Love Is Here to Stay

What’s a girl to do when the very kissable newcomer turns out to be the biggest jerk in town?

Alexandra Gray has never played by the rules. Kissing a handsome stranger on the beach one starlit night? That’s just another Saturday for her.

But Alex’s carefree ways are tested when her new landlord threatens the future of her beloved bookstore.

Even worse? This new landlord is the same man she kissed that starlit night, the same man she’s been dreaming about for months.

Real estate investor Aaron Morrison moved to Hazel Island with his niece and nephew for a fresh start after tragedy struck.

Dating? Aaron can’t even think about dating. Besides, he has to figure out how to deal with a fiery, gorgeous brunette who seems to think he’s the devil incarnate.

As Aaron tries to find a suitable mother for his niece and nephew, he can’t seem to stop wanting—and kissing—Alexandra Gray. The one woman he can’t have.

Now Aaron must decide: will he sacrifice his heart’s desire for duty, or will he let love win?

Alexandra Gray was the type of person who preferred not to think about unpleasant things. It was going to rain? She'd worry about that tomorrow. Her favorite boots were close to falling apart? She'd take care of that when the literal soles fell off of them.

She knew, however, that her Scarlett O'Hara philosophy of "I'll think about that tomorrow" wasn't the best way to approach running a business. Especially when said business kept losing money month after month. Every quarter, profit dwindled while expenses increased.

Alex stared at her computer screen, hoping that the spreadsheet was adding things incorrectly. That number couldn't be right. But as she reentered the numbers and tabulated them a second, third, even fourth time, the number didn't change.

"Shit," she mumbled in despair. She pressed her forehead to her desk and suddenly wished she were far, far away from her beloved bookstore.

When she'd purchased the Hazel Island Bookstore from its previous owner years ago, it had been something of an impulse. Alex had needed a new thing to focus on. She'd been drifting, no goal in mind. Then Max had told her he'd planned on closing the place when he retired. Alex, overly optimistic as she was wont to be, told him she'd buy it from him.

Her older sister Jocelyn had told Alex that she had been an idiot. And Jocelyn would say the same thing right now if she saw this spreadsheet.

"Alex?" A knock sounded on Alex's office door. "I need another set of hands out here. Afternoon rush," said Chris, her only employee.

Alex snorted. There was no such thing as a rush in this bookstore. It was more of a slow, meandering trickle.

Occasionally they got extra foot traffic from large groups of tourists. Their best months were the height of the summer season and then another bump around the holidays. During the summer, though, was when people forgot their e-readers at home and needed something to read on the beach in a pinch.

"I'll be out in a second," Alex called to Chris.

"Five minutes or I'm stealing from the till," Chris joked.

"Nothing to steal from the till," she said to herself, sighing. She needed to figure out a strategy to get out of this hole she'd dug. She'd thought of a handful of ideas, but they all needed one thing: money. And Alex was light on the money front.

When she went back out into the store, inhaling the scents of pine, ink, and paper, her mood lifted. No matter how much of a burden it was, she loved this bookstore. She loved the huge windows that beckoned customers to come inside. The excitement on people's faces when the book they'd been dying to read was finally released. Alex loved unboxing new shipments of books, flipping through the pages, and sometimes getting distracted from sorting and shelving more times than she could count.

Chris was shelving in the back. Three customers were browsing, two of whom were regular customers.

"You made it sound like this place was packed," said Alex.
Chris, a tall, skinny guy with hair longer than Alex's, shrugged. "I thought you could use a break from number-crunching." He took in her expression. "Considering the look on your face, I'm gonna assume it didn't go well."

Alex forced herself to smile. "Nothing you need to worry about."

"I'm on your payroll, darling. If anyone should worry, it's me."

"The help shouldn't ask questions. Get back to work," joked Alex.

Chris saluted her with an eye roll. Despite his sarcasm, Chris was a dedicated, efficient employee. He'd recently graduated from college and had come back to live with his parents, not sure what he wanted to do with his life.

Although he was only four years younger than Alex, she felt motherly toward him. He still had some of the dewy-eyed hopefulness of one's early twenties.

She knew from experience that that hopefulness tended to fade with age.

I'm not even thirty and already I'm so cynical, she thought wryly.

After one customer checked out, Alex was organizing books in the back when the entrance bell chimed.

"Welcome," she heard Chris say. "Let me know if you need help finding anything."

"Will do," said a masculine voice.

Alex froze. Peering through the shelves, she watched the man, wishing he'd turn toward her.

She knew that voice. She'd heard it in her dreams for the past three months.

Finally, she saw his face. She inhaled. It was him. She knew it like she knew her own name.

Under the stars, the waves gently lapping at the shore, this man had kissed her like a man starved. It had been a kiss she could never, ever forget.