Tabitha Moving to a new town isn’t easy, especially when it’s so you can bond with the half-sister you never knew existed until those ancestry DNA results came back. I took the leap and got a job at the school in Piersville as an art teacher and made an offer on the pretty little house that I’d seen online. What I never expected to find when I arrived was my sister catching her husband cheating on her, and then getting arrested for no reason by the Sheriff, Dave Bell. I was a sucker for tattoos, I was also a sucker for a tall man built like a wall. And apparently I was a sucker for a guy with a badge and a big… truck. Call me old-fashioned, but being arrested, interrogated, and tortured (well, maybe not quite) wasn’t exactly romance, but everyone makes mistakes so I gave him a second chance. Until I found out the huge secret he was hiding – well, more to the point who he was related to. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you’re a twat. Fool me three times, no chance! “DB” The people in the town I worked in were relatively easygoing, well aside from the Townsends. That family was a law unto themselves. Tabitha Newton, the new art teacher, breezed into town and into my life at the same time. I’d been called out to check on a house with a suspicious car in the drive by a concerned neighbor and had stumbled across the new woman sprawled across the living room floor. One accidental arrest, a trip to the station, and a friendly ‘getting to know you’ interrogation later, and I asked her out before she could find out who my stepsister was. It was stupid, of course she’d find out, but something about the woman had intrigued me so much that common sense hadn’t even come into it. There’s a way around that though because there’s a way around everything. If that fails, I’ll just arrest her again – because I can.

Jose Every little girl dreams of a big white wedding with their knight in shining armor. They’d have 2.5 kids, a beautiful house, birds flying around with crowns made of flowers, and live happily ever after. None of us ever dreamed of being divorced with a baby because we discovered that the knight was an evil ogre when we came home from a prenatal appointment and caught him in bed with another woman. Yet, here I was, twenty-six, a single mom, trying to find a magic spell to keep the ogre out of my life. My sister Tabitha’s arrival on the day I found him cheating brought something I needed into my life - someone who acted and loved like a real family member. I hadn’t even known she existed until that ancestry DNA testing gift, but it felt like I’d known her my whole life. Now I wanted my dream, but I wanted to have a fresh start and be me for the first time in years. I wanted to live my best life with my daughter, laugh every day… basically I wanted the dream without the knight. Then, my soon to be brother-in-law’s best friend dares me to go out on a date with him, and it’s not a dare I can say no to. Ellis I’ve been a tattoo artist for years. I’ve met great people, weird people, pain’s in the ass, you name it, but I’ve never met anyone like Jose. We’re proof that opposites attract, but every time I ask her out she keeps saying no. So, I came up with a plan, a plan based on handing out dares knowing she wouldn’t say no to them. Why? Because she’s the most stubborn woman in the world. When that still wasn’t enough, I went ahead and submitted a photograph of the two of us into a competition in an ink magazine. Guess what - it won, so it’s now on billboards all over the country and she can’t get away from me. So now we’re living on a dare. And I dare Jose to say no.

Raoul I have an issue that comes in a tidy, neat, little package – my neighbor. She’s driven me out of my mind every day since she moved in a year ago. To make matters even worse, she’s my friend’s sister, Rose Beauregard. To add salt to the wound, she’s a nurse and the sister of a tattoo artist, and I have a huge phobia of needles. I think it would be ok if she’d just stop giving me her special smile every morning, stop being cute, stop giving me that sass which drives me out of my mind. I’m totally lying – she could wear a paper bag over her head and I’d still want her. The problem is, when I say opposites, I mean opposites in everything – including the fact that I’m me, the most normal guy out and she’s classy AF. I’m not sure that’ll stop me, though. Rose Grumpy Raoul Evans, how I do love to mess with him. Smiling and waving at that glare he gives me every morning, the flowers I plant in front of his house, the packages of needles that accidentally fall out of the pocket of my scrubs onto the floor in front of him. It’s all just so much fun. It used to hurt me when he glared at me, but then I decided to enjoy it and just seize the day, so I do that every day. I’m sure at some point I’ll push him too far, but today is not that day. Maybe tomorrow? He says I’m classy, I say he’s grumpy, and the rest of the world says opposites attract. I know that I’m attracted to him, but until he starts feeling the same way toward me – or I make his head explode – I’m just going to enjoy pushing his buttons.

