Her company is failing. His plan could save it. Will their partnership move from business to pleasure?
Carla “Carl” Stevenson takes a special joy in running the local timber mill. But when the economy takes a downturn, selling the family business may be her only heartbreaking option. After a prospective buyer takes an interest, she’s horrified by his plans to raze the Frazier forest to make room for cheap cattle farming. To protect her home, she reluctantly turns to the town’s most notorious player…
Owen Cooper can’t believe Carl’s mill is for sale. But the construction company owner is even more shocked that “Carl” is actually a beautiful woman. Moved by feelings he never saw coming, Owen drafts an ambitious plan to save the mill owner’s livelihood… and maybe even win her heart.
Rallying their community around the audacious idea, Owen and Carl find their fates delightfully intertwined. But both their chemistry and the project hang in the balance when he suddenly walks away…
With the whole town at stake, will Carl and Owen save the mill and find their way to true love?
Rescue Me is the heartwarming first novel in the Frazier Falls romance series. If you like strong women, honorable men, and small-town love, then you’ll adore Kelly Collins’ charming tale. Buy Rescue Me to build a foundation of passion today!
Owen splashed water at my head. I returned the favor as he waded over and picked me up.
“What are you doing?”
“You can barely stand over here.” He lifted me higher out of the water. “I’m giving your legs a break.”
“Is that so?”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “One must be sure not to tire when in a precarious situation.” His arms tightened around me.
“I’m pretty sure I could out-swim you on a bad day.”
His brows reached for his hairline. “Is that a challenge?”
“Damn straight.” I pointed to the copse of trees at the bend. “First one from here to the trees upstream wins?”
“Done,” Owen exclaimed, immediately dropping me to get a head start.
“That’s cheating,” I called out before righting myself and working furiously to catch up. It didn’t take long because I was an excellent swimmer. By the time we reached the trees, I was in the lead by several feet.
He stared at me incredulously as he caught up. “Holy shit, you’re fast.”
“I know.”
“You hustled me good, Stevenson.”
“Hey, I told you I could out-swim you, Cooper. If you chose not to believe me, that’s on you.”
“What’s my consolation prize?”
“Why should you get rewarded for coming in last when I don’t get anything for winning?”
He sidled up to me in the water, gently pressing me against the bank. The barest suggestion of a current sent tiny pebbles ricocheting off my feet, the beat of them accurately reflecting the way my heart thumped inside my chest.
“I can think of something that might act as a prize for both of us,” he said suggestively, tracing the edge of my jaw with a finger, tipping it to line up my lips with his.
“How presumptuous of you,” I replied quietly, but I closed the gap between our lips immediately. He tasted of creek water and whiskey. Until now, I’d never have considered that an attractive combination.
As Owen leaned in and deepened the kiss, running his fingers through my hair and pressing his body against mine, I found I couldn’t get enough of it. Enough of him.
I threw my arms around his neck, desperate to get closer.
He wouldn’t be a client for much longer. In a few months, I’d be gone, and unlikely to see him again. It was now or never. I voted for now.
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International bestselling author of more than thirty novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.
Kelly has sold more than a quarter of a million books worldwide, and in 2021 she was awarded a Readers’ Favorite Award Gold Medal in the Contemporary Romance category for A Tablespoon of Temptation.
The moment I laid eyes on Penny, her innocent, submissive nature called to my dominant side. I immediately volunteered to guide her exploration into my dark and decadent world.
I’m also playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with an obsessed psychopath whose goal is to destroy me. When my worlds threaten to collide, I’m forced to call it quits between us.
Soon I discover I’m too late, and she’s caught in the crossfire. Now, I’ll do everything in my power to protect the woman I’m falling for.
“Who do we have here?” A deep, gravelly voice at my right drew my attention. My breath hitched and my body heated when I spotted the sexiest man I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d always been a sucker for a man with salt and pepper hair. Damn, he filled out that navy t-shirt nicely. My eyes traveled his full length before returning to his face. I flushed at the amused half-smile he wore at my perusal. It took me a moment to remember he’d asked me a question.
