Book picks similar to
White Hot Christmas by Lauren Layne


romance
christmas
contemporary-romance
contemporary

Across the Creek


Jeremy Asher - 2012
    An unlikely childhood romance between a poor boy and a wealthy girl began the day Jesse decided to do the impossible and cross the creek. A love was born, one that would become their shelter, protecting them from the storms of their lives, until the day Jesse witnessed his mother’s murder, forcing him to leave his childhood home…and first love. Ten years later, life has finally gotten better for Jesse. He has a loving family, a charming pet shop to run, and one semester left before graduating with a degree in architecture. Everything is great, until the day fate intervenes and his long-lost love walks into his shop and back into his life.Sarah, engaged to a budding attorney, is struggling to keep everything together. Her father, diagnosed with terminal cancer, is running out of time. Sarah races to build their dream business while planning her wedding in time for her father to walk her down the aisle.Their brief encounter starts a series of events that neither Jesse nor Sarah expects. After a decade of running, Jesse is now forced to face the demons from his past, while Sarah has to choose between her handsome attorney and her first love. Just when they think love has given them a second chance, Jesse is faced with an impossible decision, one that will change their lives forever.Across the Creek is the first in a 2-book series. Beneath the Willow is the second.

Secret Santa Baby


Robin Covington - 2012
    Even when she dated Nicholas’s best friend. Now that she’s giving up her position at GameNerdz to strike out on her own—and now that she’s single—maybe it’s the right time to see if there’s still something between them.Nicholas knows once Tessa leaves the company she helped found, they might drift apart. Before she starts her own company in the new year, he wants to woo the woman he fell in love with during college. So he poses as her Secret Santa, gifts her with items from the song “Santa Baby,” and plans a big reveal at the company holiday party. But when his best friend wants to rekindle his romance with Tessa, will Nicholas lose his last chance?

Hey There, Delilah


M.D. Saperstein - 2013
    A new job fell into my lap as the secretary of the gorgeous, rich, powerful, and mighty cocky controlling partner at Santino Law Firm. I spend my days trying to please a demanding boss, keeping my lustful thoughts to myself. Until one night, when my best friend drags me to a club, and I fall for a man whose true identity I will never know.See, at Club Masquerade, everyone wears a mask and a nametag with a fake name. Also, on your nametag is a number that you are assigned when you come into the club, which is linked to an in-house messaging system; no one is permitted to speak, which ensures that identities are kept secret. I meet my lover every Saturday at 9 pm sharp. We text and email constantly when we are not together, and I have somehow fallen in love with him.But, then there is Nick Santino. He is the partner that I can’t keep my eyes off. Unfortunately, the only reason he hired me is because he is not attracted to me and all my frump glory. Fortunately, for me, I am a kick ass secretary, so he keeps me around. Like many men in his position, Nick is used to getting what he wants, when he wants it; all without commitment, of course.So when he finds a woman that he is both physically and emotionally attracted to, he finds himself in unchartered territory – love. And I can do nothing but be jealous from the sidelines – lusting for a man I can’t have, and loving a man I can’t know.Hey there, Delilah is book 1 of the Taboo Love series, in which we tackle the boss/secretary relationship. Each book will be a stand alone with a HEA, but will have a few reoccurring characters.

Compromising Her Position


Samanthe Beck - 2015
    Instead, it's Rafe St. Sebastian, a man known for his hard-driving ways in business as well as the bedroom--and, kill her now, the brand spanking new owner of Las Ventanas--who grants her naughtiest Christmas wishes.So much for her reputation, not to mention her career.Rafe needs to close three acquisitions to prove to his father he's ready to take the helm of St. Sebastian Enterprises. A hot interlude in a supply closet after deal number two seems like the perfect illicit Christmas bonus. Unfortunately, when that "bonus" becomes the key to the final deal, he finds himself back in bed--so to speak--with Chelsea, and after their steamy tryst, he's not interested in keeping things professional…

The Navy SEAL's Promise


Soraya M. Lane - 2012
    So when heavy snowfall closes JFK airport and she misses her connecting flight, she’s devastated. Until Navy SEAL Luke Gray offers to keep her company… and then personally finds a way to get her home. Luke is back in the US on leave, waiting to hear the details of his next mission, and Saskia proves to be a pleasant distraction. And when he hears that she needs to get home to see her son, he’s prepared to do anything to help the sexy single mom. Trouble is, he hadn’t planned on falling for anyone, let alone a beautiful soldier about to return overseas.

Searching For Moore


Julie A. Richman - 2013
     I lost the love of my life when she disappeared without even a goodbye. It was the 80’s – there was no internet, no Google, no cell phones. If you wanted to disappear, you could. And she did. She crushed my soul. A friend just told me he saw her on Facebook. And now I’m a keystroke away from asking her the question that’s haunted me for two decades. “Why did you leave me?” Two decades after she broke his heart, sexy entrepreneur Schooner Moore uncovers the truth and betrayal his life has been built on when he Facebook friend requests college love, Mia Silver. Determined to win Mia’s love once again, Schooner embarks on a life-altering journey that could cost him everything. This is the first book of the Needing Moore Series trilogy and is not meant to be read as a stand-alone. Book 2 - Moore to Lose and Book 3 - Moore than Forever are currently available.Julie A. Richman's latest stand-alone novel, Bad Son Rising, releases September 12, 2014.