Katy Ever felt like you’ve had a crush on someone your whole life, but they never see you back? That’s what it felt like with Jarrod Kline. I worked in the same building as him, I gave him his jobs, I took his order for lunch… but that was it. Being shy didn’t help either. I wanted to be like the other women around me – ballsy, a go-getter, confident… I wanted to be like Tabby, Jose, Rose, and the Townsend women. Then, one night after a lot of margarita consumption, we hatched a plan – the ‘Get Yo Man Plan’, aka GYMP. Now that I’m sober, I realize what we’ve called it, but the GYMP is motion and it’s too late to turn back now. Jarrod I was the longest baby the day I was born, the tallest in preschool, the tallest in kindergarten… you get the point, I’ve always stood out. The problem was, I was also uncomfortable with it. For once, I wanted to not be seen, to do something that no one could see me doing. I’d looked into how to become an audiobook narrator after Tabby’s suggestion, and it seemed easy enough. So now I was a mechanic by day and an audiobook narrator by night, but only a couple of people knew about that last part. And then Katy started working at the garage, and the scenes I’d been uncomfortable reading they took on a whole new meaning. I just have one question, what the hell is GYMP?

After twenty-nine years working as a police officer in NY, my dad attended a call that shocked the country when the details were aired on the news. He’d done everything he could, but he’d been too late to save the daughter of a powerful businessman. After a lengthy trial and investigation, and with her killer in prison, her father had turned his focus onto the people he felt failed him and her—my dad and his partner included, and their families. After a close call, we decided it would be safer and Dad could focus on stopping Cevdet Gjorka if I wasn’t there, so I started over somewhere far away from my family as Zuri Hadid. I’ve kept my head down and work at a hospital in Texas now, not saying more than I have to. Well, until the topic of jelly fish came up and I remembered a meme I’d seen online. Who can resist spouting facts that probably aren’t true? Not me! It was only meant to be temporary, but I love living in Piersville… and then there’s Garrett Evans. He makes me want to get out and live again, instead of hiding all the time. Sometimes bad things bring new joy and light into our lives, right? That is until trouble found me. ∞∞∞∞ Leaving the military should have been a scary experience, but I couldn’t say I felt that way. Yeah, I’ve had some nightmares and I definitely have scars, but I’d come out of the Army with plans for my new civilian life, and it’d turned out better than I thought it would. Some of my scars weren’t from the military, though, and if I’d known a jellyfish sting years ago would bring Zuri into my life, I’d have thanked it instead of calling it every name under the sun. But then, for some ungodly reason, I’d immediately friend zoned myself with her. Fortunately, I prefer to think of zones as suggestions, not limits, and suggestions can be changed with a bit of persuasion and work, so that’s what I set about doing. Well, after we’d both been stitched up in hospital after an unfortunate accident involving me and a door, with Zuri standing on a chair on the other side of it. It didn’t break the ice per se, but it definitely broke the glass. I never imagined that the kinds of monsters I’d fought against would follow me from my old life into the new one. These ones weren’t terrorists from overseas, they were living on home soil with the power of money behind them who wanted revenge, and for people to feel the pain they were feeling. One thing is clear, though—when you get good in your life, you fight to keep it. Who knew a meme could have such an impact.

