Am I going to get lucky? Maybe if the hunky nerd I met yesterday takes me up on my invite to attend High Five's St. Paddy's Day party …Rachel Wagner, who’s sworn off dating apps, is the last single one in her friend group. Focused on running her thriving cleaning business in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the thirty-one-year-old is caught off guard when she stumbles upon a bearded nerd while cleaning her biggest client’s lake house.

When I'm forced to spend the holidays at home with my family in Strawberry Hollow, I have no idea how I'm even going to survive the week, let alone make it through my least favorite holiday… Christmas. That is until I run into my childhood crush and my brother's best friend, Parker Grant. Now, he's the sexy, off-limits doctor in our small town and nothing like the man I left behind six years ago.

Fighting wildfires is the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do and I’m damn good at it. Being the captain of an interagency hotshot crew of wildland firefighters is high-risk, high-reward. The risk blindsided me five years ago when I lost one of my crew and was changed forever. Now the only rewards I allow are to work harder, smarter, and enjoy easy, sexy nights with strangers. Until I meet Prescott Timmons. Her smart-mouth and adventurous spirit have me forgetting all of my rules—until her past shows up and lies start to feel too familiar.

I’ve scored the ultimate Christmas nannying gig, and my plans include:(1) Hanging with adorable, four-year-old Bea (2) Ice-skating (3) Visiting Santa at Harrods. They do not include: (1) Falling for Miles, Bea’s grumpy, loaded and unreasonably gorgeous dad (2) Miles peeling my top off (and his own) when Bea vomits all over us (3) Accidentally telling him to ‘make better use of me' over champagne Christmas is not going to plan.

After a bad breakup, Nola wants nothing to do with Christmas, especially in her quaint hometown of Bright Harbor, Maine. Infuriatingly charming and cheery, Nola’s surroundings only worsen her sour mood. To make matters worse, Caleb, the boy who broke her heart years ago, is all grown up and still living in town. While doing her best to avoid him, Nola bumps into the local mailman, who gives her a mysterious letter. And when she finds that the writer is a fellow Scrooge, she can’t help but feel her spirit lifting.

After years of working her tail off at her event-planning business, Maggie Mitchell is ready for a vacation. With nothing on her mind but R & R, she’s enjoying the warm weather of Bora Bora when in saunters Brody McFadden, her brother’s best friend and also her sworn enemy. Thanks to years of tension between the two—kicked off by a make-out session at her brother’s wedding that ended horribly—Maggie has sworn to stay away from the man. That is, until she finds out he’s in Bora Bora for his boss’s daughter’s wedding, hoping to use the trip to win a real future at the company.

When Everleigh Dangerfield’s baking disaster necessitates a call to 911, firefighter Griffin Brantley douses the flames in the kitchen, but the ones he stokes in Everleigh are an entirely different story. Unfortunately, Everleigh’s only visiting and doesn’t do casual hookups, no matter how smoldering the temptation. But Everleigh’s holiday mishaps have just begun. And Griffin is seemingly always on call. If Everleigh is game for a change of plans, he can give her the merriest Christmas of her life.

Ella, a desperate, newly single goth girl with a mountain of debt, would do anything to see her parents this Christmas… the problem is, her parents live on the other side of the world. So, when she's granted access to The Naughty List—a marketplace for dirty proposals from rich strangers—she opts to take everything and anything she can get. She thinks she's a good player, getting five-star reviews like a good girl and climbing the ranks, until she stumbles onto The Naughty List's most daring group of all… The Hardcorers.

Evie Crowe is starting over in a strange town with her newborn, and men are the furthest thing from her mind. If only the quiet, hulking farmer, Luke Ward, would stop coming into the thrift shop and piquing her reluctant interest. Evie wants to stay single all the way—she can’t trust anything more than friends-with-holiday-benefits. But Luke is in it for the long haul. He’s fixed on making this a Christmas Evie will remember forever. If she gives him a chance.

My to do list: Revive my crashed PR career. Turn around the Kringle family business by Christmas. Convince my ex-boyfriend, NHL legend Matt “the Mountain” Kringle, to help me, even though I broke his heart when we were seventeen. Easy, right? Matt is huge, he’s hot, and he’s the grumpiest player in the league. I’ll have to brave his bad attitude and his sexy beard if I want him to help bail out the family business and put my career back on track.

