What Was Meant To Be (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781990500466)

Love is love, and age is just a number.
This collection of steamy age-gap romances includes three individual novellas:

TROY

A thirty-nine-year-old man has no business getting involved with a twenty-three-year-old woman. Especially if that woman is his daughter's best friend. But that's exactly what I'm doing.

I tell myself I'm marrying Cricket because she needs my help. That I'll keep her at arm's length while she's wearing my ring, then set her free when she doesn't need my last name and health insurance anymore. My intentions are good. My self-control isn't.

I want her from the first kiss. I need her from the first touch. I'm going to love her forever, but that's my problem, because I know I can't keep her. Too bad letting her go is the hardest thing I've ever done.

CRICKET

I fell for Troy Mannington the day I met him. I've done everything within reason to tempt my best friend's dad, but he's never crossed the line. He wants to, though. I see the desire in his eyes--and in his shorts.

When he offers to marry me, I jump at the chance. Because I need his health insurance, yes. But I need him, too.

Every minute we're together, we get closer, until there's no space between us. My five years of fantasies are nothing compared to reality. Our connection is more than physical, it always has been.

Our wedding vows may have been for show, but I meant every word. So did Troy. I just need him to forget about our ages, and focus on our forever.

THE DEAL WITH LOVE

ADAM

Fresh out of a bitter divorce, I jump at the opportunity to sublet my friend's rental in a sleepy, lakeside town. Four weeks in solo mode will reset my priorities to business, where they should have been all along.

That plan changes when I catch my pretty neighbor spying on me while I work out. Sparks fly when I accidentally see her naked. Suddenly, my stay in the quiet, slow-paced town has the potential to be a lot more exciting and a lot less solitary...if Allison accepts my proposal.

ALLISON

A year after dumping my cheating, former high-school sweetheart, my heart has finally healed. I may never find true love, but I'm ready to move forward.

When the combination of my meddlesome best friend, unbelievably poor timing, and exceptionally bad balance leads to an embarrassing naked encounter with the attractive man renting my neighbor's cottage, I have a choice: Hole up in my house to avoid him, or accept Adam's invitation to be neighbors with benefits for the duration of his stay in Hope Harbor.

Technically, he's old enough to be my father, but he's the furthest thing from it. This is the perfect summer fling, until my heart wants more...

GINGERBREAD MAN

A town that celebrates Christmas year-round is the perfect place for a newly divorced, six-foot-four ginger-haired baker to open his new business, The Ginger Bread Man. Too bad he doesn't share the community's love of everything ho-ho-ho. Fake it until you make it, right? Or hire someone who has enough holiday spirit that nobody notices your lack thereof. Enter Honey Golding, the sweetest little thing Cal has ever laid eyes on. His much-younger new employee is off-limits, but his sweet tooth might overrule his common sense... and his willpower.