Abieville Love Stories

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.

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 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.

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.

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.