Abieville Love Stories

Fireworks plus mistletoe equal one explosive kiss ... Beau Slater sure brings the fireworks. Too bad they're not the good kind. My brother's best friend was so smoking hot, he blew up our small-town graduation night with one humiliating almost-kiss. It took me five years, one potential dream job, and three thousand miles to diffuse that horrifying memory. So when my worst enemy and I are forced together by our meddling mothers for a first-ever Christmas in July, I can't risk Beau reigniting my heart. Which means I'm probably supremely stupid to enlist him in my plot to teach our manipulative families a lesson. Still. Beau's future is a world away from mine, and neither one of us will give up on our dreams. So how hard could it be to fake-date the off-limits man I'm secretly pining for? The answer is EASY, Kasey. Just as long as I don't let this old flame and his sugarplum lips burn me again ...

BRADY Yeah, I shouldn't have kissed Natalie Slater. Not on the porch. Or at the beach. Or in the storage closet. Especially not the storage closet. But to be fair, she kissed me first. Six months later, I'm still thinking about it. Trouble is, I've made promises that tie me to our small town, while Natalie can't wait to escape. I've got no business pursuing her or my secret ambitions. My future's set, and good people here are depending on me. Too bad my gut's not listening to reason, and I'm being pulled toward different dreams: the career I've always wanted, and the woman whose smile I can't forget... NATALIE Brady Graham and I used to be friends. For a while there, I was even the teensiest bit attracted to him. But Brady's sister is marrying my brother, and my brother is Brady's best friend. How awkward would family dinners be if things went south? We need to let our mutual attraction fizzle out. Except...nothing seems to be fizzling. With all the time we're spending together as Maid of Honor and Best Man, our attraction's just burning hotter. Then the guy decides to show me his secret soft side. Hot and vulnerable? So. Not. Fair. Because the only heat I need in my life is the sunshine in Los Angeles. I've made commitments on the west coast, and I can't risk being sidetracked by Broody Brady. I just need to put three thousand miles between me and his so-not-fairness...

My dream job just got snapped up by the one man who rejected me... That's right. I'm an unemployed twenty-something stuck sleeping on my grandmother's old futon while Hudson Blaine, the guy who shot me down, gets to manage The Beachfront Inn Talk about life being unfair. I'm about to flee town with what's left of my pride when Mr. Rejection begs me to stay. Apparently, he needs my help resuscitating the inn's reputation before the grand reopening. But I'm not sure I can bear Hudson being my new boss, or survive sharing an office with him and his wife-me-up eyes. So I tell myself it's just for one month. One month to prove myself and what I'm capable of ... Or go down on the shores of The Beachfront Inn in a blaze of humiliation.

My holly jolly Christmas just went up in smoke. Literally ... Playing nursemaid to Bradford "Three" Fuller is the last thing I need for Christmas. But for the next few days, I'm stuck in charge of my ex's sparkling eyes, his ridiculous abs, and his (mostly) accidental kisses. I don't have a choice. You see, Three's only hurt because of me. And not like he hurt me a decade ago. Like ... I literally concussed the man with a fire extinguisher. Still, a make-or-break mission for my parents is what brought me back to the small town where he crushed my tender heart in the first place. And if I screw up, I risk my mother's approval plus the job at my father's law firm I've worked for my entire life. So I sure hope Santa stuffs my stocking full of self-control. And a defibrillator. Because my heart just may be broken by this second chance with Three ...