What A Girl Wants cover
Part of the Forrester Brothers series:

Elijah Forrester needs a date for his brother’s wedding. Fast. His mother is threatening to set him up with a “nice girl” if he insists on going solo. But he’s a doctor, and a workaholic, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for romance. If he gives in to his mom’s matchmaking scheme, he just knows she’s going to start planning his wedding to the Nice Girl she picked out. There is no way he’s letting that happen.

Hospital administrator and resident goth girl Vesper Blackwood is smart, funny, and gorgeous. She and Elijah have a nice, workplace flirtation going on, but neither of them intend for it to go any further — dating in the workplace can get messy. But a family function isn’t officially a date, is it? Besides, it’s just for one afternoon. They can keep their hands to themselves, right?

Wrong. One afternoon turns into an all-night sleepover. She wants to call it a mistake and walk away, but Eli’s not ready for something so good to end. He has to convince her that breaking their dating rules is worth the risk.

Excerpt:

Sacramento, California

“I found a date for you for Tyrone’s wedding.”

There were words to make any man’s blood run cold. His mother had found him a date for his brother’s wedding. Eli choked on the swig of beer he’d just taken, and croaked out, “No.”

She tossed up her hands. “Don’t say no yet, Elijah. I haven’t even told you about her. She’s a nice girl.”

Oh, Lord. A Nice Girl. He resisted the urge to down his beer in one quick gulp. He’d thought this would be a nice family dinner, where they’d talk a bit about the upcoming wedding and other parts of each other’s lives. And Santino’s was usually Eli’s favorite place to eat. Low-key, casual, but with truly amazing pizza and calzones. He’d gone through his shift at the hospital looking forward to this…and now his mom was coordinating his love life. To say things had gone downhill was something of an understatement.

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It didn’t help that both of his younger brothers—Tyrone and Derek—sat across the table from him, their respective fiancées tucked against them. They didn’t smirk at his misfortune, which might have made the situation a bit better. He could have at least plotted revenge against them. No, the looks aimed his way were pitying.

Fantastic.

He had to get out of this fast. Meeting his mother’s gaze squarely, he lied without a single qualm. “My answer won’t change. I already have a date.”

His mother had made noises the previous week about how sad it was that he had no date, and he was the only one in the family who didn’t. Was it his fault that his brothers had fallen in the love in the last couple of years? Or that his three cousins all happened to be in steady relationships at the moment? And what was so wrong about going to a wedding alone?

She folded her arms, her face a picture of skepticism. Marion Forrester was not a woman to be toyed with. She missed very little and had a way of crawling inside your head—a skill she’d used to great effect as a lawyer and the mother of three boys. “You didn’t have a date last week. You’re suddenly dating someone?”

“No, ma’am.” He wasn’t stupid enough to tell a tall tale. The Forrester boys had learned young that the best way to get anything by their mom was to stick as close to the truth as possible. In this case, he just needed to stick to the plausible. “I asked one of the hospital administrators to come with me. Who wants a blind date to a wedding?”

Their food arrived—thank you sweet baby Jesus—and Eli dared to hope that the topic was dropped. He shoveled a bite of calzone into his mouth and chewed very slowly. His mom let a few minutes of silence pass before she dove in again.

“It wouldn’t have been a blind date. I was going to have you go out with her before the wedding. So you could get to know each other.”

“No need.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What’s your date’s name?”

“Vesper.” The name shot out of his mouth with no real direction from his brain. Vesper’s face flashed before his eyes, heart shaped and lovely. Her expressive brown eyes drew him in whenever their gazes met and he’d wished he could slide his fingers through her long dark hair a thousand times, just to find out if it was as silky as it looked. Her usual glam goth attire meant she lived in bodycon black dresses that showed off her generous curves to absolute perfection. They had an office flirtation that they both enjoyed immensely, but they’d also agreed that workplace romance was something neither of them was interested in. He’d already gone down that disastrous road once, and he had no intention of a repeat trip. She had seen her share of soured relationships making it a pain in the backside to work at the hospital, so she agreed with him on the “no dating coworkers” rule. He liked that they were friends, even if they couldn’t be anything more.

Sadly, a little friendly flirtation was the extent of his current dating life. He really needed to get out more. But for the moment, his main goal was getting out of a blind date with a Nice Girl.

His mom’s eyebrow arched. “Vesper what?”

“Blackwood.”

She whipped out her cell phone and typed in the name.

“Come on. I didn’t make her up.” He just hadn’t actually asked her to go with him. Yet.

