Once Burned

When a man with romance on the brain and patience in his arsenal meets a woman with a heap of baggage and cloaked in armor built from distrust, what common ground could they possibly find together?

Juniper Berry had been burned once before, and the experience singed her badly enough that she opted to fly solo for years afterwards. She kept her life busy with her career and children after the divorce. She’d even sold herself on the idea that she had no time to date if she even wanted to. But the reality? After what happened to her, there was precious little interest in seeking a mate. Actually, she’d thought after ten years that she was safe from falling in love again. In fact, she assumed that she would choose a man as staid and reliable as she was and be content. Eventually.

However, her solid five year plan is laid to waste in an instant, when she interviews the latest applicant for Sunset Villa. Spencer Pines isn’t looking for an apartment, but his mother is. When Juniper takes a single look at Spencer, sparks fly. But she is too cautious to be swept off of her feet by a handsome man with big blue eyes and smile big enough to park a car in. Or so she thought. He has the patience of Job and a new age way of thinking that combine to disarm her in way that she never imagined. But she wasn’t dumb enough to fall in love, right? Or was she once burned, but no longer shy?