The popular quarterback mocked her full figure and her studious ways; hurt, she ran a humiliating picture of him in the school newspaper. She can’t imagine anything more infuriating than the big, handsome jerk coming back from the big city and living on the ranch next door to her property…except being blackmailed into a fake marriage to help him save his family’s ranch. But what are Ty’s true reasons for wanting to marry Abigail…and what are his secret plans for the ranch?EXCERPT:“Abigail, I think about you every minute of the day. I want you so bad it hurts. I know you want me too; I could feel it in the way you kissed me.”Abigail bit her lower lip, and a blush crept over the creamy skin of her face. His arms were around her, and she was pressed tight between him and the foot of the bed, with nowhere to go. That was exactly how he wanted it.“Ty, I…”“Tell me you don’t feel the same.” He cupped her breast in his hand and smiled at her sharp intake of breath, and the flush of desire that turned her ivory cheeks a rosy red. Squeezing gently, he ran his thumb over her nipple, and she whimpered.“Don’t like it? Don’t want me? Tell me to stop, and I will.” He brushed his lips against hers softly, and then pulled back slightly when her lips parted to kiss him. “Ty,” she choked out.“What?” he said, all innocence, and then did it again, a hot, teasing kiss, longer this time, sliding his tongue into her mouth, and pulling away quickly when she started to respond.With one hand he yanked at his towel and dropped it to the floor, and then pressed against her, his shaft pressing against her soft flesh.“Damn you!” she hissed, and then she was on him, kissing him hungrily, and blood rushed to his head and he grabbed the waistband of her skirt and yanked it off her, and then peeled her shirt off over her head.Then they were on the bed again, in a tangle of hot flesh and hungry, probing tongues, and he was sliding between her legs.

    But when our parents got married, things got confused. As if being a teenager isn't confusing enough. All I knew was that the feelings I had for him weren't okay.I’ll never forget the anxiety I felt the night I ran into him at a party that had gotten out of control. I saw him standing around with the popular kids as soon as I walked in the door. And he saw me, too. He always saw me. It was talking to me that he avoided. I watched his buddy spin an empty wine bottle on the butcher block while my friend Brandi rummaged in her oversized purse for the two bottles of hard lemonade her older sister gave us. When the spinning bottle stopped, I realized everyone was staring at me. “Looks like you’ve gotta kiss Jen,” some jock said to Ethan. I felt the color drain from my face, taking the moisture in my mouth with it as a suffocating panic grew in my chest. I was going to be found out. Ethan laughed it off. “Yeah, that’s not happening. She’s my sister.” “Not really, though,” his buddy insisted. The eruption of laughter and jeering sounds made the dim kitchen feel like a jungle full of predators, and I was sure my cheeks were going to burst into flames. “Don’t be stupid,” Ethan said, tilting a can of beer over his mouth. When his friend spun the bottle again, Ethan glanced back at me one more time and wiped the back of his hand across his lips. I’ve been wondering what it would be like to kiss him ever since. **Author's note: This is a full-length, standalone romance novel with no cliffhanger and no cheating. It is intended for a mature audience and has an ending that will leave you smiling so hard it hurts.

    And it was the worst mistake of my life.So when she shows up to play Santa for my daughter’s preschool Christmas party, you’re damn right I’m going to try to get her back.Except Kaitlyn Holly’s lost all of her Christmas cheer. Which means it’s my job to help her get it back. No matter what it takes.Exes and Ho Ho Hos is a short, sexy, standalone Christmas romance told in alternating first person, complete with reindeer, a Santa brawl, and a little mishap on the most iconic skating rink in New York City. It stands alone and has a merrily ever after.