His dad chose that moment to walk into the restaurant, looking more relaxed than he had in years. He’d recently retired as the city’s police chief. “Sorry I’m late. I got caught in traffic after I finished at the gold course.”

“It’s a rough life,” Ty noted. He was a SWAT officer, so he’d likely felt the impact of Greg Forrester’s retirement more keenly than either of his brothers.

The next words out of his mother’s voice made Eli cringe. “Aw, look. This is his date for the wedding. She’s a cute goth girl. That winged eyeliner is amazing.”

She passed her phone his dad, who handed it around for the others to see. Eli felt like a fifteen-year-old with his first date. Awkward.

He pressed his cold beer bottle to his forehead. “Is this really necessary? I have a date. You have her name to include on the guest list.”

His mom turned back to him. “What’s she—?”

He set his beer down with a thunk. “No. I’m not going to be interrogated. She is a friend and a colleague who is doing me a favor, because I saw through your wedding date questions last week.” No, he hadn’t, but he wouldn’t admit that under pain of death. “We are not actually dating, we are just friends, and that’s the end of it.”

COLLAPSE
Revved Up cover. A white couple embrace while sitting on the hood of a green classic car with a lake in the background.
Part of the Revved Up series:

All Revved Up

There’s nothing Andi Manning doesn’t know about cars. Working at Kasen’s Kustom Automotive is a dream job, and it’s even more fun now that they’ve turned the garage into Revved Up, a reality television show for overhauling classic cars. Watching drop-dead gorgeous Dean Kasen work his magic on those sweet rides is no hardship, either. She’s wanted him for years, but never had the courage to act on her desires.

The network offers Dean the chance for the local show to go national as long as a sexy bombshell helps host it. Andi is perfect for the role—if she’s willing to discard her coveralls and bend over engines in tight shorts, a tank top, and heels. Now that she’s gone from cute coworker to sexpot, Dean can’t keep his hands off of her. But Dean feels guilty for sleeping with an employee and Andi has to wonder...the only time they spend together is in bed, so is it her he wants, or just the revved up goddess of the show?

All Tangled Up

The reality show Revved Up has made Kasen’s Kustom Automotive a national sensation. For garage co-owner Jesse Kasen, the only fly in his ointment is Lola Adams, the show’s producer. The little Georgia peach is a blond bombshell. All he can think about when she’s around is what it might be like to get his hands on her.

Lola might use her looks to get what she wants, but it’s her knowledge of cars, courtesy of her auto-racing family, that got her the producer spot on Revved Up. Jesse is hot and the star of all her recent steamy fantasies. Too bad he’s off limits—she won’t risk her professional reputation for a fling.

Jesse sees one solution to their problem—burn off this attraction in bed and get on with business. Lola agrees because she has to know what it’s like to touch him, but she demands discretion. One naughty weekend in his secluded cabin, no strings attached. But one weekend might not be enough.

Excerpt:

“No way in hell.”

Andi stared in horror at the full length-mirror before her. It had seemed like a good idea when Jesse had mentioned being the new hostess for the national syndication of Revved Up. He said the network and the show's new producer wanted to bring a woman onto the show, and he wanted someone who knew their way around cars. Andi fit the bill for both, and she would love to have a hand in planning the custom jobs. This was her chance to step up her game.

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That was before she'd seen the wardrobe for her new role in the garage. She'd worked at Kasen Kustom for five years, and she loved what she did. Really loved it. It was fun and challenging to turn classic cars back into the cherry rides they'd once been. With a few extra modernizations. She'd loved it even more when they'd turned the garage into a reality show. But she was a background player in all of it, and she wanted to show them what she could really do. Apparently, that meant she had to learn how to walk in high heels. Jesse had handed her off to the new producer, Lola Adams, who'd stuffed her into too-tight clothes, tugged her hair out of its usual ponytail, pulled out the biggest make up kit Andi had ever seen. Now she just stared in the mirror at the streetwalker who used to be Andi Manning.

“No way in hell.” She stumbled back, holding out her hands as if to ward off her own reflection.

Lola tilted her head, her pale hair spilling over her shoulder. “I think it works. You look sexy and that's what we're going for. I think it'll bring in even more viewers now that we're taking the show to the next level.”

Mouth gaping open, Andi couldn't even find the words to respond to that. The coveralls she was wearing were cut into tight shorts that were opened to the waist. The tank top underneath stretched across her breasts and was just short enough to expose an inch of her midriff. Her brown hair fell in smooth ripples to the middle of her back. All the makeup Lola had piled on Andi's face somehow made her hazel eyes stand out appear more gold than their usual brownish-green.