Maybe This Christmas


Susannah Nix - 2019
    Ten Christmases. One happy ending.When best friends Alexandra and Lucas share a first kiss on Christmas night their senior year of high school, it feels like the best years of their lives are ahead of them. Then Alex goes off to college, and Lucas stays behind to work at his dad’s construction business in the small beach town where they grew up. Life, as they say, happens. And somewhere along the way these two high school sweethearts find they don’t have as much in common as they once did. Lucas’s life is on Beaufort Island, and Alex is all about getting away and moving on. So he makes one of the hardest decisions of his life and lets her go. But every year when Alex comes home for the holidays, fate conspires to reunite the two former lovebirds on Christmas Day. Year after year, through good times and bad, Lucas and Alex meet up, catch up, and reconnect on the anniversary of their first kiss. Is it too much to hope that one year they’ll find their way back to each other permanently?Maybe even this Christmas.

Love in Lingerie


Alessandra Torre - 2017
    I didn't expect her to become my friend. I didn't expect to fall in love with her.The first rule of business is to never touch your employees. I think there is another rule about not falling for your best friend--a rule against imagining the curves of her body, or the way her breathing would change if I pulled down her panties and unzipped my pants.Now, I can't wait any longer. I'm tossing out the rules.Damn the company.Damn our friendship.Damn my fears.WARNING: This standalone is packed with sexual tension, insane chemistry, and enough surprises to keep you glued to its pages. May cause distraction from life and require a change of panties.

Now and Then


Brenda Rothert - 2013
    But then – in the years before she went to art school in Paris – she was a shy, awkward teenager with frizzy hair, a flat chest and a massive crush on the boy across the street, Cole Marlowe. Too bad her incredibly hot neighbor only had eyes for Layla.Cole is now a confident, laid-back attorney who’s even hotter than he used to be. He’s planning to stay single while working his way up the corporate ladder – until he’s knocked off course by a chance run-in with Emma.Everything is different between Cole and Emma now. He finally sees her in a way she only dreamed of, and their hot chemistry is fueled by a growing friendship. But Emma’s deception of her sister – who wants Cole for herself – and the secret Cole’s been keeping for more than a decade threaten to tear apart what’s only just begun. Because sometimes the only thing standing in the way of now is then.

Then You Happened


K. Bromberg - 2020
    Bromberg comes a standalone contemporary romance about trusting fate and finding yourself again.Jack Sutton was the man I didn’t want to need.His know-it-all attitude. His annoying suggestions. His outlook on life.He was determined to help me while I had resolved to figure it out on my own.But he taught me things I’d forgotten.How to trust. How to believe in myself. Who I was.The problem?I went and fell in love with him.---Tatum Knox was the disaster I should have walked away from.Her ruined reputation. Her failing business. Her chaotic life.She hated me at first sight and yet intrigued me all at the same time.I was only supposed to be there six months.I was supposed to use that time to make amends for things I’d done wrong.Instead I fell in love with her.---They say it’s better to have loved and lost, than not to have loved at all. Does that hold true when the love is based on a lie to begin with?

Cruel Money


K.A. Linde - 2019
    Linde's new billionaire romance Cruel Trilogy.She was supposed to be a one night stand.A way to sate my sexual appetite.I let her glimpse the man I am. The face that I hide behind my carefully cultivated life. But she ripped open that divide—and there’s no going back.Now, she’s here. In my city.I don’t care that I’m Manhattan royalty and she’s the help.Only that she’s living in my summer home. With me.And I want more.

My One and Only


Kristan Higgins - 2011
    Bad enough that she runs into her ex-hubby, Nick, at her sister's destination wedding, but now, by a cruel twist of fate, she's being forced to make a cross-country road trip with him. And her almost-fiancé back at home is not likely to be sympathetic.Harper can't help that Nick has come blazing back into her life in all of his frustratingly appealing, gorgeous architect glory. But in Nick's eyes, Harper's always been the one. If they can only get it right this time, forever might be waiting—just around the bend.

A Christmas Bride


Susan Mallery - 2012
    She's drawn to veterinarian Cameron McKenzie's good looks, caring nature and especially his devotion to his young daughter. There's just one problem — he's her boss. Putting her heart on the line could cost Rina both her job and their friendship forever. But when a kiss under the mistletoe unlocks the simmering passion between them, Rina and Cameron may just find love for the holidays after all….The Sheik and the Christmas BrideWhen Prince As'ad of El Deharia agrees to adopt three orphaned American girls, he does so on one condition — that their beautiful teacher, Kayleen James, become their nanny. His plan is to leave her to deal with the children as he continues his life, undisturbed. But all that changes when Kayleen and the girls invade the palace — and As'ad's heart — and change it for the better.

I Remember You


Scarlett Metal - 2013
    No one can make her happy though; she compares them all to Lance.Fate brings them together when Lance is in town for some family business. They end up spending a passionate night together but can they be more? Can they finally find their happily ever after?Contains adult situations and language. Appropriate for ages 18+.

One Perfect Night


Bella Andre - 2012
    One kissThe first time Noah Bryant meets Colbie Michaels they collide at the top of a snowy mountain in California and sparks fly. Swamped by sudden emotion – and a desire she can't control – Colbie panics. Before he can get her phone number or last name, she's gone. When they serendipitously meet again in Seattle one week later, Noah is certain Colbie is his destiny, and he can't make the mistake of losing her again.One night... One forever loveColbie wants to believe in a happily-ever-after, but experience tells her falling for Noah is more likely to lead to a broken heart. But how can she resist him as he sets out to prove that they're destined to be together? Especially when he's intent on fulfilling every last one of her secret desires and he’s willing to keep proving it to her every day...and every sweet and sinful night.