Nearly. She’s not ready to go out on her own until she clears that all-important hurdle. Also off-limits are relationships and sex—something Cassie is sure she’ll never want again.Struggling tattoo shop owner MJ Flores doesn’t give a damn what people think, but losing Thorn & Thistle would mean losing everything. When her former mentor’s protégé arrives at her door, MJ hires her out of obligation…at first. Cross-stitching goody-goodies are not her type, but Cassie’s business background might just get the shop back on solid footing. They strike a bargain: Cassie will enact new marketing plans and MJ will teach her to find her inner bitch.Only when clients request to see Cassie—having learned of the beautiful, compassionate tattoos she creates for survivors and their families—does MJ realize all Cassie has endured. And as Cassie’s fears fade, she finds it harder to keep her admiration for her bad-girl boss from reawakening all she’d feared was lost.This book is approximately 82,000 wordsOne-click with confidence. This title is part of the Carina Press Romance Promise : all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. It’s a promise!

    She’s bright and attractive with a good job, a comfortable home and an impending Christmas wedding she’s been planning for months. So when her girlfriend bails less than two weeks before the nuptials, Kenzie’s picture perfect Christmas world begins to crumble around her.Determined to hold on to at least some shred of her dignity, Kenzie snags her best friend, Allison, and flees the cold of the Northeast to take the honeymoon anyway. The Rainbow’s Edge is an enormous LGBT resort in Southern Florida, and its atmosphere of sun and fun seems to be just what Kenzie needs to help take her mind off of her lost relationship. But can a few hot dances, a mysterious suitor, and a handful of rum runners help her figure out what it is she really wants?

    It’s a hundred years after peak oil and the rich have risen above the Earth, inhabiting great Cloud Cities, while those left behind live a rural existence, off the grid. After suffering a vicious attack, Cole is transported to the Cloud City of Easton for emergency surgery. While recuperating and adrift in the unfamiliar social landscape of Easton, Cole begins a journey of discovery. When she meets Audrey, a beautiful doctor, the attraction they share is penetrating and possibly life altering. Explosions, staged by a ruthless underground movement, nearly bring Easton to the brink of collapse. The crisis that rocks the city forces Cole and Audrey to weigh what truly holds meaning and what each is willing to sacrifice for love.

    Three office romance novellas from talented writers Julie Cannon, Aurora Rey, and M. Ullrich. In For Your Eyes Only by Julie Cannon: Dress for success takes on a very different meaning. CFO Riley Stephenson finds herself in a particularly difficult position when the stripper she's fallen for shows up at her office―as her new employee. In Lead Counsel by Aurora Rey: Attorney Elisa Gonzalez is happy working behind the scenes while still having time for a life. All that changes when her firm takes on a major case and Parker Jones, powerhouse litigator and her law school crush, is named lead counsel. In Opportunity of a Lifetime by M. Ullrich: Luca Garner is eager and hardworking, but her new boss is a total nightmare―snarky and uncooperative, not to mention an ice queen. VP Stephanie Austin doesn’t mean to be unkind, but the last thing she wants is an assistant getting under her skin, especially one who is as attractive as she is kind.

    Laurel Hoffman, an associate professor of women's studies in Berkeley, struggles to stay on track for tenure while caught up in the last throes of a crumbling relationship with a senior colleague. When she hears of a hotel being renovated and a secret room full of papers about women who once stayed there, she knows she has a potential career-saving article. Stefanie Beresford, the hotel owner, is not exactly receptive when Laurel approaches her about researching the hotel’s history, but that doesn't stop her from flirting with the alluring academic. She doesn't need the distraction, but for the first time in her life she wants to take a chance on more than a fleeting encounter. While Laurel can't deny her powerful feelings for Stefanie, she fears she's risking her heart as well as her future if she acts on her desires. But can a simple encounter between two rational adults really be all that dangerous?

    They are suffocating under the pressure of hurt and guilt.Old wounds begin to heal between them when a spirited beekeeper named Brooke Hastings contracts Jacky to train her overly-protective dog, Bee. A mutual affinity grows instantly between them, an affinity Jacky won't allow herself to embrace. But, the heart knows what it needs. Meanwhile, Brooke hires Sophie as her assistant in the bee apiary. A trust forms, and soon Sophie begins to feel alive again as she comes face-to-face with the many parallels between her and the honeybees she nurtures.Just as they learn to open up and dance with life again, a hurtful truth reveals itself. Will this truth set them free or unravel all they've come to learn about life?

    But soon simple attraction turns into something more. What happens when the worlds of a handywoman and a pampered housewife collide? Can nights of hot, erotic fun lead to love, or will these two very different women go their separate ways?

