With the storm and the holidays leaving Hamish with nowhere else to go, Ren kindly offers a place to stay. Hamish is certain he’s crashed right into a Hallmark Christmas movie, despite more car delays and road closures and the prospect of not seeing his sister for Christmas. And with help from Hamish, Ren is beginning to feel a little Christmas cheer. These two unlikely strangers have more in common than they first realise, and after two days of Christmas decorations, cookies, and non-stop conversation, it looks like Christmas might be saved after all.

When Albie Bramwell’s father died, he was left with two thousand hectares of mountain to farm, and little help to run it. Abandoned by all but two of his workers, the whole town of Alpine Falls called him too young to run the farm alone. Young, yes. At just nineteen, he was determined to prove them wrong. Even if it killed him. In search of a new life, Percy Collins found himself in a small mountain town where he ran into a man not much older than himself and scored a job at Echo Creek.

I hate Valentine Tye. I’ve hated him since we were ten years old. I hate everything he is, everything he stands for. Even the mention of his name gets my back up. And when I see him? My blood boils. My jaw clenches and my hands curl into fists. That’s how much I hate him. I want to cause him pain. I want to hold him down and actually hurt him. And if that’s not bad enough, that’s exactly what he wants me to do to him.

Moving to London is scary and daunting, but I desperately need this job–and a redo. Okay, so I may have oversold my qualifications. That shouldn’t be a big deal, though. I mean, being an assistant’s assistant seems easy enough, and I’m a fast learner. Hold up! I’m already in over my head with spreadsheets, new pronunciations, and temperamental appliances.

The first time I got on my knees for President Ashley, it was the night of his inauguration… And I was only doing my job… helping him remove his shoes. I’m Lieutenant Commander Kenan Harper, the president’s trusted valet. His loyal aide. His bodyman… And the fool who’s been in love with Garner Ashley since long before I took this job. If I had my way, I’d be so much more than his employee, but to say that would be impossible would be the understatement of the century.

It was supposed to be a straightforward protection job. Remove the target from Vermont, get him to the safehouse, keep him there until his mafia uncle testifies, get back in my employer’s good graces. But it turns out things get complicated real fast when your target is an adorkable, accident-prone cutie with a shockingly low sense of self-preservation, zero clue that he’s related to the Fromadgio crime boss, and 100% too much inclination to chat happily with strangers.

Freddie Evans is flamboyant, funny, and a lifelong fan of Jane Austen’s love stories which is how he ended up as a guide on a tour bus. He firmly believes in happily ever afters and would love to find his own with his best friend, Darcy. Driving a Jane Austen tour bus isn’t the most exciting side job in the world, but to Darcy Griffiths, it represents precious time with his best friend Freddie, who’s the guide. He’s loved him since they were teenagers but has never had the nerve to tell him.

Gideon Ellery had the perfect life. Nice house, great job, and a long-time boyfriend. Weeks after adopting his nephew, his boyfriend splits, leaving Gideon a single father to a newborn. Overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and unsure how to navigate fatherhood, he’s asked to return to the office. He’s overwhelmed and at his breaking point.

Rowe Prince is many things. But when it turns out Rowe’s lies conceal a secret that threatens the company I’ve spent years building, I have to choose: say goodbye to the sweet pretender I’m falling for, or risk everything for a man who just might be… the prince of lies.

When phone-sex operator Azrael gets into Travis's Uber, the driver profile claims Travis is deaf. Thank goodness, right? Otherwise, the guy would hear Az's dirty talk which would be all kinds of humiliating considering Az is actually a virgin who doesn't even know if he's doing phone job properly. But Travis isn't deaf. He's standing in for someone else and hears every single word of Az's raunchy call. So when they're randomly set up on a blind date together, the sparks fly from the very first moment they meet.

Lake Forrester III entered my life like a wrecking ball. Drake Security, my firm with my brothers, was hired to protect him from a stalker ex, but what Lake doesn’t know is that he’s not dealing with your average unhinged human. The unhinged wolf shifter he unknowingly dated will stop at nothing to get Lake in his clutches. Just another day in the life of a dragon body guard.