The woman in the mirror was no one she knew.

Spinning on her heel meant she damn near toppled over in the pointy stilettos, but she marched out of the bathroom and into the garage. A few of the guys let out low whistles and she gave them a glare that sent them scurrying to find work to do.

Jesse poked his blond head out of the office, his green eyes going wide for a moment before he caught her gaze. Whatever he said faltered as he sensed the waves of fury coming off her. He stumbled away from the door while she shoved her way in and slammed it behind her.

“What the hell is this, Jesse? Is this some kind of a joke to you? Because I sure don't appreciate you jerking me around.” Yeah, he was her boss. At the moment, she didn't care. He'd had her tarted up like a hooker gone Hollywood. Considering they were in Nevada, where prostitution was legal, she'd rather no one was confused about whether she made her living on her back.

There was dead silence while mouth men in the room stared at her, their jaws sagging. She jammed her hands down on her hips. “What?”

Jesse recovered first, coughing into his fist. “Nothing. You just look different.”

“I look like I work at the Mustang Ranch,” she shot back, naming a famous local whorehouse.

Dean snorted, a little smile curling his mouth. His gaze slid down her body and back up again. Slowly. An involuntary shiver went through her at the heat in his eyes. How many times had she wondered what it would be like for Dean Kasen to look at her just like that?

COLLAPSE
Wild For You cover - a man with blond hair and a brown jack with a fur collar with a snow landscape behind him
Editions:eBook - Second Edition

Sometimes to escape the drama, you have to create a little of your own.

Anne Kirby is the queen of suck-it-up-itude. Thanks to her unreliable, drama-llama mama, it fell to Anne to raise her three little sisters. Now that the youngest is off to college, it’s her turn to spread her wings.

She’s looking forward to three solid weeks cruising Alaska’s Inside Passage, with plenty of kayaking, hiking, and ice climbing. Until her tour guide turns out to be not—repeat, not—her type. A scruffy bum who can’t hold down a real job. Never mind he’s the only man who’s ever kept up with her trademark, rapid-fire sarcasm.

Thanks to some timely computer programming patents, Gabe Warren is free to live his life as an adrenaline junkie. But nothing has ever gotten his blood pumping like the beautiful, smart, sassy PE teacher.

When their spirited arguments land them in bed, passion flares like the Northern Lights. Soon he can’t imagine life without her. Now if he could only convince her that her perfect job isn’t safely inside a school gym. And that a vagabond like him is the perfect travel—and life—companion.

Note: this book was previously published as Alaskan Adventure by Crystal Jordan.

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Maybe This Time cover - a man with brown hair and an open white button up shirt in front of a blurred cityscape of Rome
Editions:eBook - Second Edition

When in Rome...“I do” as the Romans do!

Karen Patton’s life is falling apart. She signed divorce papers, quit her job, and moved back to her hometown into an apartment that couldn’t feel less like home. With two weeks of free time before she starts work at the Half Moon Bay Public Library, she’s crawling the walls, trying desperately not to miss the man who chose his career over her.

When an old college friend invites her to Italy for an impromptu wedding, she jumps at the chance to focus on something other than her own misery.

Tate Patton is doing his best to ignore the divorce papers that just landed on his desk. A rational, reasonable man would sign and be done with it. Instead, he seizes upon a wedding invitation to do something completely impetuous—ignore the papers and fly to Rome.

When they lay eyes on each other, the sparks fly as hot as the first time they met. Maybe the more mature versions of themselves can fix what’s broken. Their love is too strong not to try...

Note: this book was previously published as Roman Reunion by Crystal Jordan.

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What happens on the island, lingers in the heart.

Julie Simms moved back to Half Moon Bay to take over her ailing great aunt’s fiber arts store, and stayed by her side until the end. Now it’s Julie’s first Christmas without the sassy old lady, and grief drives her to take some much-needed time off away from a town full of memories.

A week in Honolulu—hula dancers, coconut palms, and sunny beaches—is exactly what she needs, plus a bonus: meeting a gorgeous man who makes her forget everything except getting naked. With him. As often as possible.

Stanford Professor Lukas Klein, who’s just finished up a conference and is ready for a break, hasn’t been this intensely attracted to a woman since his divorce. He’s been leery of getting too deeply involved in a relationship, yet Julie is a breath of fresh air he can’t resist. And doesn’t even want to try.

Half Moon Bay and Stanford aren’t that far apart, but the magic of paradise could be too far removed from reality to let an attraction this mind-blowing last forever.

Note: this book was previously published as Hawaiian Holiday by Crystal Jordan.

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