1001 Dark Nights

Zeke Cross is a big city guy who finds himself living in the smallest town on the face of the earth, running an auto repair shop with his best friend. Not just running, but owning. He’s not used to sleepy little towns. He craves noise, excitement, and people. And yet, he’s grown to love the town of Huckleberry Bay, and the people who have welcomed him into the fold. Almost everyone has been kind and accepting of the outsider. Everyone except Cherry Dubois.

FBI agent Ollie McKee is burned out on relationships. After a head-spinningly on-again/off-again relationship with his former fiancée, he’s been out of the dating pool for years. Now he’s focused on his career—and it’s getting more intense. Because Ollie’s ex was just kidnapped, and despite the rules, he’s resolved to work the case and find her.

I see everything. I feel everything. I watch people fall in love. I watch them burn with hate, anger, rage, and I see the cycle repeat over and over again. I take it on every night I work at Timber, aka Anubis’s bar in downtown Seattle, and then I help the rest of the immortals keep the very intense balance between Heaven and Earth. I see everyone's future but mine, and when I try to look, all I see is darkness, despair, need…

When West Rycroft left his family’s ranch to work in the big city, he never dreamed he would find himself surrounded by celebrities and politicians. Working at McKay-Taggart as a bodyguard and security expert quickly taught him how to navigate the sometimes shark-infested waters of the elite. While some would come to love that world, West has seen enough to know it’s not for him, preferring to keep his distance from his clients—until the day he meets Ally Pearson.

My dad needs a girlfriend, and I’ve already picked her out. Miss Adler would be perfect for him, right? She’s super pretty. She has the best smile and she gives the best hugs. And she’s, like, the most amazing teacher in the world. Dad is my hero, but I can tell he’s lonely. He tries to hide it from me, but sometimes at night, when he thinks I’m asleep, I’ll sneak downstairs and find him sitting on the couch, staring at nothing. He’s never had a girlfriend, not since the divorce. Mom messed him up. She’s good at that.

Devon Pratt loves many things in life. The beauty of flowers. The yin and yang of energy. The power of positivity in people. And everything to do with the Christmas season. As a floral shop owner in the beach town of Cape May, she looks forward to decorating both the town and running the annual holiday party to benefit the local animal shelter. Too bad the new owner of her favorite venue is more like the Grinch than Santa. Working with him will be a challenge, but she’s too full of seasonal cheer to let him annoy her, right?

My dad is protective. Scratch that. He's like the person who would grab a chair, place it on the lawn, and watch me walk across the street just to deliver an apple. So, when a bet between the rude, good-looking guy across the way becomes a full-on battle, it turns into absolute chaos. He says my degree is useless and that I'm a rich, spoiled princess. I say he's an idiot who only knows how to fix motorcycles and is incapable of having a clean-shaven face. He gives me a tiara. Thanks. I buy him a razor. Perfect.

More bookworm than Barbie, Reese Shepard is completely caught off guard when the most beautiful man she has ever seen steps in and pretends to be her boyfriend when some creep won't leave her alone. She assumes it's the last time she'll see the chivalrous stranger, but soon he is everywhere she is. And before she knows what's happening, the two of them are spending all their free time together, bonding over their love of the ocean, scary movies, and homemade cookies.

Nate Carter left Australia's elite SASR unit after a tragic accident. Shattered by the experience, he thought taking a job in the States might be a good way to start over. His father's former employer, McKay-Taggart, has a position for him in the bodyguard unit. He never imagined himself risking his life for celebrities and the wealthy, but it will do for now. It will also give him a chance to reconnect with old friends, including the girl who'd been like a little sis to him ten years before. These days, however, his feelings for Daisy O'Donnell are anything but brotherly.

In my world, nothing is merry and bright. More like dark and dank. In fact, deck the halls should be deck the slobbering drunk who waited for me to get off work and followed me to my car with only one thing in mind. He didn't expect a smart girl with a handy-dandy taser, ready to light the star on his tree. Unfortunately, I didn't expect there to be two of them. While my attacker was on the ground, twitching and convulsing, his face as red and puffed up as ole St. Nick, I was grabbed from behind by Santa's helper.

Derek Langley iss grumpy, demanding, and sometimes mean, which mirrors his reputation in court. Derek doesn't have time to coddle an employee, so when the temp agency informs him their next placement will be the last, he knows he's doomed. Maya Sterling is excited to move to Seattle. She wants to be closer to her siblings and her new friends, and a position with a temp agency fits the bill for her new life in the city. She doesn't plan on walking in and finding a sexy British grouch for a boss. They quickly realize the attraction is mutual and steam up the office.

Maxim Wilder is finally exactly where he needs to be in the Manhattan cell of Group Ultra, a deadly and lucrative arm of a major criminal organization. Everything is in place for him to pull off the biggest job of his career—until a woman he's never been able to forget shows up and threatens to destroy all his hard work. So what choice does he have but to snatch her? To keep her hidden, safe from everyone. Except him.

Having run into the bank to take out cash for her son's school fair, Angela Hawkins Crow is surprised to find herself in the middle of a hostage situation. The hostage-taker is none other than Billy Mendelson, a young man suffering after a violent armed robbery attack at his home. Angela has read about the crime but is mystified by his behavior, even as he hustles her into a vault with several others. Billy was a stellar student and so much more before the events of that fateful day. How can he subject others to such violence?

Michael Cavalcante has one thing on his mind when he knocks on Izzabel Walsh's door at two in the morning, half-dressed and a bit toasted: fix the woman's heater and get back to bed. He vows never to cover for his maintenance tech again, especially after he gets tased and knocked out with a frying pan for his efforts. Izzy thought she was safe. She'd dyed her hair, changed her name, and moved 1,500 miles away, and still, they found her. When a member of her ex's motorcycle club knocks on her door in the middle of the night, supposedly to fix a perfectly good heater, Izzy panics.