I’ve been alive for millennia and have yet to meet my fated mate. It’s not something I’ve ever cared about; my heart already belongs to another. Someone I can’t have. Someone who doesn’t want me. Now I know we’ll never be together. Unlike me, he’s found his fated mates. Two of them. That’s fine. As leader of the Seraphim, Heaven’s most elite unit of angels, I don’t have time for love.

His own marriage was a whirlwind affair that ended before the ink could dry on the wedding certificate. Nevertheless, even with his divorce pending, he’s getting by. Or at least he was until he finds himself snowed in at a remote Scottish hotel with the wedding party from hell, a terrible ABBA tribute band, and his soon-to-be ex-husband.

Michael Piersen isn’t up for complications. He’s one of Sydney’s fastest-moving career-focused corporate realtors, and the only thing he has time for is one-night stands with zero fuss. Bryson Schroeder’s back home from two years overseas with plans to leave his family’s hotel empire and begin his own business ventures.

Jonas Durand is successful, rich, and controlled. He owns a prestigious modelling agency and has the world at his fingertips, but a turbulent childhood has taught him to be focused and never deviate from a plan.

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of best-selling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read.

Five Years Earlier: Henry Dunne knows three things: that agreeing to host this raucous house party was a terrible idea, that he absolutely cannot show up to his nursing shift tomorrow with a hangover, and that the beautiful redhead in the corner will be sleeping in his bed tonight.

Ryder, Garrett, Kenzo, and Diesel - The Vipers. Their deals are as sordid as their business, and their reputation is enough to bring a grown man to his knees, forcing him to beg for mercy. They are not people you mess with, yet my dad did. The old man ran up a debt with them and then sold me to cover his losses. Yes, sold me. They own me now. I’m theirs in every sense of the word. But I’ve never been meek and compliant.

Obituary writer Nadine Barbault doesn’t mind being called “Lady Death”. It suits the ice queen persona she’s cultivated to survive the fast-paced Toronto Herald. So when Nadine learns that famous (and reclusive) author Dot Voline has died, she doesn’t hesitate to run the obituary…only to discover that Dot is very much alive. Nadine’s screw-up has brought Wesley Chen of the rival Spear no end of joy—she’s been a thorn in his extremely ambitious side for years. But the renewed interest in Dot also surfaced chatter about a mysterious past scandal.

Hockey coach Ashley Jaswal doesn't take nonsense from anyone … except her overbearing and superstitious family. They believe she's a good luck charm for her brother Jas, the newest Vancouver Canucks draft pick, forcing Ash to attend all his games as he rises up the NHL ranks, sacrificing her personal life (not that she has one—who decided hockey season needed to be 10 months long anyway?). Ash also clashes with Jas’s teammate, Canucks captain Devin Snyder.

Gideon Ellery had the perfect life. Nice house, great job, and a long-time boyfriend. Weeks after adopting his nephew, his boyfriend splits, leaving Gideon a single father to a newborn. Overwhelmed, sleep deprived, and unsure how to navigate fatherhood, he’s asked to return to the office. He’s overwhelmed and at his breaking point.

When Albie Bramwell’s father died, he was left with two thousand hectares of mountain to farm, and little help to run it. Abandoned by all but two of his workers, the whole town of Alpine Falls called him too young to run the farm alone. Young, yes. At just nineteen, he was determined to prove them wrong. Even if it killed him. In search of a new life, Percy Collins found himself in a small mountain town where he ran into a man not much older than himself and scored a job at Echo Creek.

Ex-Australian Specialist Response Group leader, Tim “Harry” Harrigan, has been running covert ops for almost a decade. A lone wolf, he’s single-handedly taken down terrorists and national security threats, or so he thinks. He’s been in the game far too long, and when he sees a familiar threat, he knows his time is up.

I hate Valentine Tye. I’ve hated him since we were ten years old. I hate everything he is, everything he stands for. Even the mention of his name gets my back up. And when I see him? My blood boils. My jaw clenches and my hands curl into fists. That’s how much I hate him. I want to cause him pain. I want to hold him down and actually hurt him. And if that’s not bad enough, that’s exactly what he wants me to do to him.

