Jack Massey broke my heart. He was jealous and possessive. We were all wrong together—too engrossed, too greedy for one another…like we were each other’s fix.
We made no sense. He’s a stuffy, number-cruncher from a wealthy family, and I’m a hot mess from a trailer park. We’d never work long-term.
He says he wants me back. He needs to let the past stay behind us. I’ve worked too hard this year to get over him. I’ve thrown myself into my work with the kids at the resort. I’ve nurtured friendships with my amazing co-workers. I even tried another relationship. Though Jack’s never left my head or my heart.
Jack:
I screwed up. I’ve paid the price this past year. I quit drinking and became obsessed with my job and working out. I’ve not so much as looked at another woman. Tori’s all I’ve been able to focus on, even after a year
I want her back. It’s not going to be easy. We come from different worlds, and she makes sure I know it at every turn.
I’ve never failed at anything in my life except for my relationship with her, and I don’t intend to lose at that again.
Welcome to Destiny Dunes, where the only thing hotter than the Florida sun is the romance between this resort’s employees. Each book in this steamy series focuses on your favorite romance tropes. Once you enter the gates of Destiny Dunes, you’ll never want to leave!
Our conversation takes us all the way to Jack’s luxury SUV. He opens the door for me, and I get in, knowing I’ll probably never feel like I belong in a car like this. But I start to get a little more comfortable in it this second time around. When he slides into the driver’s seat, I ask, “Where are we going?”
“I want to take you home to my place, but I know better.”
I desperately want him to take me there and directly to his bed. But I want to make him take me out on at least one date before we jump into sleeping together.
“What about a movie?” I say.
“That’s cool. Which one do you want to see?”
I rub my forehead, trying not to say the next words I know I’m going to say. “We can just watch one on your couch.”
“Okay,” he says, a smile trying to get through as he chews on his lip.
“I mean watch a movie,” I say.
“I mean it, too.”
He pulls into the parking lot of his building, and when we both get out of the car, he takes my hand as we walk toward the door. There’s something so possessive about the way he holds my hand, like he’s showing the world that I’m his.
He lets us inside the secure building, and we head to the elevator. We wait for it in silence, still holding hands, and I feel the tension building between us like a pot of water on the verge of boiling.
We get on the elevator, and he hits the button for his floor and then turns to me.
I look away with a giggle. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I didn’t do anything,” he says, looking ridiculously innocent with his dark eyes and his five-o’clock shadow.
We exit the elevator and he lets us in his apartment. “This is a blast from the past,” I say. His place always makes me feel so adult. He had it professionally decorated in sleek lines and gray tones, which is a stark contrast to the resort-issued décor of my own place.
“Do you want water to drink, or do you want something else?” he asks. “I have beer and wine.”
“I’ll just take water, please.”
He settles in next to me, handing me the water. “Do you know what you want to watch yet?”
Being here in this apartment with him sitting right next to me on his couch is almost more than my nervous stomach can handle. “It doesn’t matter,” I say, unable to pull my gaze away from his.
He takes my bottle of water from me and sets it on the coffee table in front of us. He slides his hand underneath mine. “Thanks for trusting me enough to let me bring you back here.”
My heel taps on the floor without my permission. He puts his hand on my knee, stopping the rapid movement. “You don’t have to be nervous around me, Tori. You are totally running the show here and you know it.”
I point to his chest. “You say that, but it doesn’t always feel that way.”
He clasps his hand around my finger and kisses the tip of it. “Whatever you decide you want to happen between us, I’m all for it.”
I close my eyes. “Why have you made me stop hating you? It was so much easier that way.”
He runs his fingertips across my cheek and then around to the back of my neck. Every time he puts his hand back there, my body melts like a block of ice in a sauna.