“Pe-Penny,” I stuttered, almost breathless as the heat in my face intensified. I don’t remember blushing this much before in my life. Fake it ’til you make itwas my mantra. I stood a little taller and attempted to gain the confidence I typically displayed with chauvinistic surgeons.
“I’m Marcus.” His secret smile remained as he reached out to shake my hand. When I placed mine in his, he squeezed it firmly, and I thought I felt his thumb gently caress mine, but he pulled away before I could be sure.
“Nice to meet you.” The words came out a little shaky.
“So, what brings you out to play with us today?” His voice dropped suggestively.
Maintaining my barely-there confidence, I answered his question. “I’m curious about domination and submission. I figured this was the best place to gain some knowledge.”
“Knowledge about what?” Marcus asked, showing true interest.
Everything. I wanted to know what it felt like to give up control.
To just feel and not have to think.
To be dominated.
To have someone fulfill needs I didn’t even know I had.
I wanted to find my happily ever after, damn it. Sadly, I didn’t know how to express any of this.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Whatever someone will teach me.”
“Sweetness,” he murmured, “I’d be happy to teach you anything you want to know.”
LK Shaw is the bestselling author of the sexy, sinful suspense. She resides in South Carolina with her high maintenance beagle mix dog, Miss P. An avid reader since childhood, she became hooked on historical romance novels in high school. She now reads, and loves, all romance sub-genres, with dark romance and romantic suspense being her favorite. LK enjoys traveling and chocolate. Her books feature hot alpha heroes and the strong women they love.
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Travel writer Dayna Benning tours Europe to write a feature story for a travel magazine. Along the way, she helps her bestie scatter her husband’s ashes. When Dayna accidentally sprinkles Alex Mendes with dried rose petals intended for the deceased, she senses a chemistry with the silver fox airline pilot. Just one catch—he wears a wedding band. Embittered by her divorce, Dayna refuses to be a homewrecker, like the woman who ruined her marriage. Alex and Dayna go their separate ways, but she’s mystified when serendipitous signs point her toward him at every turn. Determined to find out why, she learns Alex is a widower. Dayna hopes for a second chance at love…but her resentful heart stops her. Can she forgive those that broke her heart the first time? And for that matter, can she forgive herself for her failed marriage? Unless she finds a way to piece together her fragmented heart, Alex will forever remain a fantasy.
Romance was the last thing Dayna trolled for, but if it rolled in her direction, she wouldn’t rule out a casual fling. But not with a married guy.
Mariko elbowed Dayna. “I’ve heard a lot of hot older guys hang out on this side of the Atlantic,” she murmured, eyeing another tall, juicy morsel passing by on his way out the restaurant door.
Dayna wrinkled her nose. “Alex is married, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Oh, I noticed. No law against enjoying eye candy.” Mariko grinned. “You should write a sidebar for your magazine article, ‘How To Meet Cute Guys on a Beach.’ Tessa would love it.”
“Ha, that’d spice up my travel piece.” Dayna’s editor would love it.
“Sprinkling a handsome guy with dead rose petals would be a fresh angle,” reasoned Mariko.
“You think?”
“You’ve had a sniper dot on Alex the whole time. You may as well write about him.”
Alex strolled toward them, and Dayna fantasized a slow-motion movie scene: Arms swinging, he moves toward me, wind teasing his hair, with an I-Want-You-So-Bad expression on his face. His arms scoop me up and he plants a hot, moist kiss on my quivering lips, dissolving me—
The seating hostess snapped Dayna back to reality. “This way, please.”
“Oh!” In her haste to follow, Dayna’s foot caught a chair leg and she tripped. After a sloppy recovery, she limped after the hostess with heated cheeks, to a table for three.
Mariko jerked her head toward Dayna, smiling sweetly at the hostess.
LoLo Paige is an award-winning author who has a passion for writing romantic comedies after decades of theatre experience acting in stage comedies. While comedy is her first love, she also writes the pitfalls of falling in love in the action-packed, perilous world of wildfire. As a former wildland firefighter who married her hot firefighter husband, she lives her HEA, spending glorious Alaskan summers at her oceanfront cabin on Kachemak Bay, with her husband and two golden retrievers.