Maddox Kershaw is the main vocalist of the world’s biggest boy band. He’s at the top of every music chart, every award show, every social media platform, and every sexiest-man-alive list. He’s the bad boy, the enigma, the man everyone on the planet wants a piece of. He’s also burned out and exhausted, isolated and lonely. Not in a good headspace at the start of a tour.

Paul Morgan has been running his luxury camping tour business in Kakadu National Park for the last five years, taking small groups glamping, hiking, climbing, and swimming. It’s been a busy five years—a hard five years—as he tried to forget the man he left behind.

Resigned to living a sexless, loveless life, Doctor Nathan Tierney knows something is missing. In a rash decision, he leaves his life-consuming job at Mass General Hospital, Boston, to be the small-town doctor in Belfast, Maine. With the job comes a house, and with the house comes a handyman-painter. Trent Jamieson, a nomadic artist, and his dog Bentley, are offered free accommodation for the few weeks he fixes up the hospital-owned house. Nathan is transfixed by this free-spirited, undeniably gorgeous man.

Malachi Keogh finds himself in a job he neither wanted nor asked for when his father, boss of Sydney’s postal service, sends him to the end of the business line, a.k.a. the Dead Letter Office. Malachi expects it to be tedious and boring, but instead discovers a warehouse with a quirky bunch of misfit co-workers, including a stoic and nerdy boss, Julian Pollard. Where Julian is calm and ordered, Malachi is chaos personified, but despite their outward differences, there’s an immediate chemistry between them that sends Malachi’s head - and heart - into a spin.

I never intended to become a stripper. Two years ago, I was in Nashville chasing the songwriter dream. Sleepless nights between day jobs were spent writing rock ballads and trying to make a name for myself. That all changed with one phone call that forced me to return to Atlanta. Needing consistent income to pay the mountain of debt I'd come home to, I traded stripping my soul for stripping my clothes. Then Archer West comes crashing into my VIP room, tempting me to break all of my rules.

Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-colored ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a name tag and a phone number. Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. "I think I found your dog."

Erik Keston, son of the Keston Real Estate empire, knows what it takes to be successful. Despite his inherent wealth, he holds his own. He works hard, he's grounded, he's brilliant. He's also secretly in love with his best friend. Monroe Wellman lost his parents three years ago and never grieved, never recovered. Inheriting the family company and wealth means nothing, and his spiral of self-destruction is widespread and spectacular. Dubbed Sydney's bad boy, he spends more days drunk than sober, and the only person who's stuck by him through it all is his best mate.

Santos “Saint” Cavallero had his life all figured out when he married his high school sweetheart, joined the Navy, and became a SEAL. After years of being deployed, Saint comes home for good, only to discover his wife has fallen for another man. Now divorced and a bodyguard for Four Kings Security, Saint loves his job and his found family. His dating life? A hot mess, until the spark of an unexpected attraction strikes him like lightning, leaving Saint confused. Why is he feeling hot and bothered over the ruggedly handsome Fire Chief?

Michael Piersen isn’t up for complications. He’s one of Sydney’s fastest-moving career-focused corporate realtors, and the only thing he has time for is one-night stands with zero fuss. Bryson Schroeder’s back home from two years overseas with plans to leave his family’s hotel empire and begin his own business ventures.

Sydney Detective August Shaw has spent the last decade of work solving cold cases. His work is his entire life, and he's convinced a string of unsolved cold-case suicides are linked to what could be Australia's worst ever serial killer. Problem is, no one believes him. Senior Constable Jacob Porter loves his life in the small town of Tallowwood in northern New South Wales. When human remains are found in the camping grounds at Tallowwood Reserve, Jake's new case turns out to be linked to August's cold cases, and Jake agrees they're not suicides at all.

PerryI moved to San Luco to get to know my brother, and so far, it’s been great. Working as a bartender at Shenanigans, a bar close to Franklin University, there are beautiful men and women everywhere. When a hot guy falls into my arms at a party, I’m down for some naughty fun. Until I realize he’s way too drunk for anything to happen. Thankfully, we agree to meet up the next day. One near-kiss later, I discover Theo has no idea I’ve been hitting on him. He thinks we’re hanging out as buddies, and to my great regret, says he’s straight.