    Buckle up for a wild ride. Like any Southern girls worth their salt, the sweet-talking, sharp-tongued Montgomery sisters can take men to their knees with one seductive glance or a single sugarcoated sentence.A second chance at their first love…Leaving New York City and returning to her hometown to teach a screenplay writing class seems like just the break Grace Montgomery needs. Until her sisters wake her at four thirty in the morning to watch the hottest guys in town train wild horses and she realizes that escaping her sisters’ drama-filled lives was a lot easier from hundreds of miles away. To make matters worse, she spots the one man she never wanted to see again—ruggedly handsome Reed Cross.Reed was one of Michigan’s leading historical preservation experts, but on the heels of catching his girlfriend in bed with his business partner, his uncle suffers a heart attack. Reed cuts all ties and returns home to Oak Falls to run his uncle’s business. A chance encounter with Grace, his first love, brings back memories he’s spent years trying to escape. Grace is bound and determined not to fall under Reed’s spell again—and Reed wants more than another taste of the woman he’s never forgotten. When a midnight party brings them together, passion ignites and old wounds are opened. Grace sets down the ground rules for the next three weeks. No touching, no kissing, and if she has it her way, no breathing, because every breath he takes steals her ability to think. But Reed has other ideas…~The Bradens & Montgomerys are part of Melissa's Love in Bloom big-family romance collection. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone and may also be enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy romance.THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls). Order of future books is subject to change Embracing Her HeartAnything For LoveTrails of LoveWild Crazy HeartsMaking You MineSearching for LoveHot for LoveSweet Sexy HeartOur Wicked HeartsClaiming Her HeartRocked by Love**Please note that future books in the original Montgomery series are crossing over to the Bradens at Pleasant Hill, and for this reason I have combined the series into THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill - Oak Falls).~Love in Bloom features alpha male heroes and sexy, empowered women. They're flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to readers who enjoy contemporary romance and women's fiction. Characters from each sub-series appear in future books. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone without any unresolved issues or cliffhangers.

    Retired rodeo star, Dalton Barnes, gets the surprise of his life when he’s abducted by a soft-spoken female with a ‘gun’ and taken to the retreat his family owns. He soon learns she’s kidnapped the wrong cowboy by mistake. She wanted his brother. Things go from bad to worse when a late spring snowstorm strands them together at the cabin. But it’s during their snow-in that Dalton learns why Caitlin has gone to such lengths to save Stoney Brook. Having had issues with his older brother himself and a not so happy past, Dalton promises to do what he can to help her.When confronted Brandon tells Dalton he’ll hold off on his plans for the retreat, but only if Dalton agrees to stick around and help run it. Keeping his promise to Caitlin, Dalton agrees and what starts out as a common goal to turn the troubled teens’ lives around that summer ends up turning theirs around as well. Can a man who has always avoided putting down roots and a woman with a deep-seated fear of abandonment hang on to the happiness they’ve found together? Or will the past return to threaten their newfound love?Love, laughter and a heartwarming read…

    My best friend, sick of watching me drown in misery and melancholy, harassed me until I agreed to go with her on a week-long wilderness retreat.She promised days spent bonding and getting in touch with our inner bad-asses. It was supposed to be all about the two of us roughing it and making do with the bare minimum. She assured me we were going to be pushed to our limits in ways that were unimaginable. Neither one of us could have ever guessed just how right she was.Nowhere in the glossy brochure did it say anything about the fact I was going to have to battle the insufferable but deliciously rugged and sexy trail guide instead of the elements. The brochure also forgot to mention the part that warned when you left civilization behind, there was no place to pack your inhibitions and fears.I was told that I would be facing a week where the only thing I should expect was the unexpected. However, no one mentioned that I was going to have to fight for my life…and my heart as soon as I ventured into the unknown. I was a pro at hiding from my feelings but when it came time to face a real threat, one that could change everything, I learned I was more of a no surrender, no retreat kind of girl.Retreat is a standalone novel, the first in the Getaway series which centers on the hardheaded and brokenhearted Warner brothers and the women that dare to love them.These boys are very good at putting the wild in wilderness.

    Jasmine left the Sweetwater Ranch and the Morgan brothers, no longer able to bear the painful dilemma of loving them both. After a year away, in which she gains new perspective, she returns home with one goal. To make Seth and Zane Morgan hers. Jaz may have left an innocent girl, but she's returned a beautiful, sensual woman. Seth and Zane arent prepared for the full on assault she launches and each battle an attraction they've fought for years. She wants them both, but Seth has no intention of sharing his woman. It's up to her to change his mind because she can't and won't choose between two men she loves with equal passion. For her, it's all or nothing.

    I like it that way. I grew up in a fake society where plastic hearts rule. If our hearts are made of plastic, they can never be broken. My parents have expectations and I do everything I can to meet them, even if it means giving up on my own dreams. Now, all I want is to be free to make my own choices.Dane Wright is everything I have been warned to stay away from. We met one night while I was with my perfect, parent-approved boyfriend and I haven’t stopped thinking about him. I don’t want to like him. I am doing everything I can to ignore his pull, but my heart seems to want what it cannot have, what it has never had.Can he measure up? He may think I am too good for him, but maybe he is too good for me. Life is a series of choices and I have never been able to make my own. Until one day, when my heart decides to make a choice for me.Recommended for mature readers due to sexual content and language

    The one she loved. The one she wanted but couldn't have. Not without revealing the truth. That's why she left. Why she's stayed away. And why she has to return... Seth Rowland doesn't want her to see him like this. Of all people, why her? But Grace is relentless. Challenging. He never could resist a challenge. Or her. Maybe if he cooperates, he'll be able to walk again. Maybe he'll get to the truth of why she'd left. Maybe this time he'll be able to convince her to stay...

