The first time I saw her, I had to have her. So I did. Four years later, I don’t expect to see her again, let alone hire her to be my fake date. But here we are. She’s just as fiery and sexy as I remember. She hates my guts and I love making her see red. It’s too easy to push her buttons. What started as a ruse to get my family off my back is now something real. She’s my fake girlfriend. So why do I feel protective of her? She’s mine on our contract paperwork. I need to make her mine in her soul, too. But if I don’t change my bad boy ways? I’ll lose her forever. Every good ...

Romance is a waste of time and energy. I’m not going deep with anyone. Let’s keep things on the shallow end of the pool. Where it’s easy to get out when I’m ready. Besides, my focus is on bigger things. Things that actually matter. Like changing the world. Until I need a sexy fake date to round out my image. Ridiculous as it is, it’s my only option. Something about me being aloof and arrogant. What? Me? No… But my date is more than a role to fill. She’s everything I’ve avoided in life so I don’t settle down. And she’s trouble. She’s keeping a secret from me that could ...

I never meant to come back here. Home. My military career gave me the escape I needed from this place—and my mistakes. Now I have to face them. And the girl I left behind. I’ve missed her every day that I’ve been gone, but I never knew just how much I was leaving behind. She’s not all I turned my back on. She kept a secret from me. A baby who isn’t a baby anymore. He’s a grown boy with the same love for adventure as his father. But his mother? She may never forgive me, and I can’t blame her. Love like this only comes around once in a lifetime. Everyone deserves a second chance...

Reckless. That’s what they call me. I rush into burning building to save lives, and I wish it was for a just cause. It’s not. It’s to prove that I’m worthy of love. A messed-up knee, and my dreams of being in the NFL are gone. I’m fearless when it comes to fighting back death. That’s not what messes me up. It’s living that gets me. The last thing I need in my life is a woman, no matter how bad I want one. And yet, this one has me pacing the floor. The single mom who owns my crew’s favorite restaurant is sweet, loving, and hot. It’s not that easy, though.

Taking over the family business is my destiny. I just never expected to have to do it in a small town surrounded by nobodies. I’m a big fish in a small pond in New York. This town? I might as well be in purgatory. There’s one silver lining. My assistant. She’s curvy, too sweet for her own good, and easy to push around. Until she isn’t. She’s fire one minute and ice the next. I can’t get enough. I can’t focus, either. Everywhere I turn, she’s there. I suppose that’s the whole point of her job. But soon I want more than her help in the office planning Valentine’s events. I...