Author: kategilead

FinnSweet Caroline….like the song says, who’d have believed she’d come along?A much younger woman, she’s a new administrative hire, here at my fitness chain headquarters.Unlike the usual muscular, cut women on staff here, she’s built like an hourglass, with curves that go on for days. She’s more innocent and sweet, too, listening more than she talks; keeping herself to herself.All I know is, … she talks; keeping herself to herself.All I know is, she’s sexy AF! Perfect to look at, ripe for the plucking… and for having my babies.True, compared to her, I am a much older man. But the…

Jessie My boss cancels my long-awaited holiday at a resort in Mexico to send me on a boring business trip. The client is in some backwoods British Columbia boonies, where I’ll have to spend a few days info-gathering and documenting the operations there. It’s not in my regular job description. But we need the business and we can’t spare anyone else. Great. Instead of a trip featuring drinks on … Instead of a trip featuring drinks on a sunny beach with my friends, I’m going to a quarry. With…well, rocks. Yeah. Lots of rocks. Sounds like party…not! Slate I’ve planned…

Meri Tinsel Mines is like a town that Time forgot. With no industry left to speak of, no political will or money to spare, jobs and progress have passed us by, leaving behind those who can’t afford to move.Like me, with my useless degree. And my sick mom, who needs a kidney transplant that we can’t afford, even if she had a donor.I have my job at Jingle Bells Emporium but that barely pays the … Bells Emporium but that barely pays the interest on my college loans. And it sure won’t pay my mom’s medical bills.It’s shaping up to…

TabithaI’ve always been the good English girl who does what she’s told.So when I graduate University with a botany degree, I’m bursting to get out into the world, have some adventures and show my successful, career-driven Mother what I’m made of. And if I happen to meet the man of my dreams while I’m at it, well…all the better.When I spot an ad for young professionals to work for an charity … work for an charity organization abroad, I answer it in secret, thinking to surprise Mother with my derring-do.Little do I know that I’m about to end up trapped…

EvlinThe love of my life since childhood. We had it all. Love and chemistry in equal measure. Sizzling hot sex.From a young age, marriage and a big family with Will was tops in my mind. The sooner, the better. But Will’s painful past got in the way. That, and his drive to succeed. I did not want to wait to have kids. He didn’t know if he ever would. Big problem.As much as it hurt, I had to move … would. Big problem.As much as it hurt, I had to move on.Big mistake.WillMy Evie. Stubborn, fiery, strong-willed, impatient and determined.…

ZoeyAfter years of abuse at my crazy Aunt’s hands, I finally work up the courage to flee when the opportunity presents itself. My Mother’s legacy awaits me, across the border and the continent: Safety, tucked away in the peaks and valleys of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.RockWhen my Dad picks up a hitchhiker in town whose destination is our neighbor’s long-empty property, at first, I want nothing … neighbor’s long-empty property, at first, I want nothing to do with it. Why should I, when I already have so much to attend to at home?But Dad convinces me to go check out…

Near-bankrupt and under fire from a greedy corporation, our struggling family fairgrounds needs all the help it can get. When my Dad suffers a stress-related heart attack, his best friend Jamie comes to the rescue. He sells off his West Coast businesses and moves back home to Bangor to buy half-ownership of our business and put his shoulder to the wheel.Dad and Jamie are Carnies from way back. … Carnies from way back. Together, they make plans to grow and expand our beloved Park well into the future. As soon as Jamie arrives, the first project begins: Installing a giant…

After three years slugging it out on the fringes of the modeling world, I finally hit the big time, becoming a celebrated “overnight sensation” during Fashion Week in Milan. What a thrill, right? Finally gonna see my name in lights…woo-hoo! Right?Pffft.Don’t get me wrong, I like the money just fine. But the fake scene and the hollowed-out glitterati leaves this down-home boy cold. Same for the … down-home boy cold. Same for the empty-eyed, skeletal “beauties” who suddenly want me at their parties. My agent thinks that my new status requires new priorities. So she assigns me an assistant, more…

Through logic, strategy and plain hard work, I built my tech corporation, bit by bit. Never straying from my carefully plotted roadmap has brought me to the pinnacle of success.Nothing stops me or turns me from my path…until my beloved secretary Nancy suffers a stroke. An older lady who’s been like a mother-figure and faithful sidekick rolled into one, her illness shatters me, showing me how … me, showing me how empty a life chasing money really is.I feel like I’m falling apart at the seams. Until…from her hospital bed, Nancy sends a gorgeous young hand-picked candidate to fill in…

When our mom is re-married to a rich but awful guy, my little brother and I have to leave everything we’ve known behind to live by our step-dad’s rigid, controlling rules. Three years later, I’m an adult and I want out. All I need is to earn a big chunk of money so I can get my brother and me back to our hometown and start life on our own. Offered a gig as a cook in a logging camp, it’s four … camp, it’s four months of long hours and hard labor …but the paycheck is huge. The boss…