Elizabeth Maddrey

When he arrived at the ranch, he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. She wasn’t looking for anything beyond stability for her son. Christmas might be a season of hope, but do they dare risk everything for love?

Her body has healed. His heart is still broken.

All she wants is to leave her past behind.

Turns out, my sister was serious about everything she said in that phone call.

The cancer.
The leaving.
The postcards.

She had her life mapped out. Then everything crashed and burned.

Her professional life would be perfect, if he’d get out of her way.

You ever meet someone and have that immediate click? That was Kayla and me. First day at our first teaching jobs and we both just knew we were going to be best friends forever.

And we are.

She does a great job keeping me down to earth—a skill I appreciate even more now that I’m a billionaire.

Except lately, it’s like she’s pulling away.

It started with her spending more time with my sister instead of hanging out with me. And now she’s starting to date the youth pastor?

It could be that I’m a little jealous. Seems like everyone is falling in love except me. But I don’t think that’s it.

Because it feels like I’m in danger of losing a lot more than my best friend and I don’t know how to make it stop.

She’s half in love. He’s never noticed.

Love might be a choice, but some choices are off limits.

They say opposites attract—and I’m not going to disagree. In fact, I’d be doing my best to see if the attraction was mutual if not for one little thing.

She’s my best friend’s little sister.

And since she and her brother are close, she’s become the honorary sister for all the guys in our group.

But I don’t see her as a sister.

At all.

She’s funny and smart.

And gorgeous.

But I don’t want to make it weird with the guys, so I figure I’m going to leave it be. And if enlisting her help to plan a fundraiser for my job is a convenient excuse to spend time alone with her? So what?

The only person I’m hurting is me.

She's out of options. He doesn't want to get involved.

Jenna and I have been friends since college.

Not besties or anything. Just the kind of friend you hit up when you want to go to a party but don’t want the pressure of a date.

She’s fun. Independent. And she gets me.

Which is probably why we made a pact and ended up dating casually.

The kiss was completely out of left field. And so was the ridiculous pact to get married if we were still single in our thirties.

Neither of us have ever mentioned that pact again.

But man, a lot of years have passed and I can sometimes still feel her lips on mine. Now that she’s going to be renovating my house, it could definitely be a problem.

The whole pact thing might have been dumb, but would it really be such a bad idea for us to get together?