Melissa Chambers writes contemporary novels for young, new, and actual adults. A Nashville native, she spends her days working in the music industry and her nights tapping away at her keyboard. While she’s slightly obsessed with alt rock, she leaves the guitar playing to her husband and kid. She never misses a chance to play a tennis match, listen to an audiobook, or eat a bowl of ice cream. (Rocky road, please!) She has served as president for the Music City Romance Writers and is the author of the Love Along Hwy 30A series, the Destiny Dunes series, the Before Forever series (YA), and Courting Carlyn (YA).
I am a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, and romantic suspense. I have traveled extensively and lived in the US, Canada, France, Australia and South Korea. In a past life I have been an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Nursing Lecturer.
I’m a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). I love to cook, pretty damn good, love to sing, pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing, absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging my characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee I’ve had.
He needs to fire her or claim her before it’s too late.
Avery gets caught in a web of deceit when she agrees to help save her family farm. As her life begins to tangle chaotically, her attraction grows for her new boss, Stryker Red Eagle, but he is the enemy… or is he?
Stryker’s ordered life is turned upside down when Avery arrives as a woman, not the male assistant he thought he was getting. She is stealing his concentration, and something is going on with her that he can’t figure out.
To save his sanity, Stryker needs to either fire Avery or claim her as his own. But then the real trouble begins.
He was a moody man, and she didn’t have time for that even if he sent her libido into orbit. It had only started as an offer for a temp job, but once Ben discovered where she was going to work, he had demanded she add the family agenda. She was only out for a connection between him and the farm and then something that would break that link. Once that was found, she would likely need to slip away quickly and quietly. And that just sucked.
She waited to see if there would be any movement from Renee’s office, but when all was quiet for a few moments, she walked closer. Good, maybe she could sneak into Stryker’s office and look through some of his papers while they were otherwise occupied.
Avery locked the front door. Her heart pounded, and her blood rushed as she worked on scanning through all the paperwork in the inbox and then in the outbox on Stryker’s desk. Automatically picking up a dirty coffee cup from Stryker’s desk, she tried to open a file cabinet but found it was locked. There was a noise in the office next door, and then the front door opened. Caught with nowhere to go, she carried his cup out of the office.
Declan walked in the door and pocketed his keys. “Who locked the door?”
“The last one to go in or out of that door was Stryker.” Not a lie but not an answer to the question asked.
Declan paused. “Is Stryker in there?” He nodded in the direction of the room she was exiting.
“No, I was dropping off something and grabbing his coffee cup to clean.”
“He’s washing his cup now?”
Avery frowned and looked inside the cup. “Well, I am. This is disgusting.”
Declan laughed. “I could get used to you. But a word to the wise. I’d have it washed and then refilled with coffee as soon as he walks in the door, so he doesn’t notice right away that you’ve washed it.”
“Why? Doesn’t he like it cleaned?”
“Nope. Says it adds character and flavor to his next cup.”
Avery rolled her eyes. “Right.”
“Hey, I’m Declan, but I don’t have time to chat. I’ll see you at dinner or lunch soon. Yeah?”
“Oh, um, yes.”
“Good.” That was too close for comfort. Avery wasn’t up to this spy business. Going behind people’s back kept her stomach in an uproar. The honesty in her bones was rioting, and it was more than a little uncomfortable. Something told her if Stryker ever found out, she would be one sorry
Alyssa Bailey is a USA Today and Amazon No. 1 bestselling author of Historical and Contemporary Suspense romances, Alyssa writes light, realistic romance novels full of sizzling alpha males and the spicy adventuresome women they love. My characters live in Cowboy Country, Regency/Victorian England, and the Contemporary realm all with a touch of suspense and a Happily Ever After.
A proud Texan living among the wealth of Alaska’s beauty, I watch eagles fly overhead, whales and salmon frolicking in the sea, seals clapping for attention, and bears in the neighbor’s garbage. I vacation where rattlesnakes and scorpions roam beside black widow spiders, cattle country, rodeos, and horses that are eager to take you on your own happy trails.
Thank you for reading my adventures of love with a touch of something special.