Living in a year around Christmas town has its drawbacks. The caroling, the decorations, the insanely cheery spirit, it never disappears. It's why I like to hibernate away in my cave - I mean housekeeping a healthy distance from the holly jolly spirits. And all was going according to plan until my nemesis, Storee Taylor, moved in next door to care for her Aunt Cindy. Without blinking, she turned my simple world into a real nightmare-before-Christmas, especially when she decided to enter the town Christmas Kringle contest - which she was determined to win.

Nina and William are underpaid adjunct professors at the same university, where winter break is no break at all: ’tis the season to make extra money. When their holiday side hustle has them stranded by a blinding blizzard in the middle of nowhere, there’s nothing to do but cuddle up for warmth and play a hot and bothered game of Never Have I Ever to pass the time. But in the game of love, secrets never stay secret for long…

All Evie Cruz wants for Christmas is a nap. And maybe some ornaments for her naked Christmas tree. And while she’s making a list, she wouldn’t mind unwrapping her sexy upstairs neighbor like a present. Luckily, the building’s Santa-themed party and a surprise sprig of mistletoe give her just the opening she needs to make all her wishes come true.

Stone was my best friend. My protector. My everything. Until he wasn’t. Kids like us didn’t have the best life, riddled with trauma, bounced around in a system that didn’t want us and couldn’t handle us. In our darkest hours, we had each other. Until we didn’t. We tried to hold on to what little we had. Maneuvering the rough waters of our circumstance. Until I couldn’t.

Alexander, Lord Burlington, hates the holidays. But duty calls. This year he’s willing to set his feelings aside for the sake of his eldest brother who’s just been left at the altar—sending shockwaves through British high society—as they escape London for the snow capped mountains of Aspen. However, it soon becomes obvious that Colorado in December wasn’t the best place to go for someone who usually out-grinches The Grinch.

It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, and Charlotte and Seth are not looking for romance. Armed with emotional-support bear spray, Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation and on guard from men. Having a stalker can do that to a person’s nerves. Just across the hall and giving off woodsy vibes is Seth, a recently divorced arborist. As in today recently. Heights, he’s fine with. Trust? Not so much.

Lana Fleming’s sister has vanished from the set of TV’s hottest show, and no one seems to care. Desperate for answers, Lana sneaks in as an extra, only to get stranded with Griffin Hart, an A-list action star with a reputation for good abs and bad decisions. Though Griffin didn’t expect to be cast as a librarian’s sidekick in a real-life thriller, he’s weirdly into it—and into her. Even more unsettling—she sees right through his playboy persona. But their meet-cute soon turns deadly when they uncover a Hollywood scandal for the ages.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read.

Meet Randi Burnett—she’s brilliant, she’s beautiful, and she works for the bride. Missing groom? Intoxicated in-laws? Crying ring-bearer? You name it, she wrangles it. Too bad her personal life isn’t thriving like her side gig as a bridesmaid for hire. Recently dumped, Randi throws herself into her biggest challenge yet when she’s hired as a maid of honor and pretend best friend for an ice queen bride. There’s just one problem—the best man is infuriating, overprotective, and anti-marriage.

Beckett: If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have. I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride. My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart.

Am I going to get lucky? Maybe if the hunky nerd I met yesterday takes me up on my invite to attend High Five's St. Paddy's Day party …Rachel Wagner, who’s sworn off dating apps, is the last single one in her friend group. Focused on running her thriving cleaning business in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, the thirty-one-year-old is caught off guard when she stumbles upon a bearded nerd while cleaning her biggest client’s lake house.

God grant me the serenity to not choke the wildcard of rich b*tches... Charlie f--king McAllister. My best friend's little sister and tormentor extraordinaire. Star of my every trauma as a teenager. And thanks to our mothers and their matchmaking schemes for our annual ski week… my savior. Or ruin. One week as a couple, putting on a show for our parents while avoiding our exes. How hard could it be? Until we're stuck sharing a room. A room with one bed. And a toy arsenal the spawn brought with her big enough to subdue a small country.

That should be a good thing, right? Eggnog and Christmas carols. Mistletoe and family. Except my dad broke his leg hanging the family wreath. My brothers are at war over taking proper care of Dad. Oh, and I just found out our family business, the Kringle Inn, is failing!

