Maggie C. Gates

In Spades is book 4 in The Beaufort Poker Club. This series MUST be read in order. Start with book one, Poker Face! _______________________________ Kristin I was drowning. I had four kids under one small roof, a job that barely made ends meet, and not nearly enough hours in the day. Then I walked in to clean Room 328, startled the cute computer nerd, and had the best twenty minutes of my life. But that was all it could ever be—stolen moments with a man who was too good for my past or present. Will Going undercover at one of my hotels wasn’t a chore. Two weeks of R&R in a seaside town sounded great. No one would expect the guest in Room 328 to be a billionaire. Falling in love with the housekeeper who nearly gave me a heart attack wasn’t part of the plan. I know she’s keeping secrets, but so am I. _______________________________ Get ready for an insta-family, undercover boss romance—complete with a dog rescue, nap dates, a billionaire lap dance in a backwoods bar, and a spicy moment on top of a Ferris wheel that will melt your Kindle! This modern day Cinderella story is book four in the Beaufort Poker Club Series.

Ray Rule #1 of almost dying: Make sure someone knows your passwords. It’s hard to cancel your phone plan if you’re dead. Rule #2 of almost dying: Make sure your house is clean before you walk up the steps to the pearly gates. It makes selling off your life easier. Back-up plans are for people who plan on losing. All it took was eight seconds for me to win the biggest competition of my life, and one second to lose everything except that championship buckle. I had left my family’s cattle ranch at eighteen with no intention of ever coming back for good. Now I was back, stuck in a wheelchair with a beautiful disaster attempting to burn my house down. Brooke Rule #1 of trying to not get fired: Don’t piss off the grumpy bull rider. Rule #2 of trying to not get fired: When you do get fired, keep your chin up. The grumpy bull rider was hot. It was just a little fire. Tiny, even. But that didn’t change the fact that Ray Griffith didn’t want me anywhere near him. But we came to an agreement: I ignore him, and he doesn’t fire me. Easy, right? Not so much when we can’t keep our hands off each other.

—Christian— Rule Number 1: You ride in my truck; you let me open the door. Another problem was the last thing I needed. Unfortunately, Cassandra Parker was mine. But the biggest problem of all? It wasn’t the beautiful stranger sticking her nose in my operations. It wasn’t the bulldozer she was driving over my way of life. And it definitely wasn’t the fact that she was living in my house. My biggest problem? The engagement ring on her finger. —Cassandra— Rule Number 1: If you’re going to kill someone, make it look like an accident, cry at the funeral, admit to nothing, and deny everything. To be clear, I didn’t want to be Christian Griffith’s problem. But there I was: exiled from New York, stranded on a cattle ranch, and desperate to salvage what was left of my career. Living with a single dad and his children was a downgrade from my high-rise office and city comforts, but I agreed to it for one simple reason: to save my job. A hot cowboy wasn’t going to lasso me into staying a second longer than necessary.

"Call me crazy, but I didn't think Miss Hard-Ass of Happily Ever Afters would have a one-night stand with her best friend's best man." Weddings have a way of turning the most cynical person into a puddle of sappy, blubbering goo. After all my years of experience as a wedding planner, I should know. And the biggest problem with that? I’m Hannah Jane Hayes, and I’m already a complete sap. Love at first sight? Kissing in the rain? Grand gestures? Happily ever after? Yes, please! Weddings put hope in my hopelessly romantic heart. They remind me to wake up every morning believing that today could be the day I meet my soulmate. Unfortunately, today would not be that day, because I was stuck babysitting the best man from hell: Isaac Lawson. He’s a playboy real estate mogul, my best friend’s best man, and perpetual pain in my ass. One too many glasses of champagne later, and I’m more than willing to make a deal with the devil if it means getting out of my dry spell. Isaac says it’ll be square. Fair. Just one epic night with no strings attached, and no awkward morning after. Get ready for an enemies to lovers, opposites attract romantic comedy with a meet-hate at a poker club wedding, a date-wrecking hero, a sassy, southern belle heroine, a taboo moment at a burlesque club, and a swan attack induced happily ever after. Isaac Lawson is used to dominating in the boardroom and the bedroom. That is, until he meets the one woman on earth who is less than impressed. It’s going to take everything in him to keep from falling harder than a brick off the side of the Empire State Building. STEAM LEVEL: Five Alarm Fire! The Beaufort Poker Club series is meant to be enjoyed in order. Start with book one, Poker Face: a steamy enemies to lovers romance!

