Then You Happened

When I’m offered the chance to leave New York to live in London for three months, I can’t pack my suitcase fast enough. As soon as I touch down, I’m obsessing over red telephone boxes, palaces, and all the black cabs. But my favorite place is the tube. It’s wall-to-wall hot British men in suits. 

My name is Jack Sutton, CEO of Sutton Fashion Magazine, and I had the world at my fingertips. A successful career, loads of money, and beautiful women who were always at my beck and call. My problem? I lived under the shadow of my mother, who started the company over 30 years ago. Not to mention her being married and divorced six times, which left a bad taste in my mouth as far as relationships were concerned.

When Ellery moved to New York with her boyfriend, she thought they’d live happily ever after in their small New York apartment. She never thought he’d pack his bags and leave because he “needed space”. With her newfound single status and fear of being alone, Ellery buries herself in her artwork and paintings until one night she helps a mysterious intoxicated stranger get home safely. Little did she know the mysterious stranger is none other than CEO and millionaire Connor Black.

I was a charmer, a seducer, and the woman that men were hungry to get their hands on. Rich men never should have trusted me, but they did. It was stupidity on their part. Things were going well and I was doing what I was supposed to do, until I ripped off the wrong millionaire. A millionaire who came after me with a vengeance. My name is Kate Harper and this is my story.

My name is Delilah Graham, and music is my life. I moved from Chicago to live in the one place that I considered to be the center of the universe: New York City. At 23 years old, after raising my two brothers and sister, it was time for me to start my own life. I worked as a waitress in a greasy diner by day, and by night I performed my music in small clubs around the city and on the streets of New York. That was until a man and his daughter stepped into the diner and changed my life forever.

My name is Lily Gilmore, and I was supposed to be getting married today. That was until I found my fiancé having sex with my sister in the church moments before I was supposed to walk down the aisle. I grew up with a father who was a womanizer and cheated on my mother every moment he had the chance. He would even stoop as low as to take me and my sister with him on his trysts when we were younger. Cheating was all I grew up with, and I vowed never to live the life my mother did. After finding my fiancé and my sister together, I moved from Seattle to Santa Monica to start a new life.

I was born into British aristocracy, but I've made my fortune in Manhattan. New York is now my kingdom. Back in Britain, my family is fighting over who's the next Duke of Fairfax. The rules say it's me - if I'm married. It's not a trade-off worth making. I could never limit myself to just one woman. Or so I thought until my world is turned upside down. Now, the only way I can save the empire I built is to inherit the title I've never wanted - so I need a wife. To take my mind off business I need a night that's all pleasure.

Have sex with a stranger in a foreign country. It was on my list. It was something I'd never done before, and I wasn't sure if I could go through with it. But I did. That one night was the best night of my entire life. He was sexy, intense, and made me feel things I had never felt before. The next morning, the thrill was over, and he was gone before I woke up. What happened in London should have stayed in London, but it didn't. I was never supposed to see him again, but the universe had other plans.

Called an eccentric beast by the citizens of Amesport, Maine, handsome billionaire Grady Sinclair stays isolated in his mansion on a private peninsula. The arrangement suits Grady just fine - until an angelic woman rings his doorbell, awaking his long dormant passion with her fearlessness. All he wants is to make the fiery blonde his forever. But will he have to become the monster everyone thinks he is to get his Christmas wish?

Jackson "The Beast" Boudreaux is rich, gorgeous, and unbelievably rude to the staff at Chef Bianca Hardwick's New Orleans restaurant. Bianca would sooner douse herself in hot sauce than cook for Jackson again, but when he asks her to cater his fundraiser, Bianca can't refuse, knowing the cash will help pay her mother's medical bills. Then Jackson makes another outrageous request: Marry me. The unconventional offer includes an enormous sum - money Bianca desperately needs, even if it does come with a contract - and a stunning ring.

I keep my two worlds separate. At work, I'm King of Wall Street. The heaviest hitters in Manhattan come to me to make money. They do whatever I say because I'm always right. I'm shrewd. Exacting. Some say ruthless. At home, I'm a single dad trying to keep his 14-year-old daughter a kid for as long as possible. If my daughter does what I say, somewhere there's a snowball surviving in hell. And nothing I say is ever right.

I'll say this about Christian - he made one hell of a first impression. When I first saw the strapping man, he was doing handstands naked on a dock along the canal. His crown jewels were far more entertaining than anything else I'd seen on the boat tour, so I did what any curious woman would do - I took his photo.  

I've made every one of my billions of dollars myself - I'm calculating, astute and the best at what I do. It takes drive and dedication to build what I have. And it leaves no time for love or girlfriends or relationships. But don't get me wrong, I'm not a monk. I understand the attention and focus it takes to seduce a beautiful woman. They're the same skills I use to close business deals. But one night is where it begins and ends. I'm not the guy who sends flowers. I'm not the guy who calls the next day.

My name is Emily Wade and I was raised to believe that happily ever after didn't exist. That relationships were doomed before they even started, and that as long as the attraction to someone is purely physical, life is uncomplicated and good. I lived by that and was probably the only anti-relationship person in the world. I found myself in the midst of so much man drama that I decided to take a hiatus from the dating world. Until I met the brutally handsome CEO of Caine Property Development & Management, Jackson Caine.

Growing up, the three of us were friends. He was the nerd. I was the playboy. She was the beauty. Deep down, I only ever wanted her. I kept it inside because Rory and I made a pact that our friend, Amber, was off-limits. He lied. I went off to college, and he got the girl. Amber never knew how I felt. They were together for years - before he broke her heart. Through it all and across the miles, she and I casually stayed in touch. When my job sent me to Boston for a three-month contract position, Amber let me stay in her spare room.