Logan I made a mistake seven years ago and opened my mouth, letting words fly out of it that I didn’t mean. I said something about the one person I never wanted to hurt and lost my best friend. Now she’s back and needs help her with her loss, and I’m going to be the best rock in the history of rocks and make it right between us again. I’d do anything to get Bexley Heath back in my life, even if it means helping out with her dog, who hates me and loves to destroy everything around him. Time doesn’t kill love. Neither does a giant Irish Wolfhound eating my favorite chair. Bexley I’d successfully avoided Logan Richards for seven years, but somehow losing my grandpa brought him back into my life. Perhaps Papa was right when he said in his last letter that it was time to get over it and just let it go. Life’s too short, and forgiveness is divine, right? He’s my anchor when I need it and my tissues when I cry. But that doesn’t mean I can’t reward my dog for causing him grief and destroying some of his furniture, though, does it? To heck with it, good Doyle.

Alex Regrets—I’ve got them. Mistakes—I’ve made them. And I lived with them every day. Wondering if I’d made the right choice back then or if I should have walked away the day my superiors called me into their offices to discuss the case. I didn’t, and it’s something I’ll always wonder if I should have done it differently. Now I worked next to my son, and I loved every minute of it and the peace I’d finally found in life. Until my new neighbor moved in and distracted me from the orderly course I was on. Evie My mom was a romantic. That’s where I’d gone wrong with my ex-husband, thinking anything the man did could ever possibly be considered romance. The divorce had given me back my freedom, though, and I had custody of my son, Cody, so I was putting it behind me. All I was planning to do was to start over and focus on the two of us. Everyone had known my business back in Tennessee, so this time I’d keep my head down and stay in the background. That was until I totally embarrassed myself taking the box from the bakers in town out of my car. To be fair, I was talking about the buns, but if the nice buns shoe fits… Read the series so far: Fireball Living On A Dare Classy AF Talk Flirty To Me Just Good Friends Eat Crow

Carter Years ago, Naomi was the girl who saved my life without knowing it. All it took was a handful of innocent words to change the decision I was about to make. I’d heard about her brother dying from one of our teammates, and I’d wondered if I’d ever be able to make the difference for her that she’d made for me back then. Ending up in the same town hundreds of miles away from our hometown was a fluke, but what if I was her monkey wrench? I knew what loss was, and I’d felt the pain and how easy it was to suffocate under it, but what if I was the wrench that fits all of the pieces of her life and holds them in place so she could put it back together again for her and her niece. And what if she was mine? Naomi Raising my niece by myself wasn’t easy, but moving to Piersville from Fernandina Beach was the best decision I could have made for us. I just didn't count on Carter Lane being here, too. He’s always been quiet, but around me, that changes. I don't know what anything the guy does means, though. Carter’s helpful, he's great with Shanti, makes me laugh, and it blew my mind when he gave me the Blow Pop I'd given him all those years ago in a frame. But what does it all mean? Changing life paths isn't easy, but it's a damn sight simpler than trying to figure out a man’s mind. Especially his.

Mark I hated the saying ‘go big or go home’ because that’s always how my mistakes always ended up. I could categorically say that my biggest mistake was Layla Townsend. My main one had been letting her go to “have time and space” to grow. I never expected her to be gone for as long as she was, and every minute of it hurt. Now she’s back in town and won’t give me the time of day. I’m not afraid of hard work, though. She’s worth every sleepless night. What I am afraid of is her family finding out our secret. Then again, maybe it’d work in my favor if they found out sooner rather than later. At least that’s today’s excuse for me accidentally dropping the bombshell at a family get-together. Layla Love and hate go together like love and marriage. The sad thing is, I don’t hate Mark, but I can’t go through life loving him, either. And then there’s the matter of marriage… It was meant to be the best kept secret, but now that it’s out, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. How do you get over that level of hurt, regardless of the excuses for it? This was where being a Townsend could come in useful because we excelled at driving people crazy enough to run in the opposite direction whenever they saw us. Mark used to get a lot of amusement watching people go through it. Let’s see how he likes it when he gets the full force of it aimed at him.