Lennon: Rule number one: Committing crimes is not a group project. Rule number two: Don’t start fights. Finish them. Rule number three: Don’t try to hustle a hustler. I should have walked away. I should have ignored that sweet-talking cowboy. Good things don’t happen to people like me. Good people stay away from people like me. But that cowboy wouldn’t leave me alone. He should have known better. After all, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Carson James: Rule number one: When you’re holding a grudge, don’t think about how attractive the object of your hatred is. Rule number two: When you do think about how attractive she is, ignore it. It’ll go away. Probably. Rule number three: When you’re stealing a car, it helps to have the keys. That girl was trouble. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on her bruised knuckles in the bar. The last thing I expected was for her to show up on the ranch and bring that trouble to my front door. I always liked playing with fire, but apparently, so did she. Only time will tell which one of us is going to get burned. Fire Line is the final book in the Griffith Brothers series. Get ready for a romance jam-packed with lust, heat, and danger.

Asking Layla Mousavi to be my fake fiancé wasn’t the weirdest thing I had done this week. It didn’t even crack the top ten. Not when my days were filled with escaped pigs, radioactive casseroles, and cow-induced car crashes. _____________ The population of Falls Creek, North Carolina, is a collective menace to society. Layla thought the first line of her orientation packet was a joke, but she soon realized it was all facts. After only a few hours on the job, the whip-smart flight nurse found herself flying headfirst into small-town drama. Police Officer Callum Fletcher needs a fiancé, and he needs one fast. His best option? The alluring nurse who had put him back together after one of his worst days on the force. She was the new girl in town and needed a place to stay. The elusive bachelor could handle a temporary roommate if she could handle a town full of gossiping busybodies, his meddling grandma, and a former date who still had her sights set on being the future Mrs. Fletcher. The only problem? Layla Mousavi doesn’t date cops anymore. Especially ones with commitment issues the size of a Ferris wheel.

Blair: You know those fairytale moments when your life is on the brink of transformation? I thought I had one. I can still picture it: dressed to the nines in a dazzling ball gown, clutching a glass of liquid courage, and the eyes of my very own Prince Charming finding me from across the room. It was the quintessential meet-cute. Or so I believed. Fate had other plans. The glare of emergency room lights jolted me awake after one wrong bite had me waking up into a nightmare. Things couldn’t possibly get worse. Then the universe laughed and said, “Hold my appletini.” Caleb: Seriously? The hospital called me to pick up my ex-wife from the emergency room in the middle of the night. Two long years of moving on and trying to forget her had gone up in flames with one phone call. The ink may have dried on our divorce papers, but now I’m on the verge of putting them through a shredder. _____________________________________________ Pretty Things on Shelves is a spicy second chance romance that ends in a swoony happily ever after!

"Surely losing your virginity to a firefighter in a cabin getaway that was won at a fundraiser was against some fine-print bylaw in the town charter." ______________________ It all started with a list. Ten resolutions for a new year, new me. Or at least the me I thought I should be. It was going all fine and dandy until I got snowed in with my friend’s brother. Her much older brother. What happens in the cabin, stays in the cabin. Right? Wrong. When Austin Hale shows up on my doorstep, offering to help me with my list, I decide that I’d be crazy to say no. He’s new in town, and I’d rather not go on my journey of self-discovery alone. We can do this as friends. Besides, he’s too old for me, and the two of us have enough baggage to fill an airplane. Ten resolutions, and then we move on. In my mind, the rules are clear. But my heart has plans of its own. ______________________ Welcome back to Falls Creek, North Carolina, where gossip is a way of life and meddling is a show of affection. What Heals Us is a small-town romance packed with heat and heart. Get ready to melt over hunky firefighter Austin Hale, and sweet kindergarten teacher, Caroline Tyree. This is book two in the Falls Creek series, but can be read as a standalone.

