May Archer

Falling in love with my straight best friend? Tragically inevitable. Telling him? Completely out of the question. Everyone in Winsome knows Robbie and I are a matched set. A package deal. Ames and Robbie, Robbie and Ames. He's the calm to my chaos. The sun shining through my rain cloud. The guy who convinced me to be a firefighter. The man who's known every single thing about me since we were thirteen... Except for the teeny, tiny, inconsequential fact that I've been in love with him for years. I planned to take this secret to the grave. Robbie's straight. He's engaged. And I'm finally-finally-ready to move on. But one uncontrollable blaze, one daring rescue, one inconvenient injury, and one heavily-medicated, wildly inappropriate love confession later, my plan's up in flames. Suddenly helpful, perfect, shirtless Robbie is bathing me, dressing me, and nursing me back to health. And if being around my gorgeous bestie 24/7 wasn't torture enough, it seems I'm not the only one having un-platonic thoughts. But there's no way I'm letting myself fall into the fantasy again. Because if I let myself believe this is real and it isn't, it won't just break my heart... it'll break us. And I refuse to risk our friendship, no matter how tempting the man's hot axe might be.

Falling in love with my straight best friend? Tragically inevitable. Telling him? Completely out of the question. Everyone in Winsome knows Robbie and I are a matched set. A package deal. Ames and Robbie, Robbie and Ames. He's the calm to my chaos. The sun shining through my rain cloud. The guy who convinced me to be a firefighter. The man who's known every single thing about me since we were thirteen... Except for the teeny, tiny, inconsequential fact that I've been in love with him for years. I planned to take this secret to the grave. Robbie's straight. He's engaged. And I'm finally-finally-ready to move on. But one uncontrollable blaze, one daring rescue, one inconvenient injury, and one heavily-medicated, wildly inappropriate love confession later, my plan's up in flames. Suddenly helpful, perfect, shirtless Robbie is bathing me, dressing me, and nursing me back to health. And if being around my gorgeous bestie 24/7 wasn't torture enough, it seems I'm not the only one having un-platonic thoughts. But there's no way I'm letting myself fall into the fantasy again. Because if I let myself believe this is real and it isn't, it won't just break my heart... it'll break us. And I refuse to risk our friendship, no matter how tempting the man's hot axe might be.

Lane's Tips for Licking Thicket NewcomersIf at all possible, find yourself a hot and helpful landlord like Jaybird Proud who mows the lawn shirtless... and hope your grass grows quickly.Expect the unexpected at work. If you're a veterinarian, this might mean letter-cows, pet pigs that aren't pets, and Butterscotch the Pomeranian, who has Strong Feelings about his glands.Offer your help around town when needed... especially when that gorgeous landlord knocks on your door because his (pea)cock won't stop displaying. Learn about local customs, including: matchmaking, leaving Italian Gentlemen on the doormat, ordering tater tots, and entwining dead vines into wreaths as a sign of true love.Get your car washed on the regular... especially when your landlord is the one doing the scrubbing.Above all, keep things casual, even when Jay ends up at your place every night. And every morning. And the occasional afternoon.But when you find yourself falling for someone like Jaybird Proud (and life in his weird and wonderful town), let go of everything you thought you wanted... and Entwine that Thicketeer forever.

My childhood friend. My biggest rival. The only man I've ever wanted. If there were a prize for the most contented man in Copper County, I'd win it every time. I've got my business. My son. My family. My friends... and no romantic prospects, sure, but only because I don't need any. My life's great as it is. Seriously. Could not be better. I'm practically bleeding serenity over here. At least until Jasper Wrigley shows up in Copper County after twenty years-as my son's temporary hockey coach, no less, though the man could barely lace up his skates back in the day-and throws my carefully ordered life into chaos. Once upon a time, magnetic, confident Jasper was my best friend and greatest rival, and his summer visits to town were the best part of my year. Our competitions were fierce. Our dares were thrilling. We talked about everything under the sun, and he made me believe in the possibility of a bright, hazy future somewhere just out of reach. But then he left, and I grew up. Now the last thing I need is Jasper back in my space, provoking me, challenging me, and making me question... freaking everything. Like whether my life'ss as perfect as I claim. Like whether I'm as straight as I think. Like whether there might be something better than "contentment" out there for me if I'm brave enough to look for it. And whether the man who was always my greatest rival... might just be the love of my life.

It was supposed to be a straightforward protection job. Remove the target from Vermont, get him to the safehouse, keep him there until his mafia uncle testifies, get back in my employer's good graces.Boom, done. Easy.But it turns out things get complicated real fast when your target is an adorkable, accident-prone cutie with a shockingly low sense of self-preservation, zero clue that he's related to the Fromadgio crime boss, and 100% too much inclination to chat happily with strangers.When Chris compromises our safehouse (and accidentally starts a "lowkey, unavoidable" bar fight), our only option is to go undercover... pretending to be campground hosts in Copper County, New York.Make that married campground hosts. (Long story.)Now I'm hiding out with a guy who's obsessed with action-adventure shows and hand-knit sweaters, and whose most fearsome talent is arranging charcuterie boards, all of which is far less helpful in a gunfight than you might think.And worst of all... the sweet little virgin I rescued is growing on me.Somehow I find myself listening to his happy chatter when I should be watching the woods, trying to figure out how his mind works when I should be getting us out of this predicament, and appreciating the way he looks in my shirts when I should be focused on getting my career back on track.But when the Fromadgios' enemies finally find us, protecting Chris is no longer just a job. I'll do anything to protect what's mine... and there's nothing pretend about it.

