Nora Harmon has a lot to be thankful for: two great kids, a stable marriage, and now, a dream career. Software consultant Jane Bell wants Nora on her team. She’s offering a fantastic salary, flexible hours, and a chance to travel the world. It sounds too good to be true, but Jane won’t take no for an answer. Jane acts more like a friend than a boss, and Nora’s personal and professional boundaries begin to blur. Jane is smitten with Nora’s perfect family—particularly her daughter—and far too attentive to Nora’s husband. Nora can’t help but feel insecure and unsettled.

Faith McMann comes home to a nightmare: her husband is killed and her son and daughter are taken. Although the intruders leave her for dead, she survives. Crippling grief and fear for her children make life unbearable. Until her anguish turns to anger...and she trades victimhood for vengeance.

On her first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Tinsley disappeared without a trace... Five agonizing years later, her divorced mother, Dani Callahan, is a private investigator. She and Quinn Sullivan, a promising young assistant determined to prove herself, are devoted to helping others find missing loved ones. And for Dani, finding Tinsley is still a never-ending obsession.

Plagued by traumatic childhood memories, crime reporter Sawyer Brooks still struggles to gain control of her rage, her paranoia, and her life. Now, after finally getting promoted at work, she is forced to return home and face her past. River Rock is where she’d been abandoned by her two older sisters to suffer alone, and in silence, the unspeakable abuses of her family. It’s also where Sawyer’s best friend disappeared and two teenage girls were murdered. Three cold cases dead and buried with the rest of the town’s secrets.

Ten years ago, PI Jessie Cole and reporter Ben Morrison each suffered a tragedy that changed their lives - and now these two strangers are about to share a nightmare. For Jessie, who makes her living finding missing persons, no case has consumed her more than the disappearance of her younger sister, Sophie. But left alone to raise Sophie's daughter, she realizes that solving the case has become an unhealthy obsession.

Waitress and single mom Jessica “Jessie” Mann is practical to a fault. Even if she had time to date, which she doesn’t, she’d be determined to provide her son with a more secure upbringing than the one she had - and that would mean a husband with big bucks. When Jack Morrison - a sexy-as-sin, seemingly broke customer with a cowboy hat and a seductive grin - tries to flirt with her, she shoots him down.

Idealistic good girl Madelyn Grayson believes in doing what's right. Even as a high-powered executive in the mad world of advertising, she doesn' t cut corners, making her ad campaigns sizzle without having to burn anyone along the way. Rival exec Zack Douglas never wastes an opportunity to land the next big deal - especially when it benefits him. A bad boy with a reputation to match, he has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get ahead, no matter who gets in the way.

Rex “TW” McMurtry’s perpetual singlehood wouldn’t bother him so much if all his ex-girlfriends didn’t keep marrying the very next person they dated, especially when so many of those grooms are his closest friends. He may be a pro-football defensive end for the Chicago Squalls, but the press only wants to talk about how he’s always a groomsman and never a groom. Bartender Abigail McNerny is the gal-pal, the wing-woman, the she-BFF. Abby is convinced no one on earth could ever entice her into a romantic relationship...except that one guy she’s loved since preschool.

Ebony is a smart, sexy, career-oriented black woman who wants nothing more than a summer fling with a man who challenges her mind and body. What she doesn't expect is a blond haired, blue-eyed bass player - who won't take "no" for an answer - to accept the challenge.

Kate’s creed: Thou shalt embrace singledom and be unbelievably, inconceivably happy. Yeah, right. Kate Meadows, a successful San Francisco artist, is this close to giving up on finding a nice, solid man with whom to spend her life. So when not one, but two eligible bachelors enter her orbit in rapid succession, it seems too good to be true. And it may be.

Megan Vandemeer meant to tell her parents about her broken engagement, but a month and a half later she finds herself boarding a plane home to her wedding. Having stretched avoidance to its limits, it's time to come clean - a terrifying prospect since her mother is sure to blame her rather than her cheating, emotionally frigid ex. A couple of drinks and two Dramamine later, Megan finds herself spilling her sob story to the tall, dark, and handsome stranger in the seat next to her.

Andie Shayne believes in forever...for everyone else. She has an up-and-coming wedding planning business, and her own failed engagement, to prove it. Now all Andie wants is to save the date for Seaglass Celebrations becoming a premier destination wedding resort. And making sure the wedding of the summer goes off without a hitch will get her there - despite the arrival of one unexpected guest. The sexy-as-sin best man...who’s also the ex who broke Andie’s heart.

In Berry Ridge, Vermont, Beth Callahan had found a place to start over. She'd started a successful real estate and design business in the quaint, picturesque town, and she'd even found her perfect house...where she dreamed of someday living and raising a family. Until a reckless bachelor bought it out from under her.

Manwhore. That's what the board of directors - and the tabloids - think of billionaire bachelor Reese Crane. Ordinarily he couldn't care less, but his playboy past is preventing the board from naming him CEO of Crane Hotels. Nothing - and no one - will keep him from his life's legacy. They want a settled man to lead the company? Then that's exactly what he'll give them.

In this first ever short story collection, New York Times bestselling author Francis Ray takes us on five steamy, sexy adventures. From a timid, dowdy duckling who turns into a confident, sexy swan which sends her into the arms of a handsome artist; to a bridesmaid’s explosive encounter with the best man; to an unproven actress who is being wooed to the stage by a handsome Broadway director.