Keep You Close

Olivia Reynolds is just where she wants to be—in control. The youngest brand manager for Vital, an athletic wear company, she has no family, no pets, and no obligations. When Olivia literally bumps into Cardic Lawson, her world is turned upside down. Cardic insists a no strings fling will meet both their needs. No commitments and sex anytime, anywhere.  

Cardic is as carefree as they come. Other than her career, life is all about fun. She’s a cultural anthropology professor at Loyola, and studying human culture and growing up in a household of infidelity has made her bitter about love. After an eighteen-month field study in the Amazon, Cardic is back in the states and ready to let loose. She wants nothing more than a casual affair with the fiery redhead, but will her desire to break Olivia’s control also break the bonds of her own heart?

Michael, an up-and-coming hyperrealist sculptor from Atlanta, Georgia, is about to get her big break. An expert at carving the female form, she owes much of her success to her muse, best friend, Jess. Michael has been in love with Jess for years but treasures their friendship too much to risk it for uncertain romance. Jess, a special education teacher, values Michael’s friendship above everything else in her life. Can one passionate kiss change everything she thought she felt about Michael? Can Michael make the choice between a dear, lifelong friendship and capturing Jessica?

Zane Ranger has built a life on the Grand Canyon’s Colorado River, guiding successful expeditions through its wild currents. She found sanctuary in the remote landscape after a devastating breakup left her determined to keep her distance from love.

Helen Mitchell arrives fresh from a botany postdoc, hoping a field research position near the Grand Canyon will be her way into the future she wants. A two-week river expedition is part of the interview, and the rapids are nothing compared to her parents' controlling expectations.

Zane falls for Helen fast, hard, and completely out of her depth.

As the river carries them deep into the canyon, it strips away their defenses, revealing a connection they didn’t plan for and can’t ignore. But when Helen returns home for a final interview, the pressures waiting there threaten to undo their romance.

Out on the river, they might have a chance. Off it, the world is far less forgiving. They’ll have to decide whether they’re brave enough to turn their one river trip into forever.

Will the echo of Casanova open two romance nonbelievers to the possibility of love?

Rowan Whitney believed love was like the romance novels she read growing up, until her engagement party exploded in very public heartbreak. With New York gossiping about the scandal, Rowan and her sister escape to Venice for the summer.

Dante Morosini grew up in one of the most romantic cities in the world, but even though she’s a professor teaching romance, she isn’t a believer. The women in her life are temporary. So the last thing she needs is her new, extremely aggravating American neighbor stirring up feelings. Rowan Whitney has a talent for getting on her nerves, but their sisters Valentina and Wilhelmina are not having that problem.

Rowan and Dante don’t believe in love, but they’re about to discover the one thing neither of them saw coming—each other.

JJ Jones receives the call everyone dreads. Her wife, Charleigh West, has been in a devastating accident, and now she lies in a hospital bed, unresponsive.

At her bedside, JJ has no choice but to sit and remember.

They fell in love in middle school, found each other again and again despite distance, college, and obligations pulling them apart. Then there’s the life they built together, JJ leaving the military to start her own financial planning business, Charleigh pouring her heart into teaching inner-city kids in Atlanta. Their wedding where they promised to never stop wanting more of each other.

Somewhere along the way, they broke that promise.

Now faced with the possibility of losing Charleigh forever, JJ must confront the painful truth that she never stopped loving her wife, but she just stopped choosing her. As time slips through her fingers, JJ reckons with the life they lived, the love they nearly lost, and whether it’s too late to fight for the woman who will always be the beat of her heart in this life and beyond.

In the superficial world of Hollywood glamour, tenacious journalist River Westwood’s path collides with Maxine Stone, the ice queen CEO of Stone Enterprises. Maxine is reluctantly paired with River as her biographer for a six-month project, sparking a battle of wills that ignites an unexpected burn of attraction. 

As they clash and spar, their animosity might not be animosity at all. Perhaps it is something deeper. Caught in the crossfire of their own making, River and Maxine are inexorably drawn to each other. Are image and ethics too dangerous to comprise or will the demands of the heart rule in the end?