People you shouldn’t fall in love with: -Your best friend’s sister. -Your best friend’s pregnant sister. -Your best friend’s sister after you deliver her baby. -Your best friend’s sister when she’s an exhausted, overwhelmed new mother who has to deal with her crazy baby daddy and meddling townspeople. But rules were meant to be broken. Full moons and fate have a way of pushing people together when they least expect it. When Beth Hale called 911 when she was in labor, the last person she thought would show up was her brother’s best friend. Now, he’s the only person she trusts. Former Navy SEAL Shane Hutchins has demons of his own. Reinventing himself as a small town paramedic was supposed to be his atonement for the things he had done. Falling in love with a single mom wasn’t in his plan, but now he’d do anything for her and the baby girl he calls “his.” Even if it means putting his life on the line. ____________________________ Get ready for a heart-pounding, feels-packed love story with a fairy tale happily ever after, and some moments that are so hot they’ll melt your Kindle! Please refer to the note regarding sensitive content and topics in What Saves Us in the preface of the book or the author’s website before reading. What Saves Us is the final book in the Falls Creek Series. This book can be read as a standalone, but it is recommended to read the series in order.

Alternate cover edition of ASIN B08WQ4ZBBC “You can do this. You’re not some kind of damsel in distress.” “Then what am I?” How did she not see it? She didn’t walk through fire; she was fire. I cracked a smile, “You’re the dragon.” _____________________ What happened to Troy Davis? That’s what Becks is determined to figure out. When life takes an unexpected turn and plops her in the middle of the Afghan desert, the hotshot journalist finds herself surrounded by bullets, grenades, and a grumpy Army captain with a chip the size of Texas on his very broad shoulders. The captain is determined to get under her skin just as much as she gets under his. All Captain Nathan Griffith wanted was to shake off the hell he’d faced over the last few years during a quiet deployment in the middle of nowhere. Lucky for him and the rest of the boys of Company B, Forward Operating Base Blessing fit the bill. When word comes down that a war correspondent is going to be embedded with them during their deployment, SHE is the last person he thought would ever show up. After the unthinkable happens, Becks and Griff are torn between duty and desire. He never expected to find his fresh start in the middle of hell, but what will happen when Becks finally gets the answers she’s been looking for? _______________ The Stars Above Us includes a sassy redhead, a grumpy Army captain, pranks, shenanigans, and a guaranteed happily ever after. Fall in love with Becks, Griff, and the boys of Company B in this steamy contemporary military romance.

Not in the Cards is book 5 in The Beaufort Poker Club. This series MUST be read in order. Start with book one, Poker Face! _________________________ Melissa I was done with internet matches and swiping left and right. The dating pool needed a lifeguard. But just when I decided that love wasn’t in the cards for me, the boy I’d always had a crush on walked into my ER and flashed a smile that told me he wasn’t letting me slip away. I just had to keep his sister’s secret a little longer. Jason The military was my ticket out of Beaufort, North Carolina. After a career of flying fighter jets for the Navy, I rolled back into my hometown and found the one who got away twenty years ago: my sister’s best friend. _________________________ Not in the Cards is the fifth book in the Beaufort Poker Club series. Get ready for a feels-packed love story with a fairy tale happily ever after, and some moments that are so hot they’ll melt your Kindle! For a note regarding sensitive topics in Not in the Cards, please see the preface of the book.

