Showing results by narrator "Luke Welland" in All Categories

Hello Christmas currently features TEN short stories--one for every couple--giving you a glimpse into their lives at Christmas time. You'll get spice, sweet moments, and holiday cheer.

By thirty, you’re supposed to have a home, a dog, a boyfriend or at least a string of lovers in the past. Instead, I’m a twenty-eight-year-old virgin living with my parents to save money. My job managing an apartment complex is the one thing I’m proud of–and that’s not just because a complete hottie just walked in the door. Tyler Griffen is here working on a construction project for nine months, which means we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. Which I don’t mind one bit if it means getting more face time with those tattooed, muscled arms and his heart melting smile.

The first time I see my high school crush since graduation, I’m a 30-year-old woman laying on the table for a pap smear. He’s the hot, newly single doctor who just moved back to his hometown, hoping to find some stability for his daughter. Meanwhile, I’m a hot mess, just fired from my job and ousted from company housing. I’m living in my old bedroom and trying to get my appointments in before my insurance runs out along with what little is left of my money.

His butchered haircut wasn’t entirely my fault, but now I’m questioning my decision to move back to my small hometown. After years of working in the city and getting nowhere, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance to buy my own salon. All I have to do is prove to the current owner that I'm committed to the salon and Cottonwood Falls. Also located in Cottonwood Falls? Rhett Griffen, the one who broke my heart beyond repair all those years ago.

As a boss, Gage Griffen is intense, driven, and demanding. But under his layers of Armani and grumpy exterior, he’s also generous, kind, and treats my kids the way I wish their dad would. I need to keep my distance, because this job is our fresh start. And messing up this opportunity could ruin everything, including my heart.

My life is falling apart, and the guy I meet at the bar might be the one to help me put it back together, said No One Ever. Getting dumped by my fiancé and going to the bar was not a good look. Neither was stealing condoms from the student supply and going home with a complete stranger. But here I was.

What happens when the eternally single curvy girl becomes the blue-collar bad boy’s new obsession? I love my small town and having all my friends and family around. But I’m almost forty and still single. Clearly, my Prince Charming isn’t finding me here. Especially with my car continually breaking down and sending me to Hayes Madigan’s shop. The tatted mechanic acts like being a perpetual bachelor is the only point of life. He’s happy with his parade of one-night stands and regular hookups. But I want more.

At least that's what the men in my life have taught me. My dad ran off when I was young, and just when I thought I was getting my own happily ever after, my ex left me on my own with two kids. Trying to pick up the pieces, I move to a small town where I can have help from my children's grandparents. I think I know what to expect from small-town life. Until I meet my new neighbor. Knox Madigan. Local hero. Great smile. So hot I'm sure I'd be burned if I got too close.

Confession: I’m known for writing the best happily ever afters… but I don’t believe in love. But you’re not allowed to say that on live TV when you’re promoting the movie based on your book. The movie producers will get really mad and threaten to cancel the sequel. Unless you can prove to the public that you have a boyfriend. A real one not nestled in the pages of a book.

A confident, plus size CEO running a billion dollar company and the country’s best professional quarterback… it sounds like the ultimate power couple, if it wasn’t all pretend. Fake dating was not in the plan this year. Especially since I hardly have time for actual dating. That is until Ford Madigan makes me an offer I can’t refuse: a fake relationship that will benefit us both. He’ll get away from the team owner’s entitled daughter while I score some points with members of the company’s board who love him more than they hate me.

With an itinerary covering 41 countries, spanning all seven continents, and armed with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he sets out on the greatest adventure in the birding world. Along the way he meets a colorful cast of fellow birders—and discovers a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, and conservation triumphs.

On a cold Sunday night in Manhattan, the corrupt corporate board of Wrentham Industries are called to an emergency session—but it turns out to be a setup, created by a mysterious sniper across the street, watching them through his night-sight scope. The office is booby-trapped, the door is locked, and the board are held hostage, forced to play his games for the next 90 minutes.

At her husband’s funeral, Addy meets Heath—a man who knows loss just as well as she does. Their whirlwind romance feels like a second chance at life, but whispers from the past refuse to stay buried. Addy has secrets she swore she’d never tell. Heath has questions she can’t afford to answer. In this house, it’s impossible to know who the victim really is.

210 BC, China. The most powerful emperor China has ever known is on the brink of death. In desperation, he sends his most gifted alchemist and sorcerer on a quest for the mythical elixir of life. His fleet never returned. Now, world-renowned archaeologist Georgia Lee is compelled to hunt for a mysterious man who may hold the secret to the greatest discovery in human history. Her search takes her on a thrilling journey. But what begins as an investigation into an archaeological riddle turns into something very sinister. Georgia starts to suspect that she is the one being hunted....

Beneath the shimmering waves of the Arabian Sea lies a ruin older than history itself, concealing an ancient prophecy that threatens to turn the world to ash…INDIA. At the largest human gathering in the world, black rain pours down upon 50 million pilgrims, and the Ganges runs red with blood, heralding an ancient doomsday prophecy from the depths of the Arabian Sea. When archaeologist Georgia Lee is called to decipher its cryptic verses, she’s thrust into a heart-pounding race against time to find the key to humanity’s final hope.

Deep in the woods a darkness stirs and impossible, horrifying, creatures exist. Deputy Charles Walsh had always held a healthy level of skepticism. However, when he meets Eric Linnaeus, a man marked by the fae and trained to kill, he is forced to accept a new reality. Facing supernatural creatures and cursed objects, he discovers that everything is not as it seems. If he hopes to survive, he must learn from Linnaeus, yet he can’t help but wonder—is this man’s word to be trusted?

Just as archaeologist Georgia Lee grapples with the earth-shattering consequences of her last expedition in Taiwan, her life is once again thrown into chaos when she is called to examine an artifact containing vital clues to the undiscovered tomb of Genghis Khan, founder of the largest contiguous land empire in human history. What follows is a desperate race across the vast, infinite landscape of Mongolia to solve one of the greatest archaeological mysteries, and to thwart those who threaten to destroy the world as we know it.

Dive into the world of real estate like never before with "The Art of Modern Real Estate Development: Green, Sustainable, and Successful." This comprehensive guide isn’t just a blueprint for the industry—it’s a vision for the future, a clarion call for sustainable, responsible growth. Brought to life by Bradley Fagg, a real estate professional with a master’s degree in Real Estate Development, the book draws upon his vast knowledge and insights. This book covers everything from the fundamentals of property development to the cutting-edge innovations shaping the industry.

In 2028, Mark Noble is conducting a survey of a moon crater. The entity secretly grabs a ride back to Moonbase on Mark’s buggy. Once in the habitat, it begins to take over the crew. They find themselves in a frightening, helter-skelter adventure with only two possible outcomes: losing or saving the Earth.

After the frantic escape from the moon at the end of Moonscape, Mark has only just recovered when he is told that the United States, together with the Chinese and Russians, are planning an invasion of Moonbase, and they want him to command it. Twenty-eight astronauts form the crew which is tasked with reclaiming Moonbase from the infected astronauts.