Calico Cove

He’s the billionaire Beast of Calico Cove, and I’m his sacrificial lamb…I mean, his new employee. Malcolm Bettencourt is a recluse with a nasty scar across his face and a bad attitude. He has a bone to pick with my family over a loan my dad can't pay back, so to save our lobster business, I agree to be his live-in housekeeper and cook. We have nothing in common, and there’s no reason to think he would want anything to do with someone like me. Except I can’t stop thinking about him, and he can’t stop looking at me.

What did you think was going to happen when you came back to Calico Cove after being gone for years? That I would forget how you were my best friend before you became my worst enemy? Or did you want me to pretend that night at the bonfire when you humiliated me in front of everyone didn't happen? I don’t care that you’re handsome as sin and rich AF, or even that you're pretending to worry about my family's diner—I’m not falling for your charm again.

I was the Runaway Bride of Calico Cove—which, sure, wasn’t my finest moment, but now I desperately need someone to rescue me from my conniving family. My unlikely hero? Roy Barnes, the grumpiest fisherman in town who recently became the guardian of his orphaned baby niece. We are a match made in marriage-of-convenience heaven: he protects me from my furious father, and I help him with baby Nora. Perfect, right? Wrong. Because our fake marriage isn’t about love—it can’t be about love. Those are the ground rules. Except everyone knows rules are meant to be broken.

Almost everyone in Calico Cove knows how I feel about Mari…well, except for Mari. Truth is, I've had a serious crush on her since high school, but I've been friend-zoned. Only now, her jerk face ex-boyfriend is back in town filming a Christmas movie, and she needs me to be her fake fiancé to prove she's moved on with her life. What do I want in exchange? Real Christmas dates. Hot chocolate, sledding, cookie baking, all of it. Oh, and did I mention the kisses? Yeah, there will be nothing fake about those.

Celebrity chef Antony Renard has been banished to Calico Cove while his bad-boy reputation gets a makeover. Just because he's famous—and hotter than a french fry—doesn't mean he gets whatever he lays those ice-blue eyes on…namely, me. This food truck girl knows he's out of my league and probably has a trail of broken hearts that lead back to his kitchen in California. The chemistry that flares hot between us doesn't matter. We're total opposites. He's a control freak, and I hate rules. He dates models, and I date… um, no one.

There are two things you need to know about me. First, I am not cool. No, no, don't let my tuxedo shirt and anklet socks fool you. I'm twenty-six-year-old-virgin not cool. I'm carry-my cat-around-in-a-special-backpack not cool. Second, I'm cursed. Every Piedmont woman is. We are doomed to fall in love with men who will break our hearts. So, I'm never going to fall in love. But I wouldn't mind a little flirting. To do it, I need someone to teach me how.

Hockey players and ice skaters do not mix. Tell that to the new bane of my existence, Olivia Tyler-Branch, figure skater turned NHL skating coach. She knows her stuff, but I can't let her past my defenses. I fell hard for her once before. Now, I need to be focused on the game not on Olivia's soft honey blonde hair, her feisty competitive streak, or the heartbreak behind her eyes. The two of us are hot enough to melt ice, but the stakes are too high.

Matt Sullivan broke my heart when I was eighteen, and I told myself I would never forgive him. And I haven't. I won't. Except not forgiving him was a lot easier when I didn't live in Calico Cove. After ten years away, I'm back in my hometown, and Matt Sullivan is everywhere. He's the captain of the ferry boat that takes me out to see my mom and grandmother. He's always at my sister's bookstore. I can't even get a cup of coffee without seeing his stupid, handsome face. It doesn't seem to matter that we're mortal enemies. Our chemistry is still as explosive as ever.