    She is fierce and merciless with her staff, expecting the same tireless dedication from her peers as she does from herself. Driven by her recent failures, Alex struggles to put her troubled past behind her. With the annual influx of new residents to the hospital, the she meets one of her new charges, Regina Kingston, a bright, young, promising doctor. Before long, Regina finds herself irresistibly drawn to the enigmatic physician despite the woman's fiery personality and maligned reputation. As professional differences come to light and personalities clash, Alex and Regina both struggle to overcome their own demons. It is within each other that they will find the strength to overcome their darkest moments, surviving to live and love again.

    In the ten years she has led climbers on excursions up the world’s most treacherous peaks, she has never lost a client. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t lost someone even more important.Surgeon and philanthropist Olivia Bradshaw hires Sam’s company to lead her handpicked team on a fundraising climb of Annapurna, the world’s most dangerous mountain. For Olivia, for the donors who have pledged money to her charitable foundation, and for the underprivileged masses she is seeking to help, failure is not an option.Secrets abound and danger lurks at every elevation. Will Olivia’s attraction to taciturn Sam get in the way of the expedition’s success or will Mother Nature have the final say?

     She's always been a loner, so she never suspected that her breakup with her first love would leave her this hopeless. Clara abandons her old life and moves to a quiet, coastal New England town, where she looks forward to days of aimless wandering, like a seagull on the wind. She's convinced herself that this is good enough, until she finds an antique porcelain urn washed up on the beach--a discovery that leads her to a beautiful historian who literally falls into her lap. The warm and enthusiastic Ginny is everything Clara could hope for, but their budding relationship is fraught with doubts. Clara is afraid of repeating the mistakes that led to her last breakup, afraid of losing herself in passion. And as if things weren't complicated enough, the mysterious, charismatic Autumn has her eye on Clara—and some disturbing words of warning where Ginny is concerned. Can Clara and Ginny be together while still staying true to themselves? And why does Clara feel that unraveling the mystery behind the urn will answer the questions her own heart is asking?

    Chili’s success has given her the freedom to choose her clients carefully, but she hasn’t had the same good fortune in love.Recent Tulane graduate Samantha Pellegrin wants the opportunity to work with the star of her father’s firm in the off-year election. As his only child, she’ll eventually inherit the firm, but she wants to continue their great track record in the world of politics. Her first day with Chili ends so disastrously, Sam wonders if she’ll take up the hobby of throwing darts at Chili’s picture.As the campaign progresses, Sam will make Chili work for what both of them want in the most important campaign of both their lives. Only this time their polls have to do more with the romance vote than any politician’s future.

     Running a domestic violence shelter keeps Emma Stevens on her toes, and serves as a living reminder of her mother’s legacy that falling in love can hurt you in more ways than one. But when one of her clients is murdered, Emma comes face to face with a detective who makes her question her resolve to remain safely unattached. Reeling from her wife’s death, Nick Tanner fled her life as a homicide detective in the big city. But when a brutal murder rocks the police department in sleepy Battle Creek, she isn’t prepared for the haunting memories, or complications, it brings - especially stubborn therapist Emma, who is determined to solve the case all by herself if she has to. But when Emma becomes the target for a killer, both their lives - and the love building between them - are put in danger. Is it better to love with the risk of losing, or not love at all?

    Riding bulls in the rodeo is the only life Shelby Fisher has ever known. She thinks she's perfectly happy in her world of one night stands until she goes to a rodeo/fair and meets spoiled barrel racer Rebecca Starrett. Suddenly, Shelby's life feels emptier, and she can't figure out why. The two women take an instant dislike to each other, but there's something about Rebecca that draws the silent and angry bull rider to her. It's not long before Rebecca's overtures pays off, and a grudging friendship occurs. Against a backdrop of mysterious accidents that are happening at the rodeo grounds, the women's friendship develops into something more. But when Shelby is implicated as the culprit to what's been happening will Rebecca stand by her side?

    When Boston securities broker, Annabel Worth inherits remote Moon Island, she travels there to solve a mystery that has haunted her family. Dumped by her lover, laid off from her job, New Zealander Cody Stanton flees to the island seeking solace and solitude. Both women are burdened with secrets that could destroy the passion that ignites between them. When Hurricane Mary strikes, each must make a choice that will change her life forever.

    For Michelle Fletcher, it's about to take an unexpected turn when a feisty redheaded architect named Melanie McKenna captures her heart. Love is the last thing that Michelle was looking for. Falling in love for the witty architect presents a few challenges. As far as Michelle knows, Melanie is straight. Worse still, Melanie woks for Michelle's soon-to-be step-mother, Jameson Reid. Still reeling from deception and heartbreak, Michelle is reluctant to follow her heart. Melanie's private demons make her reluctant to jeopardize the closest relationship she has, her friendship with Michelle. Loss in Melanie's past, a family that has made her feel like an outsider, and a current project at work that is testing both her patience and her confidence, all conspire to weave doubt in the young woman's mind. Luckily for Michelle and Melanie, they are surrounded by wise and witty teachers who will help them master the one lesson plan they both struggle with—love.