Olive Baking is my thing. Bachelorette parties are not. Surprise strippers even less so. But I'm almost positive this guy isn't really a stripper, and if he is, he's pretty bad at it. On the other hand, he's very, very good at kissing. And maybe I shouldn't have goaded him into doing it, but it's not like I'll ever see him again. At least I'll have something to fantasize about when I'm baking muffins tomorrow morning. Brooks Contractor. Loner. Stripper? Not usually, but I'll do anything to get the Bachelorette party in the room next door to settle down. All I wanted was a good night's sleep. I never expected my entire world to shift when she opened the hotel door with her wide green eyes and sweet vanilla scent. Now that I've had a taste, I can't let her go. I just have to find a way to break down her walls.

Lilah I don’t ask for much. I’d like a job where my boss isn’t a total douche bag. I’d like to sleep in past 8 am on my day off. Mostly, I would love my new next-door neighbor to keep his sexy dimples and cocky smiles to himself. He may look like pure southern temptation, but he seems determined to irritate me as often as possible. Letting him in might feel like I’m carving out my heart and handing it to a stranger, but it’s quickly becoming apparent that someone else is watching me and Ben may be the only person who can help me uncover the truth. Ben Lilah Donovan is pure walking sin. The more time I spend with her, the harder I fall. She’s an adorable, feisty, half-pint of everything I never knew I wanted. She may have built the Great Wall of China around her heart, but I’m not averse to climbing if that’s what it takes to find a way in. Getting through to her is an exercise in patience, but it’s not the only thing testing my abilities. Between the phone calls from unknown numbers, the car problems that are looking like sabotage, and the shadowy figure in her yard, it’s obvious that someone is stalking my girl. But he’s messing with the wrong person because I am uniquely qualified to end this, and there are no lengths I wouldn’t go to when it comes to protecting Lilah.

Parker Four months ago, I made the first spontaneous decision of my life. I left my cold, suffocating family behind and set out for the Golden State. In pursuit of happiness, I threw my rule book out the window. New home, new job, and a brand-new spontaneous Parker. I have to admit, becoming New Parker would be a lot easier if I wasn’t flat broke and living in a shack. But I have my friends, a little bookstore full of romance novels, and the freedom I’ve always desperately wanted. I was perfectly happy with my shelves of book boyfriends until Lukas Donovan walked into my shop. The black sheep of the Donovan family, with his bottle-green eyes, stubbly beard, and those tree-trunk thighs… my romance novel men might never cut it again. I just wish he wasn’t such a dick. Lukas Everyone knows I’m the good-time guy. I’m the man you date when you want to piss off your daddy, and the guy you sleep with to make your ex jealous. I’m not long term. Parker Thompson is long term. Preacher’s daughter and my sister’s best friend, she’s one hundred percent off-limits and a bad idea no matter how you look at it. Bad idea or not, it doesn’t stop me from wanting her so badly it makes me ache. I know I should push her away, keep my distance… but how the hell am I supposed to do that when I can’t stand the idea of another man touching her or looking at her. Or really even breathing near her.

♥ Julia ♥ Life isn’t going great right now. In fact, let’s go with “shambles.” My job as a pediatric nurse is on the line all because I blew the whistle on an alcoholic doctor. And while he’s busy threatening me, my stand-in father is in the hospital for chest pain, my sister is under strict “no stress” orders due to her difficult pregnancy, and I can’t tell anyone anything for fear of it getting back to her. Enter Mateo, stage left: the boy next-door turned Navy Seal badass. When it comes to keeping me safe, he won’t take no for an answer. I can’t get him off my couch, and the longer he’s around, the less I actually want him to go. It certainly doesn’t help that every glare he throws in my direction ruins another pair of panties, but I absolutely cannot sleep with my brother’s best friend. Nope. That would be really, really bad. ♥ Mateo ♥ I’ve been in love with Julia Donovan since I was old enough to ride a bike without training wheels. I enlisted in the Navy at eighteen, just so I wouldn’t have to watch her pine after my older brother anymore. Injured and pushed into early retirement, I’m back in Sonoma for my first long stretch in eight years. I had every intention of avoiding Julia. Of settling into a civilian life that doesn’t put me in the path of my best friend’s little sister. What’s that phrase about good intentions? Yeah… I’m well and truly f\*cked. I can’t possibly walk away and leave her unprotected, not after catching that douche nozzle threatening her. So, I’m glued to her side, even if it means enduring the endless torture of being close enough to taste her and having to keep my hands to myself.