The Coffee Shop Series

This coffee shop is going to kill me. Sure, it's my dad's dream. If he hadn't died eight months ago, I wouldn't be here, a college drop out, trying not to drown in debt. Nor would I be staring into the muddy eyes of a viking-sized man that's telling me everything I'm doing wrong—as if he knows so much about business in a small mountain town. Except he does. And when the biggest, most unexpected surprise of all falls in my lap, I'll have no choice but to ask for his help. Time for some power lipstick.

Life has gotten kind of stagnant. Then Lizbeth literally crashes into my world with her ideas of storybook romance and love. Her silky red hair drives me to distraction. What the hell is a meet-cute anyway?

I didn’t ask for my life to be uprooted, but won’t sit by while my creepy ex-boss destroys everything—himself included. Except . . . there’s only one person that can help me disappear for a while, and I’m pretty sure he groans every time he sees me calling. Being Mark Bailey’s accountant isn’t easy. When Mark helps me escape into his mountain world for a while, the very last thing I expect is to fall hard. Now ghosts from my past are following and I’m not sure there’s a happy-ever-after waiting at the end of this nightmare.

The small mountain town of Pineville had my heart from the moment I stepped in it. Maybe Benjamin Mercedy did too. Too bad he’s way out of my league. When things escalate to an unsafe situation at home, I have no choice but to ask the town MMA fighter to teach me self-defense. When we’re together on that mat, there’s a whole lot more spark and bang than I thought. And if I didn’t know any better, I’d say Benjamin Mercedy is hiding some ghosts in his gloves. Ghosts I’m ready to help tame.

Once upon a time, I thought my stutter was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But now I know better. Being held at gunpoint outranks a speech impediment any day. Thankfully, my longtime crush Jayson Hernandez tackled that problem to the ground with those broad shoulders—the ones that make my stutter oh-so-much-worse. As if he hasn’t held my heart in his strong, capable hands ever since I adored him from the shadows in high school. Or every day he comes into the coffee shop with a new date. Or each time he shoots me a friendly smile that makes my toes curl.

Three years ago, my best friend joined the Marines without warning. Our plans of attending state university together—demolished. He left me in a world of discarded dreams. We haven’t spoken again. Now I’m twenty-years-old and ready to be known as the best outdoor guide this side of the Rocky Mountains. That sort of honor comes with experience, and I’m just about to get my chance for a dream guide. Then Devin crashes back into my world. And everything falls apart again.

I can be many things (barista, karaoke legend, impromptu-actress, whatever), but a famous author I am not. Which makes it even weirder when a guy named Bastian rushes into my coffee shop and wants me to pretend to be him, a famous romance author hidden under a female pen name. Um, what? No thanks. Except . . . I can’t deny something is charming about his brooding reclusiveness, or maybe that’s just the sexy scent of smoke that follows him everywhere. My obsessive love of GIFs clearly annoys him, but it doesn’t stop him from begging me for help either. This guy is desperate.

The last thing I ever asked for was a divorce. Four amazing boys, one awesome life, and one failed marriage later, I’m smack dab in the middle of my forties with nowhere to go. Talk about unexpected. Then again, romance has always let me down. While juggling my newfound career responsibilities, I reach out for help in the only way I know how: a housekeeper. Someone’s gotta clean this house and it hasn’t been me lately. When I meet Tanner, he’s not what I’m expecting. I can tell he feels the same way. And suddenly, the world looks a whole lot different than I expected.

There are three rules I implemented five years ago that govern my safety around men. 1. Never alone. 2. Never stranded. 3. Never unaware. In those five years, I've never broken those rules. Not once. Because I will not be a fool again. Then I do break those rules—willingly—to help the older brother of my best friend, Vikram. Vikram is trouble. Has always been trouble. Charming, a little arrogant, and flighty as a bird when it comes to women. I spent half my childhood adoring him, half crying over him.