me. Only things didn’t work out that way, and I had to watch her walk away with the man she loved instead.
Years later, I’m in desperate need of a wedding planner—not for myself, but for my company. My five brothers and I need to get our new Wilder Resort off the ground, and Alexis is the only one who can help.
Yet the moment we see each other again, we can’t deny the passion or connection. And if we’re not careful, our pasts just might burn through our present.
The anticipation was high for this book after I’d read the prequel and I can say that I wasn’t disappointed.
Set a couple of years after Alexis and Eli initially meet we find the pair in a bit of a role reversal. Life for Alexis has hit a dip while the Wilder brother is beginning to find his way with the retreat that he and his brothers now own.
There’s a lot of drama in this one. I’m not usually a fan of drama or angst in my reads, life has enough of it at times without it being in the books I like to read but in One Way Back to Me it added to the story though I must admit to being at a loss as to why some of it happened. Yeah, it was explained to a point in the book but I still didn’t understand some thought processes.
Eli and Alexis worked as a couple, even though she had some reservations about having a relationship with one of her bosses.
I’m intrigued by Evan and Kendall and am so looking forward to reading about them!!!
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
Title: Evernight Unleashed Series: Ravenwood Coven #3 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Paranormal Romance Release Date: March 17, 2022
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In the dramatic conclusion to the Ravenwood Coven series by NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan, this sleeping magical paranormal town knows that war can be a beginning…and an ending.
Rowen Ravenwood is the final witch of her line—the only one standing in the way of Oriel, the dark necromancer who wants the core of the town’s magic for his own. With each passing battle and loss, Rowen is one step closer to losing it all if she doesn’t rely on the one man she refuses to love again. Only this time she might not have a choice when family secrets come to light.
Ash Christopher’s family curse hit him harder than anyone knows. He’s cool, relentless, and only feels what he needs to in order to survive. He’s gained everything in power and lost all else to his ambition—including Rowen. After all, a man cannot have a soul mate when he does not possess a soul.
The town of Ravenwood is dying and as the final battles come to pass, it will take the courage of a coven reborn, a mating bond broken, and a love worth fighting for in order to save all before it is lost.
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
He’s intense, he’s fearless, and he’ll stop at nothing to save her.
My job is to protect the innocent, but Blake van Hamilton has never been innocent. With killer curves, silky brown hair, and silvery-blue eyes, she’s been an inconvenient object of my lust since we were teens. Now I’ve been hired to guard her against a gang of criminals who want her money, and maybe even her life. Still, I’m the last person she wants helping her. Blake van Hamilton hates me, but it won’t stop me from doing my job.
Hutch Winston may be sexy as hell, but I won’t fall for his white knight, alpha-protector act. Not since he used it to ruin my life at sixteen. But when my best friend turns up dead and my uncle goes missing, Hutch is my only option. Moving into his family estate is the real test. It gets worse when I accidentally see him naked in the shower, moaning my name. I have to keep my head and my heart in line—not to mention my body. Every part of me wants him in every possible way. I may be fearless, but how I feel about him scares me most of all.
(FEARLESS is a stand-alone, enemies-to-lovers romantic suspense novel. It contains an insanely hot alpha protector and the curvy, feisty socialite he’s hired to protect. A forced proximity angle sets it all ablaze. No cheating. No cliffhangers.)
Tia Louise is the USA TODAY best-selling, award-winning author of super-hot and sexy romances. All her heroes are alphas with hearts of gold, and all her heroines are the smart, sassy ladies who love them.
Title: Inked Craving Series: Montgomery Ink: Fort Collins #4 Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Contemporary Romance Release Date: February 15, 2022
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The Montgomery Ink saga from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan continues with a friends to lovers romance that breaks all of their own rules.
Instead of walking away with a marriage proposal, Paige Montgomery ended up broken hearted and pregnant.
Now she has to figure out how to begin her life again alone.
She refuses to fall for another man, yet every time she sees Lee Grier, her traitorous heart aches for him. It doesn’t matter he’s her brother’s best friend and wants to be her rock in the storm. She knows she has to weather the oncoming pressures on her own.
When they can no longer fight the pull between them, they’ll have to remember that passion can only shelter them from reality for so long and letting themselves fall will be the hardest step yet.
Carrie Ann Ryan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary, paranormal, and young adult romance. Her works include the Montgomery Ink, Redwood Pack, Fractured Connections, and Elements of Five series, which have sold over 3.0 million books worldwide. She started writing while in graduate school for her advanced degree in chemistry and hasn’t stopped since. Carrie Ann has written over seventy-five novels and novellas with more in the works. When she’s not losing herself in her emotional and action-packed worlds, she’s reading as much as she can while wrangling her clowder of cats who have more followers than she does.
New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of thirty-plus years and their rescue cat, Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them.
While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys traveling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip.
Melanie loves stories, especially paired with a good wine, and enjoys skydiving (free falling over a fleck of dust) extreme snowboarding (falling down stairs) and piloting her own helicopter (tripping over her own feet.) She’s learned happily ever afters, even bumpy ones, are all in how you tell the story.
