Nailed

It was just a typical Monday. Until the big boss asked me to make the pitch for a prospective new client. After two years on shaky ground at work because of my screw up, an opportunity to impress the senior partners was just what I needed. Or so I thought, until I walked into the conference room and collided with the man I was supposed to pitch to. My coffee spilled, my files tumbled to the ground, and I almost lost my balance. And that was the good part of my day. Because the gorgeous man who crouched down and looked at me like he wanted to eat me alive was none other than my ex.

Still reeling from a nasty divorce, Melanie Cruz's pride takes another beating when she loses her enviable job at an upscale resort. After a flurry of unsuccessful interviews, she finally - desperately - accepts a job managing a small chain of family-owned pizzerias in a quaint downtown Phoenix neighborhood. The job also comes with Dominic Esposito, her overbearing but ridiculously handsome boss. Falling for him might be the last thing she expects, but maybe it's the one thing she needs.

I hated Cable James McCaffrey. He was entitled, spoiled, a user...and an addict. He was out of control and didn't bother trying to hide it. He had everything anyone could want but still seemed miserable and lost. Every move he made, every mistake he stumbled his way through, rubbed me the wrong way. However, I couldn't stop myself from trying to save him from himself when no one else would. In the sweltering heat of the summer, Cable taught me that having it all means nothing if you can't have the one thing you want more than anything else.

A summer job. That's all it was supposed to be. It never crossed my mind that I was about to collide with a man who would obliterate every plan I ever made. My mother has always warned me that love is like a lightning bolt and it strikes without warning. But I had no intention of getting struck by either lightning or love anytime soon. I'd be too busy finishing my journalism degree and landing a job in a city far more sophisticated than Phoenix. There was certainly nothing in the cards about getting involved with an ex-ballplayer turned nightclub boss.

Matthew Hansen is the kind of handsome that has grown women whispering behind their hands and giggling like schoolgirls. Dark, tall and mysterious, he's a newcomer to our little town. He's a gritty, grease-covered mechanic, and a single daddy. Sweet, right? Plus, he's looking for a nanny - and I am desperately looking for a job. Sounds like the perfect deal. Only he's a jerk. An uncivilized, hulking brute. Zero manners. Zero interest in making me feel welcome in his home. Downright rude. But oh, so sexy. And I need the job. I can do this.

We're not free to give into this. She's 19, and I'm 38. And I'm her boyfriend's father. Unfortunately, they both just moved into my house.

I was a woman on the edge, shaken and shattered after a breakup that felt like it tore my entire world apart. My best friend, sick of watching me drown in misery and melancholy, harassed me until I agreed to go with her on a weeklong wilderness retreat. Nowhere in the glossy brochure did it say anything about the fact I was going to have to battle the insufferable but deliciously rugged trail guide instead of the elements. The brochure also forgot to mention that when you left civilization behind, there was no place to pack your inhibitions and fears.

Ari Daniels didn't count on her whole world tumbling down around her in a mess of shredded promises, broken love, and unbelievable heartbreak. Alone and stricken with grief, she shouldered the blame and eventually closed her heart off, refusing to open it for another. After all, anytime she tried, guilt and regret were waiting in the wings to remind her how painful it was.  A bet and one steamy night with a stranger force Ari to confront all she's been hiding behind. She tries to move on, but he refuses to stand down, wanting what she is terrified to give - herself. 

As the man in charge at Ravenswood Ranch, Shane Nelson has never been afraid to get his hands dirty. His sculpted physique isn't the product of a gym, but of years of hard labor under a relentless sun. His straightforward, alpha tendencies come from a man who knows what he wants and goes after it - and what he wants is Rachel Waters. He's never stopped wanting her. They were childhood best friends, then teenage lovers who evolved into soulmates. But on one fateful night, Shane made a grave mistake, breaking both their hearts in the process. Now, after six years, Rachel is back.

Rex Gunner. As bitter as he is beautiful. The owner of the largest construction company in Gingham Lakes has been burned one too many times. His wife leaving him to raise their daughter was the last blow this single dad could take. The only woman he'll let into his heart is his little girl. When Rex meets his new neighbor, he knows he's in trouble. She's gorgeous and sweet and everything he can't trust. Until she becomes the one thing he can't resist.

There's me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. And then there's her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn't know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She's pretty. She's clever. She's goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. Which is why I can't tell her.

He wanted nothing at all...until he found she had everything to give.... Sunder lead singer and guitarist Sebastian Stone has everything - fans, fame, and fortune. He also has a heart full of bitterness and a reputation for a short-fused temper. But an outward reputation rarely reveals the true man inside.

Maverick Austin Davis is forced to return home after a 10-year career as a rodeo star. After one too many head injuries, he's off the circuit and in the horse farming business - something he's never taken much of a shine to, but now that it's his late father's legacy, familial duty calls. How will Maverick find his way after the only dream he ever had for himself is over? Enter Leighton Elizabeth James, an ugly duckling turned beauty from Maverick's childhood - his younger sister's best friend, to be exact.

Have you ever felt like you were living your life for a future that was predetermined? Like there was some bigger picture you just prayed you would someday see clearly? That picture has been crystal clear to me since I was old enough to recognize it for just what it was. Or, I should say, recognize him for who he was.

All it took was one look, one kiss. The promises he made - I should have known better. He was a rock star and I had no time for a guy like him in my life. I fell anyway. I believed his promises. Held onto them and waited. But the thing about rockers is that their private lives are never truly private. Seeing him on the cover of a national tabloid shouldn't have surprised me. Seeing him with two women all over him? That nearly broke me. Now the memory of that first magical kiss was tainted.