Grand Lake Colorado Books
Saving yourself for the perfect moment is one thing. Saving yourself for the wrong brother? That's a whole other story. After ten years of pining for my best friend, I finally worked up the courage to do something about it. The plan was simple: sneak into his cabin, confess my feelings, and finally— finally —give him my v-card. What wasn't part of the plan? His grumpy older brother being there instead. The same brother who now happens to be my stone-cold, devastatingly handsome new boss. The one whose heated kisses I can't seem to forget, no matter how hard I try. Now I'm trapped between my decade-long crush and the forbidden attraction that threatens to destroy my career—and my heart. But the real trouble started the moment I realized that maybe, I've been saving myself for the wrong brother all along.
The problem with small towns? Your first love never stays your last heartbreak. They say time heals all wounds, but whoever said that never met Memphis Styles—the man who turned my teenage dreams into an adult nightmare. Ten years ago, he shattered my heart into pieces so small, I'm still finding shards of it stuck in my chest. I thought I was safe. I thought I was over him. I even convinced myself I'd moved on. Then he rolled back into town in that same black Chevy that used to make my heart race, wearing that cologne that still haunts my dreams, and suddenly I'm eighteen again—young, foolish, and desperate for his touch. But I'm not that girl anymore. I've built a life without him. A good one. So why do I still catch myself looking for his car when I drive past his mama's house? Why does my heart still skip a beat when I hear his name whispered at the local diner? And why, God help me, does every fiber of my being ache to find out if his kisses still taste like danger and promises? I swore I'd hate Memphis Styles forever. Turns out forever doesn't mean much when you never stopped loving someone in the first place.
I came to Grand Lake looking for a fresh start, not a scandal. But one wrong turn (and one very right kiss) later, I found myself pressed against Sheriff Blake Mitchell's patrol car—and that was just the beginning of my trouble. Now my days are spent trying to act professional at the station while his heated stares make my uniform feel two sizes too small. Our stolen moments in supply closets and back alleys are getting harder to hide, and in a town where everyone knows everyone's business, we're one whispered rumor away from disaster. I tell myself it's just physical—the way his hands feel on my skin, how his kiss tastes like a habit I don’t want to break. But when a job transfer threatens to tear us apart, I'm forced to face the truth: what started as a mistake might be the one thing I can't live without.
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. They never mentioned anything about an unexpected bun in the oven. As Grand Lake's favorite baker, I've mastered every recipe except love. Then Carson Matthews walked into my shop, his adorable daughter begging for cupcakes, and suddenly my carefully measured life got a lot more complicated. One taste was all it took. A single earth-shattering night of passion, and I fell harder than a failed soufflé. But Carson's heart is still haunted by his late wife's memory, and he's made it clear there's no room for seconds in his life. I told myself I could handle keeping it casual. That I could forget the way his kisses taste sweeter than any dessert I've ever made. I almost convinced myself I was okay with walking away—until those two pink lines appeared and changed everything. Now I'm carrying more than just a torch for the grieving single dad. I'm carrying his child. And in a town small enough to notice when the local baker starts craving pickles with her pastries, keeping this secret is about to get messy.