Fake date a grumpy boss for Christmas. Enjoy some forced proximity with a flirtatious best friend for Valentine's Day. Wake up married to an Irishman in Vegas for St. Patrick's Day. Every day is a hot and hilarious holiday with this family.

When Connor Finch insists his one-time Tinder match Shae comes to his dad's house for Thanksgiving with her two daughters, it's because he refuses to let them be alone on her first holiday post-divorce. When she arrives at the Christmas tree farm and ranch he grew up on, she meets his father—the crazy tall, built, golden retriever cowboy who tells her girls all about the magic of the stupid elf on a shelf.

My to do list: Revive my crashed PR career. Turn around the Kringle family business by Christmas. Convince my ex-boyfriend, NHL legend Matt “the Mountain” Kringle, to help me, even though I broke his heart when we were seventeen. Easy, right? Matt is huge, he’s hot, and he’s the grumpiest player in the league. I’ll have to brave his bad attitude and his sexy beard if I want him to help bail out the family business and put my career back on track.

My name is Caroline "Candy" Cane, I own a country inn, date a man who runs a Christmas tree farm, and my mom's peppermint fudge wins first place at the Reindeer Corners' festival every year. Basically, I'm living every romance-loving girlie's small town dream. Until a last minute trip to New York City leads to catching my boyfriend banging a Rockette (in full elf costume). So, when I'm offered a chance to star in a hospitality-themed reality show, I jump at the chance to serve hot cocoa in roller skates on national television.

When I'm forced to spend the holidays at home with my family in Strawberry Hollow, I have no idea how I'm even going to survive the week, let alone make it through my least favorite holiday… Christmas. That is until I run into my childhood crush and my brother's best friend, Parker Grant. Now, he's the sexy, off-limits doctor in our small town and nothing like the man I left behind six years ago.

I thought I was over him. That his good looks and British accent couldn’t affect me anymore. But the minute our eyes lock across the elevator, all those feelings come roaring back to life. Then I find out we’re competing for the same job. Next comes the realization that we have to spend a week together on a ski vacation because of some six-degree-of-separation nonsense. The real kicker is when I find out the two of us have to share a villa. A very small, very cozy villa.

Alexander, Lord Burlington, hates the holidays. But duty calls. This year he’s willing to set his feelings aside for the sake of his eldest brother who’s just been left at the altar—sending shockwaves through British high society—as they escape London for the snow capped mountains of Aspen. However, it soon becomes obvious that Colorado in December wasn’t the best place to go for someone who usually out-grinches The Grinch.

With the name Holliday, you’d think I’d be all about the Christmas season. Most years, I am, but this one not so much. Between my ex being a real Scrooge-in-the-backside, re-entering the workforce, wrangling my two children, and evading my eight-year-old’s questions about Santa’s existence, I’m struggling to believe in the magic myself.

I kept smiling when I caught my fiancé coming down my sister’s chimney on Christmas Eve. I gave polite congratulations when they got engaged. And I even offered to help decorate for their Christmas wedding despite the fact that was supposed to be my dream wedding. But when my sister cuts up my great-grandmother’s one-hundred-year-old wedding dress and turns it into a skank show, even though that was the dress I was going to wear on my wedding day? Well, this elf is torching down the North Pole.

When you kiss your perfect boyfriend under the mistletoe...only for your cousin scream to the family that you stole her man, you realize that you will never again have a merry Christmas. In my defense, I didn’t know my boss—yup, boss. Buckle up because this is messy—was my cousin’s newly minted and totally lying fiancé. I thought he was the Nutcracker Prince come to finally show my family that I, too, was worthy of putting the star atop the Christmas tree.

New York Times best-selling authors Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward bring you three sexy short stories to heat up your holidays: "Sexy Scrooge", "The Merry Mistake", and "Kissmas in New York".

Christmas is bad enough without all the music, frantic shopping sprees, and holiday parties. So many parties… with people you couldn’t stand in high school and definitely can’t stand now. Top of the list? Patty Harrison. She made my teen years miserable and, now that we’re adults, she’s trying to get me banned from the Christmas market. Even so, I’m not going to commit literal murder.