One New Year's masquerade. One anonymous hookup. One billionaire-sized mistake.Once upon a time, someone looked at my scrawny, impetuous eight-year-old self and nicknamed me Mr. Important... and I believed them.That was my first mistake.Two decades, a dozen failed careers, and a thousand meaningless hookups later, I've made more mistakes than I can count. My parents have decided I'm purely decorative, my brother thinks I need pep talks, and the gorgeous billionaire who hired me as a favor to my dad? He's forgotten I exist.So I'm done with mistakes.Call it my New Year's resolution. From now on, I'm going after what I want... starting with the mysterious silver fox in the Roman warrior mask who approached me at the charity gala and offered me a scorching, anonymous one-night stand.Unfortunately, when our masks come off I realize mistakes are not done with me.Because the bossy guy who blew my mind? He'd thought I was someone else. Worse than that, he's my father's friend. A supposedly-straight workaholic. The person I'm stuck on a road trip with for the next two weeks. And, oh yeah, my actual boss.The farther we get from New York, the closer we become, and the harder it is to pretend I'm not falling for him. But I can't see how someone as brilliant, controlled, and successful as Thatcher Pennington would risk everything to be with someone like me... even if he makes me feel like I'm finally Mr. Important.

Hunter Jackson's Sage Advice for a Happy ThanksgivingWhen your turkey-thieving, town-abandoning, former childhood friend reappears in Licking Thicket after fifteen long years, looking like a snack and smelling like all your favorite treats put together, it might be tempting to, well, dig in.Don't.And when your plan to teach the man a lesson goes spectacularly awry, becoming less of a wattle-wearing walk of shame around the Thicket's Thanksgiving festival and more of a sexy turkey-twerk in a skin-tight bird costume featuring the hottest pair of drumsticks the town's ever seen, you might think it's time to get over your feud and, well, take a bite.Resist.But when Charlton Nutter finally shows you the sweet, pure heart he's hiding under all his fine, big-city feathers, and you realize, thanks to the town's meddling matchmakers, that the man is hungry for the kind of love and belonging that only the Thicket can provide, you might decide that both of you have been acting like a pair of turkeys, and in that case you should...Gobble. Him. Up.

Never ask your brother's best friend to... pick your cherry.When I asked Jack Wyatt to help me lose my pesky v-card, I didn't expect him to keel over in shocked disapproval and nearly tumble us down a mountain.You might think a guy who's been reading romance novels his whole life would've figured out a smoother way to broach the subject, but in my defense, I've been pining for Jack for seven long years, just waiting for him to notice me.Jack sees me as sweet, shy Hawk Sunday: his Pride and Prejudice-obsessed hiking buddy; his dependable employee; the honorary little brother he's determined to protect, not...deflower.But to me, Jack is everything a romantic hero should be: tall, gorgeous, kind, and brilliant.Or at least I thought he was brilliant... until he started getting so many things so boneheadedly wrong.Like refusing to do the deflowering himself, but also, erm... blocking any other potential plant-lovers from getting all up in my garden.And like continuing to see me as someone who needs protecting, rather than a man who needs possessing...A man who's determined to get his cherry well and truly picked this summer, whether Jack Wyatt likes it or not.

There are three kinds of people in Honeybridge, Maine: The Honeycutts, who know a lot about love and loyalty; The Wellbridges, who think they're the epitome of wealth and refinement; and the rest of the Honeybridgers, who know better than to get in the way of the centuries-old rivalry between the two.There wasn't a time when I didn't know Flynn "Firecracker" Honeycutt.He's been my childhood friend. My high school rival. The guy I couldn't stop dreaming about, long after I thought I'd left him and Honeybridge in my rear-view mirror.Now he's the key to the giant promotion that can make or break my career... if I can just convince the man to give me the distribution rights for his award-winning mead.Unfortunately, that's easier said than done.Flynn's not the guy he used to be. His gorgeous eyes used to spark with dreams and fire, but now he looks at me with cold fury. And just like Achilles had his heel and Samson had his hair, I had Flynn Honeycutt, the one man I'd never been able to charm, despite an entire life spent winning people over.I'm not giving up, though. Because I'm not the kid I used to be, either. And because, if the two of us can survive a long, hot summer filled with his family's crazy antics and my mother's single-handed determination to keep the Wellbridge-Honeycutt feud alive, there might just be a chance for both of us to get what we want: A new dream.The fulfillment of an old town legend.And another chance to spark Firecracker to life.

Well-known computer security infiltration specialist Jasper Huxley has never met a system he can't hack. Whether his assignment is accessing a highly-classified Pentagon server or modifying his high school report card, he's always got a botnet, an exploit, or a little bit of social engineering he can call up to get the job done. But there are certain things he can't finesse, no matter how hard he tries.-Beating the infuriatingly adorable, adorably infuriating Kevin Rogers in the Enchanted Javelin Toss to qualify for the Horn of Glory Conqueror's Tournament. (Robbery.)-Sharing a house and-worse-a network with Kev. (Gah.)-Being forced to allow a non-trained, non-serious, and non-resistible civilian to take part in a critical intel operation. (-side-eyes Kev)-Keeping Champion Security's system safe from increasingly sophisticated black hat threats. (Once again... Kev.)-Maintaining his distance from the man haunting his thoughts... especially when he learns that Kev's a virgin. (At least for now.)In short, when Kevin Rogers is in the picture, the safe and peaceful life Hux has managed to construct for himself gets suddenly and irrevocably... hacked. (And it's all Kev's fault.)