I’m the Dixon who left. Through the good, bad, and worst imaginable, I stayed gone. When I return home after a decade, I’m not surprised by the cold reception from my family...or my brother’s best friend. Emberly Olsen. I spent my childhood tormenting her. Now these days with her feel like the cruelest sort of unintended revenge. We’ve changed. She’s changed. Pure confidence and sensuality, but her pouty lips and heavy-lidded eyes scream contempt. And word around town? She’s untouchable.

Her first year away is turning out to be nearly perfect, but one weekend of giving in to heated passion will change everything. Eighteen-year-old Harper has grown up under the thumb of her career marine father. Ready to live life her own way and to experience things she's only ever heard of from the jarheads in her father's unit, she's on her way to college at San Diego State University. Thanks to her new roommate, Harper is introduced to a world of parties, gorgeous guys, family, and emotions.

On the outside, Lucas Holt is what nightmares are made of. A man cloaked in darkness, with sin-filled eyes and an enticing grin. A devil so devastatingly beautiful and cruel that his very presence instills fear. But beneath his terrifying, ever-calm exterior is an affectionate man haunted by a past that refuses to stay buried. And Lucas looks at me as though he's finally found the only person who can make it all go away.

Maxon James understands me in a way others can’t. For as long as I can remember, he’s vowed that one day he would claim my wild, rebel heart. God knows I wanted him to try. I wanted the life he promised me in his lyrics. But his assurances couldn’t change the past, and the infamous mafia blood in my veins guarantees my heart can’t be claimed. Somewhere along the way, I slipped. I let myself believe we could have it all. Now a dark, menacing shadow hovers between us, mocking us for daring to hope for a normal future.

Candice Gaines loves Christmas. Not only does she bask in the twinkling lights, sing Christmas carols, and go crazy with the decorations, she’s also in the giving spirit - donating much of her time and wealth to various charities in the local area. Charlie Sullivan despises Christmas. Though it keeps his family afloat, considering they own Sullivan Family Christmas Tree Farm, the main provider for Christmas trees on the Monterey Peninsula. He’d much rather work among the trees than deal with people. 

Undercover cop Logan "Kash" Ryan can't afford a distraction like his new neighbor Rachel Masters, even if she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. To catch a serial killer, he needs to stay focused, yet all he can think about is the feisty, long-legged coed whose guarded nature intrigues him.

In the Virginia countryside outside of Washington, DC, Addy Wentworth was on a mission to make a new life for herself. When the opportunity arose, she settled in horse and wine country. Experiencing more than her fair share of tragedy and loss, she had plans for her future, one where failure wasn’t an option. And not just because people and cows were counting on her. She’d poured everything she had into her struggling vineyard, because once she’s in, she’s all in.

Linc Kingston doesn’t accept anything less than perfection. Not in his billion-dollar business or in his personal life. He has it all, except one thing: his personal assistant and best friend in his bed, moaning his name. No matter how much Linc wants her, she’s completely off-limits. Jordan Greene grew up the daughter of the housekeeper at the Kingston estate, where she met and bonded with Linc at a young age, despite their economic differences.  

Jud Lawson found me stranded in the rain. Broken down on the side of the road in a deserted neighborhood with my piece-of-crap car. I wasn’t looking for a hero, and definitely not one who looks like him. An obscenely hot mountain of a man who screams danger. But I have little choice other than climbing onto the back of his bike.

When they were younger, Knox Alexander swore to Harlow Evans that he would wait for her to turn 18, so they could be together. But that was three and a half years away, and Harlow couldn't ask him to give up all the fun and thrills of going away to college for her. As the years passed, Knox remained a constant in her life - whether she liked it or not - but when her 18th birthday came around, Harlow's heart belonged to someone else.

Twenty-three-year-old Kamryn Cunningham has left behind a privileged, turbulent past for the anonymity of small-town life. Busy with her new bakery, she isn't interested in hook-ups or fix-ups. Then she meets the very sexy, very married Brody. Though she can't deny the pull between them, Kamryn isn't a cheater and she's not good at sharing. Twenty-six-year-old Brody Saco may be married, but he isn't happy. When his girlfriend got pregnant six years ago, he did the right thing…and he's been paying for it ever since.

While he may look like the love child of a movie starlet and an NFL linebacker, Ben Langley has the people skills of a half-drowned porcupine. Why socialize when there are chemistry labs and bad sci-fi flicks? If he has any hope of taking the helm as CEO of the family business, Ben needs an image makeover. Pronto. Enter Holly Colvin, owner of First Impressions public relations and branding firm, and the woman who just saved Ben from the clutches of an over-attentive sales clerk. Holly’s rebranded hundreds of companies in her career, but she’s never rebranded a person.

Annabelle Jordan and her two sisters were orphans in frilly dresses when they went to live with their sports-lawyer uncle in his world of locker rooms, bookies, and gambling. Now the girls are publicists in their uncle’s firm, the Hot Zone.

At 26 years old I never dreamed I’d walk in on my husband in bed with my best friend. At 27 years old I found myself divorced and the mother of a one-year-old son. Never mind I was learning to take the reins of my family’s apple orchard business. There was no way my life could be any more complicated...or so I thought. Can a woman who’s lost all trust in men help a man who can’t even trust himself? 

Reasons why I should not be drawn to Troy Serrano. Number one: He’s obnoxious. Number two: We were enemies more than a decade ago. Number three: He’s my friend’s ex-boyfriend. I could go on and on, really. When my boss gives me an unwanted assignment, and tells me it involves spending time with the grandson of one of our residents, the grandson turns out to be Troy. Lucky me. Four hours a week of having to deal with his insufferable personality and unsolicited advice - the only consolation is getting to stare at his annoyingly gorgeous face, in between our many arguments.