Amanda Griffin has made a mistake. Or maybe a long series of them. First, she gets drunk at her sister's wedding and shares all her guilty secrets with Robert Castleman, the worst possible man. Then, at her cousin's wedding, she ends up in bed with him. At her best friend's wedding, they have a big, embarrassing fight. And then she gets stuck with him on the world's most annoying road trip. Her heart has always belonged to a man she can never have, so it's not like she'll ever fall for Robert. It's just that she can't get away from him, and now she's not sure she wants to. Robert has lived his life watching from a distance and never investing in relationships that will end up hurting him. So the last thing he should do is hook up with his niece's best friend. She's too young. Too beautiful. Too clever. And already in love with someone else. But since he can't keep his hands off her, he'll at least be smart with his heart. After all, it would be a huge mistake to let himself fall for her. But it's a mistake he can't help but make.

Serena Holly has a mission. Help her best friend, Keith, find the love of his life before the summer is over. She and Keith have been friends since they were next-door neighbors in elementary school, and nothing has changed that in twenty years. After getting through a messy divorce, Serena is now perfectly happy in life with her daughter, her friends, and her job as a high school teacher, but she's afraid that Keith might be lonely. He wants to start a family, and he can't do it until he falls in love. So Serena is going to help him find the right woman, and she's going to ignore all the inappropriate flutters of attraction she starts to feel for him. Keith Wilson has been trying for years not to hope for more than friendship from Serena, so he agrees to her plan to spend the whole summer fiixing him up. He does want someone to love. Only he wants her to be Serena. But she's finally gotten to a good place after a difficult marriage, and she doesn't want anything to disturb the life she's made for her and her daughter—especially something as risky as changing the nature of their friendship. But he can't help the way he feels about her, and he won't necessarily be able to stop himself from acting on it. Serena might think she knows what's best for him, but now Keith has a mission too.

Taylor Valance doesn't like people, and she doesn't like dating. So she's the worst possible person to be stuck in a fake relationship—especially with someone as uptight as Charles Kensington. She never should have had a one-night stand with him. That was her first mistake. Because then she felt bad about his difficult family situation and had the ridiculous urge to help him out. So now she's pretending to be his girlfriend, and she's a terrible girlfriend. She's grumpy and cynical and not good company, but she has to pretend to be head-over-heels when she's never been in love in her life. When he moved to Azalea, all Charles wanted was some time and quiet to write his book, but instead he's fallen into an absurd scheme with an infuriating woman. It's nice of her to help him out, but that's the only thing about Taylor that's nice. She's stubborn and reclusive and rude. And smoking hot. And she awakens parts of his nature he never knew existed before. He can't help but want her to see there's a lot more to him than a nice, boring guy. They're opposites. No doubt about that. But Charles wonders if this mismatch might be exactly what both of them need.

Ariana Kensington has had a slight mishap. Or maybe a major one. Last Christmas, she had a hot fling with a mysterious guy at a ski lodge. She had the best time of her life with him, but they both agreed it was no-strings-attached. So she's moved on and has been living her life like it never happened. Then he turns up at her friend's wedding a year later. With two kids. And a girlfriend. He's as off-limits now as it's possible to be, so it doesn't matter how attracted to him Ariana still is. She has to stay away from him—which gets harder and harder as he decides to hang around town for the holidays. Bradley Barnes thought he'd put his steamy week with Ariana behind him, but as soon as he sees her again, his safe, stable world is blown apart. He realizes he never stopped wanting her. But she doesn't seem to even like him anymore, and he's already in a relationship that he's trying to make work for the sake of his children. He has to think about his family and his future. He can't indulge in these fantasies about a woman who will probably end up hurting him. But it's Christmas. And bigger miracles have happened. Maybe his heart can come to life again.