    She can’t stand actors, movies, or anything resembling the guy who ruined her life. So when Jase—best friend of her ex and A-list actor—shows up at the ranch to research an upcoming role, ignoring her past becomes impossible. Jase is desperate to escape Hollywood, and ranch life gives him a temporary reprieve. But ranching is starting to feel less like preparing for a role and more like the life he’s always wanted. And he can’t help envisioning Cassidy as his co-star. Can Jase convince this stunning cupcake shop owner that he’s really a country boy at heart? Devour this deliciously sweet romance today!

    They spend the day together as VIP guests of the casino, and an intense attraction develops. When they share the bed of their comped suite, it’s hot, sensual, wild, and unforgettable.When Gigi overhears Boone talking about her, she’s shocked to realize he considers her a one-night buckle bunny. She confronts him, and Boone convinces himself it’s best for both of them if she goes on believing his only interest in her is sexual. He lets her walk out of his life, but when he realizes his mistake and then sees the sacrifice Gigi made for him, will it be too late to win her back?

    Missy wants to start over somewhere new after her old boss burned her. She's jobless and has a wrongly ruined reputation, so this works out perfectly . . . until she meets the cowboy running the place. Brent built his dream with determination and his two hands; he's responsible for everything that happens there. Secretly, he feels responsible that his former partner died. He also doesn't hide his belief that Missy won't stick around. Women tend to take off on him so why would she be any different?They both have a past that can ruin their future. Can he trust her to stay? Can she trust him with her heart?

    That is, if she lasts that long. Because Logan Crenshaw, the creative force behind the company, doesn’t seem to want her there.Not being wanted is nothing new for Emma…but she doesn’t know what she’s done to make Logan stalk around the office, growling every command as if her very presence infuriates him. She can’t afford to lose this job, so her plan is to keep her head down and try to avoid any contact with him—no matter how big and sexy and unavoidable he is.But a Santa hat full of names, an office gift exchange, and one unexpected knock at her door are about to shake up all of her plans…Warning: This super-hot holiday romance contains Santa hats, red satin blindfolds, and an obsessed alpha male who talks dirty and knows exactly what to do with his big hands. Lots of swearing. No cheating, no cliffhangers.

    Her father, a rodeo cowboy, recently passed away after a long, expensive illness. The medical bills, combined with his habit of gambling and the fact that she had to quit her job to take care of him,has left her homeless and with no place to go but back to the rodeo. She tracks down Luke Delaney, one of her father’s proteges, and asks for help. Luke Delaney thought of Red Stacey as a father. Kennedy didn’t call him when Red was sick, so he didn’t get to say good-bye to the man he loved like a father. He can’t forgive her for that, and turns her away.But when she turns to his brother Liam for help instead,Luke steps forward, partly because of his concern of how his brother the player will treat her, and partly because he knows her father would want him to. Since she’s homeless, she has to stay in his tiny RV. At first close quarters lead to sparring as they fight their attraction--and she fights to have some kind of independence when she’s leaning so heavily on him. But nature can only hold out so long, and despite their better judgement, they give in to their desires. But Kennedy is afraid he’s taking her body in payment, and he’s afraid of the feelings he has for her as he gets to know her again, the feelings he hasn’t let himself feel since they were sixteen years old.

    Kyle Braden has nowhere else to go. With no money and no prospects, he turns to the only man who promises him help. Jack Campbell-Hayes wants to show Kyle that he can be more than he ever thought.Kyle begins to see how far he’s come from being the scarred man who shut everyone out, when the first person through the doors of Legacy Ranch is Jason; a young man with nightmares that follow him when he's awake. Lost in the system and with three years on the streets marking every inch of his body, Jason Smith is scared. His life is an evil mess of hate and despair, and even the offer of a fresh start and a clean bed isn’t enough for him feel safe. Until Kyle comes into his life and shows him that it's okay not to be in control.For these broken men, Legacy Ranch offers more than a place to live and work.It offers hope.A new story set in the world of Jack and Riley Campbell-Hayes and the Double D Ranch, Texas.