Lottie Fairchild has two loves: history and, well, history. She's fascinated by the legends of love and curses handed down through her own family. Owner of a successful antique shop in her small country town Banalla, Lottie is on the committee that is about to launch a new festival celebrating the town history and their local figure of fame, gentleman bushranger Jack McNally. Altogether, Lottie is happy. Mostly. But when festival guest speaker Professor Damian Loxley arrives, a week early and on a motorbike, Lottie is caught off guard.

Exposed Ink is my sanctuary, where I can hide behind the needles and ink, shielding my shattered heart from further pain and loss. Until Shane, a firefighter and single dad, threatens to unravel the carefully constructed walls I’ve built to survive. First, he saves my life—literally—and then he turns it upside down by making me long for things I can’t have. He says he wants to get some ink done, but I know he wants something more… something I can’t give him—me.

I might be going to the college of my dreams with only my violin and a few hundred dollars to my name, but I'll work harder than any student they've ever had, and nothing will stop me. Cedar Lakes University is how I turn my life around. As my future begins to unravel, I'm slowly realizing that my plan has flaws. A math class I can't pass and the boy I wish I could forget. One summer he walked away from me and now he's my tutor. The school's quarterback, Sebastian Dawson. He's a pro at getting under my skin, making me feel things I don't have time to feel.

I'm the face of the NHL. The golden boy with quick hands and a million-dollar smile the fans adore. My contract is up at the end of the season, and with playoffs starting, I have to be on my best behavior. Keep my head down and respect the press when they shove their microphones beneath my nose. This isn't my first rodeo, so it should be easy. Right?

Six years ago strangers broke into my house while I was home alone. I hid, but one of them found me. I expected death, but he spared me. I thought it was over … except for the nightmares. But he was only waiting for me to ripen to his taste. I’m not the first girl he’s taken to sate his dark hunger, but I will be the last.

Lucian Daire wants my family's company. I want to watch him burn for it. He thinks I'm nothing more than a spoiled princess, and I think he's a heartless bastard. But no matter how much we push, we keep pulling back together. When I discover he needs a wife and he realizes my determination to save my family's legacy, a deal is struck—lines are drawn. But the more we fight, the more those lines blur. Because hatred is just passion turned inside out. And when it finally explodes, it threatens to destroy us both. And we might just be desperate enough to let it.

Aeris Relera has always drawn the short end of the stick in life—a self-absorbed ex, neglectful parents, and a past that continues to haunt her. When she's down on her luck one night, a mysterious knight in shining armor—or, more realistically, a knight in hockey shoulder pads—saves her from a few too many tequila shots.

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love Rhett Walker, which is complicated since he’s ten years older and my brother’s best friend. After a falling out, we didn’t speak for years—until today, when he found me sleeping in my car, threw me over his shoulder, and dragged me “to safety.”

I fell for a woman for the first time in my life. I never thought the winds of Montana could carry in a storm like Isha George. She's stunningly beautiful. Years younger than me. Definitely a gold digger. She's charming, elegant—and my younger brother's girlfriend. When Isha sweeps into my life, I'm sure she's a tempest hiding behind a smile as bright as sunshine. And, she has her eyes on the prize—a piece of the Ledger Ranch. My ranch. So, I do what any good brother and ranch owner would. I steal her away and then proceed to break her heart.

Transferring to UC Santa Mira is supposed to be my ultimate college experience—until housing falls through at the last minute. So when I overhear a group of guys complaining they need another roommate, I jump at the opportunity. They’re just football players. Even if one of them makes me weak in the knees, it doesn’t mean anything unless I let it. And I won’t. We want different things. Wanting each other doesn’t change that.