After the accident, the chief was pushing me to retire. Being a firefighter was all I had ever wanted, what I lived for. Well, other than my 12-year-old daughter, Abby. Raising her as a single dad, much less a busy firefighter, wasn't easy, but life never is. Then, a call came in from an all-too-familiar area code. I was being beckoned back to my hometown, back to Canon. I had left that small town years ago, leaving behind a lot, including...her.

After the accident, the chief was pushing me to retire. Being a firefighter was all I had ever wanted, what I lived for. Well, other than my 12-year-old daughter, Abby. Raising her as a single dad, much less a busy firefighter, wasn't easy, but life never is. Then a call came in from an all-too-familiar area code. I was being beckoned back to my hometown, back to Canon. I had left that small town years ago, leaving behind a lot, including...her.

Sinclair Amadeus Sterling, a.k.a. Mr. Superior Jackass with a God complex. Who also happens to be my blackmailer...gulp. Tall, dark, gazillionaire growly pants. The first time I met him, I kneed him in his very well endowed balls - don't ask! He had that tightly leashed, controlling air and a smoldering glare that made me damp in seconds. The only thing that sucks worse than his attitude is his (lack of) sense of humor! Honest. Sadly, he's also the one who could save my business from going bust. Hell! 

Waverly Bryson is a successful businesswoman in her late 20s who almost has it all: a dream job in sports PR, two best friends, and a bar where everybody knows her name. What she doesn’t have is a ring on her finger. And after being ditched at the altar, she’s in no hurry to get one. Besides, plenty of other issues keep her busy, including her wayward father, a new rival at work, and an ever-nagging fear that her life is not turning out as she thought it would...or should.

Since becoming a major league baseball player, I've learned a few hard lessons. Like never give out your home address on social media (sorry, Mom). Never shoot your mouth off without thinking...and never, ever let your personal life interfere with your game. But then I saw her - sitting alone behind the enemy dugout, watching me - and I just had to meet this girl.

At the ripe old age of 29, Veronica Mason has given up on the very idea of love. After a childhood blighted by addiction and foster homes and an engagement that ended with no reason given, she's built walls so big it would take dynamite to destroy them. Then she meets Julie, and those walls begin to crumble. At the age of 22, Julie Summers is ready to embark on her last year of college. Positive, happy-go-lucky, and drop-dead gorgeous, Julie has the world at her feet. And then she meets Veronica.

Could you love a man surrounded by danger? Gigi Gallo’s childhood was filled with the roar of a motorcycle and the hum of a tattoo gun. Fresh out of college, she’s about to start working at her family’s tattoo studio - Inked. But when she shows up the first day, she never expects to run into someone tall, dark, and totally sexy from her not-so-innocent past. 

When my old high school teammate invites me to stay on his family farm, it’s the solution to my financial woes. I never imagined it might also be the answer to my loneliness. Allen Hale Jr wasn’t the first number I tried for help. It’s been years since I’ve even thought of him. But he answered on the first ring, and hours later, we’re still talking like we’re 16 again, goofing off after the big game.

When discipline is your life, structure’s a good thing, and Owen Johnson’s got plenty of both. An All-Pro NFL center who’s also a cattle rancher? Yeah, that’s structure. His marriage didn’t work out, but then, he picked the wrong woman. A Wyoming ranch doesn’t look nearly as romantic up close. Not to a model, anyway. Next time, he’ll choose better. Not, for example, a 19-year-old ball of fire like Dyma Cardello, who’s just starting on her own journey. To become an astronautical engineer. After about five years of schooling. Which she’s focused on like, well, a rocket.

What's worse than having Rider Kingston, the star quarterback, give you the big brushoff because he doesn't want to get serious? You'd probably think living across the street from him where you get a firsthand view of his hookups, right? That's what I thought. Until someone drops off a baby with a note pinned to her blanket that says one of those jocks - either Rider or one of his roommates - is the father. The problem? Baby mama doesn't mention which of these numbskulls is the sperm donor. I wouldn't care about their paternity problems - except my brother lives there too. 

Grief and loneliness have been my closest friends for a year, and a change is long overdue. A walk down memory lane in my hometown sounds ideal to start letting go of this never-ending sorrow and try to meet again the carefree, happy girl I once was. But back in Texas, it's not that girl I meet first. Nate Bowers, president of the Chaos Chasers, is not a saint. He says so himself. As a pragmatic teacher, I should flee from that handsome man as fast as I can. But behind his hard exterior and primitive side, all I see in his brown eyes is a caring, gentle man he shows only to me.

Traditions are important. Especially in the South. College football. Rivalries. Tailgating. Halftime shows. Some things just don’t change. Until Reese Holland shows up with her long legs and no-bullshit attitude to audition for the prestigious all-male Rodner University snare line. It doesn’t matter how much hazing she has to endure from Laird Bronson, with his narrowed green eyes and arrogant smirk. She wants that damn spot, and she’s more than good enough to earn it. She expects there to be tension. Even friction. But not sparks hot enough to burn the entire campus down.

I love my daughter, but finding out she wasn’t biologically mine is the best news ever. I’m a widower who is too scared to have the stupid test that would tell me whether or not I even have the gene that would mean dealing with a horrible illness and certain death. A gene that could’ve also been passed to my child, had she been mine. She’ll need her father, if something ever does happen to me.... That’s why I search for Maddie’s biological father, and when I find him, ask him to become part of her life. What I didn’t expect is for him to become my best friend.

Being traded to Dallas was a dream come true. I had everything I wanted, my game had never been better, and my wife was due to have our baby any day now. What could go wrong? Everything. I was now raising our baby on my own. After hockey practice and games, I didn't have time to sleep, let alone make sure my social media was up to par. I never thought I'd get a second chance at love.

Crosby Rhodes is considered a god when it comes to Western Wildcats football. And who knows, he might just be one. There’s certainly no shortage of girls on campus who agree with the sentiment. They swoon over his pretty face, dark messy hair, and hard body honed from years of lifting and two-a-day practices. That alone makes him catnip for the female species. Add a lip ring and surly disposition to the package and you can understand what all the fuss is about. Would I be included in that majority? Hell no.