Showing results by author "May Archer" in All Categories

Lane’s Tips for Licking Thicket Newcomers: If at all possible, find yourself a hot and helpful landlord like Jaybird Proud who mows the lawn shirtless… and hope your grass grows quickly. Expect the unexpected at work. If you’re a veterinarian, this might mean letter-cows, pet pigs that aren’t pets, and Butterscotch the Pomeranian, who has Strong Feelings about his glands.

If there were a prize for the most contented man in Copper County, I’d win it every time. I’ve got my business. My son. My family. My friends… and no romantic prospects, sure, but only because I don’t need any. My life’s great as it is. Seriously. Could not be better. I’m practically bleeding serenity over here. At least until Jasper Wrigley shows up in Copper County after twenty years–as my son’s temporary hockey coach, no less, though the man could barely lace up his skates back in the day–and throws my carefully ordered life into chaos.

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.

What’s a four-letter word for an utterly oblivious, totally commitment-phobic, heartbreakingly gorgeous man with a pet pig named Bernadette? That’d be D-U-N-N, as in Dunn Johnson, my very best pal and fishing buddy since I moved to Licking Thicket. What’s a six-letter word for a nerdy, crossword-loving town doctor who’s doomed to be hopelessly, thoroughly, irrevocably, in love with that straight best friend for the rest of his born days? That’s T-U-C-K-E-R, as in me.

When your turkey-thieving, town-abandoning, former childhood friend reappears in Licking Thicket after fifteen long years, looking like a snack and smelling like all your favorite treats put together, it might be tempting to, well, dig in.

A brilliant, obsessive mind is the heart of Sebastian Seaver’s genius. It might also be the thing that costs him everything he’s created and everyone he’s ever loved. Consumed with the need to destroy Alexei Stornovich, the Russian mob boss who murdered his fiancée and parents, nothing can turn Bas from his plans of revenge until he’s eradicated every last one of them. By any means necessary, and at any cost. Drew McMann learned early that the key to success is control. Control carried him through law school and helped him keep Seaver Tech together through tragedy.

Former marine Percy “Champ” Champion has never encountered a problem he can’t handle. Flying bullets? Daring jungle rescues? Building Champion Security from the ground up? Making people seriously regret using his hated first name? No problem. He’s gotten the job done without a hitch each and every time. But it turns out there are some situations Champ can’t handle alone, like going undercover as a wedding planner to retrieve some missing cartel data in time to avert an international crisis.

I once lived a fairly quiet existence as a math professor. Then Teagan Donahue crashed into my life like a shooting star. Now every day's a holiday, and my very best friend is also the guy I can't stop fantasizing about. The guy I'm madly in love with. The guy I'm ready to turn down my dream job for. But the statistical probability of a man like Teagan wanting his shy, nerdy roommate as more than a friend is incredibly low, and if I have to choose between having everything else I've ever wanted and having Teagan in my life... well, I know which one I'll pick, every time.

There wasn’t a time when I didn't know Flynn “Firecracker” Honeycutt. He’s been my childhood friend. My high school rival. The guy I couldn’t stop dreaming about, long after I thought I’d left him and Honeybridge in my rear-view mirror.

Parrish Partridge’s true facts: There’s nothing hotter than a tall, gruff, bewildered, tattooed mountain of a man cuddling a sweet, orphaned baby, so you can tell yourself that you’ll resist him...But that’s a lie. And when that man asks you to do him a favor and pretend to be his very temporary, very fake fiance to help him get custody of that adorable baby, you can pretend you know better than to say yes...But that’s a lie, too.

What do the hot, genius entrepreneur and I have in common? Absolutely nothing. Taika Parata may be rich as hell, but he’s a total jerk. He spends his days traveling the globe in the lap of luxury while I dreamed of leaving my tiny hometown for a nomadic life and never got further than Boston.

Brian Carr believes in fairy tales — princes, castles, once upon a times, happily ever afters. He's been that way since we were kids, and no matter how many times it all goes wrong, Brian's never given up hope of finding his one true love. It's beautiful. Adorable. Charming. It's also annoying as hell, because I've spent decades standing on the sidelines while guy after guy crushed my best friend's heart, leaving me to pick up his pieces. The truth is, for as long as Brian has dreamed of fairy tales...I have dreamed of Brian.

Daniel: I suck at relationships and don't trust anyone, but there are reasons for that. For one thing, every person I've ever cared about has let me down. The only recent exception: O'Leary's town veterinarian...my new best friend. I came to O'Leary for a fresh start. To pare things down to essentials. To forget about the failures in my past. The last thing I need is complications, and most definitely not a boyfriend.

Well-known computer security infiltration specialist Jasper Huxley has never met a system he can’t hack. Whether his assignment is accessing a highly classified Pentagon server or modifying his little brother’s high school report card, he’s always got a botnet, an exploit, or a little bit of social engineering he can call up to get the job done. But there are certain things he can’t finesse, no matter how hard he tries.

Renowned cardiologist Carter Rogers is used to having things under control. His life, his prestigious reputation, his career, his future.

Micah: Constantine Ross is a cocky, provoking little...yeah. And I swear, I'd think that even if his family's business wasn't my biggest competition. It's time someone taught the man a lesson or two about life. At least that's what I tell myself when I offer him a job. Call it my good deed for the year...maybe the century.

Once upon a time, someone looked at my scrawny, impetuous eight-year-old self and nicknamed me Mr. Important… and I believed them. That was my first mistake. Two decades, a dozen failed careers, and a thousand meaningless hookups later, I’ve made more mistakes than I can count. My parents have decided I’m purely decorative, my brother thinks I need pep talks, and the gorgeous billionaire who hired me as a favor to my dad? He’s forgotten I exist.

Look, I’ve never claimed to be a nice guy. I don’t do pretty words, I don’t give polite smiles, and I refuse to be sucked into the sappy bucket of sentimentality that is Christmas in small-town O’Leary. Smiling neighbors, overly decorated trees, a town parade, a Santa contest? Ho ho no. I do shifts as a firefighter, and I go home alone.

Camden Seaver had it easy - a loving family, plenty of money, and the freedom to follow his dreams while his older brother, Sebastian, took charge of the family business. But when a tragic plane crash killed his parents, all the responsibilities he never wanted landed firmly on his shoulders. Now saddled with his crazy, grief-stricken brother and his dad’s multimillion dollar company, Cam doesn’t trust in dreams anymore. He’s forgotten what “easy” feels like.

Webb Sunday is the straight single dad next door. He’s lumberjack-gorgeous, strong and steady as the trees in his family orchard, a grumpy fairy-tale prince...and entirely off-limits. Or so I thought. Until the drunken night the two of us walked into a bar...and landed ourselves in the middle of small-town history. Who knew hand-fasting was still a thing? The town of Little Pippin Hollow did. And once this bunch of meddling Vermonters gets wind of our accidental betrothal, they are determined to see us seal the deal.