Trent Matthews was having a really tough year.He had been in an unconventional marriage, but witnessing his wife suffer from cancer and finally lose the battle after six months had been a sad experience. It had brought them closer, but it was also too late and he still had to live with that regret.His career had also survived many ups and downs. Fortunately, all the public relations had paid off. The board voted and decided to have Trent assume the role of president of the company in addition to being CEO. Since his father, the founder, had retired three years ago when Trent was 25, hefaced numerous battles maintaining the position at the top of the corporation. He now had full decision-making power over the conglomerate's many subsidiaries, a role he would have had to share if someone else had been elected president in his place.With the professional side of his life well in place, Trent believed it was time to focus on his personal life. He called his bodyguard Max into the offi

Somehow, work had always given Trent the focus he needed. When he'd lost Sara, when his marriage had started to fall apart, he'd always relied on business and the high demands of being CEO to numb his emptiness. That time, it wasn't working.There wasn't a moment when he didn't miss having Gwen in his arms, wanting to hold her close and bury himself so deep inside her luscious heat that he'd never find his way out again. He missed Jonah, his solid, warm, bright character.How, even as a child, he seemed strong enough to face his demons and destroy them withyour goodness. God, Trent missed them so much. I was going crazy.The meeting with the board of directors seemed to last forever. Finally, just before dusk they were finished, and Trent could finally leave the building. He checked his cell phone for messages or calls he might have missed. No Gwen. It had been three weeks since she had walked into his office. Trent put the phone back in his pocket and stood outside the entrance to h

Love, laughter, pleasure, tears and happiness—they would share it all for many, many years to come. And Gwen would always remember that morningsunny with their raucous outdoor lovemaking, marked as the moment when their twin daughters should have been conceived. Two years later, they would have another set of twins, boys this time, and Gwen and Trent decided that maybe they could be satisfied with their brood of five. But when they least expected it, Gwen became pregnant again, and it was a girl, which made the older twin sisters very happy.Gwen chose to name her Sara. Trent knew it wasn't like she was trying to replace the first daughter in Trent's heart, but that she was trying to show him that Sara was back to stay. Trent didn't used to believe in reincarnation, but somehow he felt it might be true. Sometimes, when his youngest daughter smiled at him, it seemedher little angel who had come home. For that, and for every miracle he had experienced in his life since he had Gwen bac

GWEN“I'll put your ass on a bus back to Podunk if you don't toe the line, Wix. Could you sing where you worked? They won't even let you back onstage when I'm done ripping you to shreds,” Morty, the executive handjob, yells at me from the Homegrown Records conference room.It's been two months since the night I met Tana, and JC has managed to land in the paper three more times. I can't let this happen any longer. I've officially become the laughing stock of Nashville, and I can't stand the passive stares of the guys on my tour anymore.When the bus pulled into town this morning, I headed straight for Tana's house first. We've kept in touch and each time I've been back in town on a break, she's made time for us to be together. It's the first real friendship I've had since Mary Jane Devo, who married her Navy boyfriend and moved to Hawaii almost two years ago.I'm not the type of girl to make friends easily, mostly because I work as much as I can, and I never had extra money to go shopp

CREIGHTONFuck me.That's what her bright red lips are saying, and I don't think she has a damn clue how edible she is sitting on the bench. She shifts, and the glow around her neck reflects the purple light of the club.She caught my eye when she walked in the door because she looked so completely out of place.But I haven't been able to take my eyes off her because. . . Cum. I have no idea. I've had my fair share of beautiful women, but this is a completely different woman. Not the kind of trained woman who swarms this place, hunting and looking for her next meal ticket.No. _ One look at her, and I know she's untrained and innocent. She's not a gold digger type of woman.The way she immediately played along and never backed down from my touch. Hell, she leaned into me, wanting more. She's rare, and I'm the type of man who appreciates quality more than most when it comes to choosing a woman.And then there's the fact that she's sitting at the bar on Christmas Eve with no ring on her