He’s a hot single dad. A military man with abs of steel. My brother’s best friend. My biggest enemy. And now my fake date to my best friend’s wedding. Disasterville, here we come…
Mission: Survive my best friend’s wedding, where I must play nice with my ex and his perfect new girlfriend.
Strategy: Bring the hottest fake boyfriend on the planet.
Target: Grady Rock. Master Baker. Dimples. Muscles. The unicorn of fake boyfriends.
Complication: Wyatt Morgan. My brother’s best friend. My sworn enemy. Military man. Sexy as hell single dad. The man I let into my panties for one night of hot hate sex after my ex dumped me.
And the man who just scared off that perfect fake boyfriend.
By pretending to be my real boyfriend.
I can roll with this though. What’s the harm in Flirting with the Frenemy if it helps me get the job done?
Complete my mission and move on.
Or so I thought.
Until Wyatt kisses me again and I start feeling things I shouldn’t.
The thing about weddings…nothing ever goes as planned.
Flirting with the Frenemy is a rollicking fun romantic comedy featuring a single dad military man, an irritatingly attractive blast from his past, pirates, cursing parrots, and a wedding gone wild. It stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers.
Remember that time you accidentally sexted your boss?
Yeah. I just basically did the equivalent. Except worse. Now my millions of social media followers are reading and sharing the rude, smartass message I meant to send privately to my little sister as a joke…and I’m officially public enemy number one.
I’m Beck Ryder. Former boy bander. Underwear model. Fashion mogul. And I buried my entire leg in my mouth—not just my foot—modern internet style, and publicly insulted my sister’s neighbor.
Sarah Dempsey.
Also known as the woman of my dreams, who loves geeky TV shows, baseball, and giraffes, who’s just as turned on by food as I am, and who has a huge secret that I didn’t see coming.
Now it’s time to grovel and apologize publicly on social media and hope that those same followers who helped start the raging shitstorm will help calm the waters.
Because Sarah doesn’t want the spotlight. For very good reasons that I can’t tell you right now and trying to convince her to be my fake girlfriend to fix this mess and make me look like less of a jackass is worse than taking a kick to the nuts by Jackie Chan.
And I thought modeling underwear made me feel naked.
Trying to start a relationship in the era of the Twitterazzi isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
America’s Geekheart is a rockin’ fun romantic comedy featuring a billionaire fashion mogul who got his start modeling underwear, the geeky girl next door with a secret the size of California, and more superstitions and secrets than you can shake a baseball bat at. It stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers.
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks.” “Kiss me? I thought you wanted to throttle me.” “Kissing and throttling aren’t mutually exclusive with you.”
Tripp Wilson has to go.
Yes, yes, he’s gorgeous, he’s an adorably patient mess of a single dad, he kisses like a god, and he’s possibly the only person in the world who can turn around this baseball team I just inherited, but still, he has to go.
I don’t trust him.
That kissing thing?
Let’s call it a mistake. Pretty sure he’d agree. After all, he was the one pretending to be someone else when it happened.
But if I don’t take him on as the president of operations of the Copper Valley Fireballs, the worst baseball team in the history of professional sports which now belongs to me, I’ll be forced to sell the one last link I have to my family.
But there will be no more kissing. No more flirting. And no more swooning over him with his two preschoolers.
First of all, because he lied to me.
And second of all, because I might be lying to him too.
All’s fair in business and baseball, right?
Tell that to my heart.
Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire is a rocking fun romance between a single dad obsessed with baseball, an heiress with secrets, baseball pants, a rundown team, and rabid ducks. It stands alone and comes with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.
He could have the world, yet he’s looking at me like I am his world.
You don’t know me, but you do know me. I’m your neighborhood hot mess single mom, doing my best to keep my head above water while running my little slice of heaven and keeping my youngest from shoving marbles up his nose, which is exactly what he’s doing the first time Levi Wilson, pop star god, world’s sexiest man, and my all-time number one celebrity obsession, walks into my bookstore.
Related: I’m writing this from beyond the grave, because I’ve died of mortification and am now residing in an alternate universe.
I have to be.
Because Levi Wilson came back.
And we had a moment.
Like, a moment moment. The kind that makes me remember that adult pleasure isn’t all about hoping the lock holds in the bathroom so your kids don’t interrupt on the rare occasion you feel like taking an extra-long mommy-time shower.
So when he proposes a no-strings fling?
Count. Me. In.
Thrill of a lifetime, right?
Surely, nothing will go wrong…
The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob is a rockin’ fun, sexy romantic comedy featuring a celebrity panty-melter who doesn’t know what he’s been missing, a sassy single mom hanging on by a string, three adorable children who would never burst in on a woman when she’s on a toilet (ha!), and shameless ovary-busting moments between a guy who never thought he’d be a dad and a family who thought they got along just fine without him. It stands alone and comes complete with a happily-ever-after.
Pippa Grant is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes romantic comedies that will make tears run down your leg. When she’s not reading, writing or sleeping, she’s being crowned employee of the month as a stay-at-home mom and housewife trying to prepare her adorable demon spawn to be productive members of society, all the while fantasizing about long walks on the beach with hot chocolate chip cookies.
Book Loving Pixies 