Betting Man is book 6 in The Beaufort Poker Club. This series MUST be read in order. Start with book one, Poker Face! Bridget The day I decided to leave Kyle Kingsley was the day I was no longer afraid of dying. I was afraid of living. I’d had it all—or so everyone thought. I had been trapped in a gilded cage by a deadly monster, and finally escaped. But so did he. Trusting again was harder than healing, especially when the nightmare wasn't over yet. Chase Bridget was the only girl I had ever wanted. Seven whispered words during our friends’ wedding gave me hope, and then it all went to hell. I had been fighting my attraction to Bridget my whole life, and now I had to fight for her life. _________________________ The Beaufort Poker Club Series is complete with Chase and Bridget’s happily ever after! Get ready for a heart-pounding, feels-packed love story with a fairy tale happily ever after, and some moments that are so hot they’ll melt your Kindle! For a note regarding sensitive topics in Betting Man, please see the preface of the book.

Wild Card is book 2 in The Beaufort Poker Club. This series MUST be read in order. Start with book one, Poker Face! ____________________________________ —Steve— I died nine months ago. My heart was still buried six feet under. Being labeled a widower at thirty was too kind. I was a ghost. Eat. Sleep. Work. Repeat. Until she crashed into my life without warning. —Erica— Three seconds changed everything. Now I was starting over. New town. New house. New neighbor—one who didn’t seem particularly excited for me to be around. Not that I could blame him. He saw me on the worst day of my life. But it looked like life had one more wild card for me. ____________________________________ AUTHOR’S NOTE: Slow Burn? Oh yeah! Steamy? Of course! Feels? Buy tissues in bulk. A grumpy cop with a penchant for telling it like it is. A good girl who has a serious aversion to four letter words. Adult kickball tournament? Watch a group of hunky first responders throw down like they’re in middle school. This is a story of redemption, forgiveness, and second chances.

—Madeline— Every girl dreams of meeting her celebrity crush. Unfortunately, my dreams weren’t coming true. I was on national television, standing in front of my celebrity nemesis, and ten hours earlier, I had his tongue down my throat. Hello, nightmare. —Luca— Her poker face was unbeatable. I would never have guessed the woman I went on a date with would be the woman I judged the next morning or the pastry chef of my new restaurant. I’m used to getting what I want, and she’d do anything to slip away. You know what they say—if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Let the games begin. _______________________________ “Poker Face” is the first book in the Beaufort Poker Club series. This book is an enemies to lovers romance that features a grumpy hero with a swoony side with a heroine that would rather be jumping off of roofs than picking out glass slippers, a feels-packed love story with a fairy tale happily ever after, and some moments that are so hot they’ll melt your Kindle. You’ve been warned. The Beaufort Poker Club series is meant to be enjoyed in order. Start here with book one, Poker Face: a steamy enemies to lovers romance!

All I ever wanted was to be perfect. That wasn’t too much to ask, right? It was the only way to change how people saw me and my past. I, Logan Solomon, could not screw up. Going home to Beaufort, North Carolina, for my sister’s wedding was a painful reminder of everything I had tried to leave behind. One perfect drink with her maid of honor turned into five. And those perfect drinks turned into one night that would change everything. My sister’s best friend had always been on the other side of a line I wasn’t supposed to cross. Now, there are two more lines. And they’re pink.

Every good baker has secret recipes, but that’s not the secret that could put Annie in danger. To her quaint New England community, she’s the sweet owner of Annie’s Pies, but the world knows Annie Smith as someone else entirely. When the threat moves closer to home, Annie must choose between life as she knows it or the unknown. Miles Zhou is no stranger to a fight. A decade in the ring as an MMA fighter taught him a thing or two about adversity—and how to take down a threat quickly and quietly. He’s the perfect addition to the executive protection team at Keller & Associates. Playing bodyguard to a small-town baker shouldn’t be a difficult job, but Annie Smith isn’t sugar and spice and everything nice. She’s pies, lies, and in disguise. _____________________ An ode to the romance genre with some fourth-wall-breaking goodness! Get ready for Miles (a Croc-rocking, pink-drink-wielding, anytime-is-the-time-for-swim-trunks sunshine hero) to knock Annie (an anxiety-fueled ball of sarcastic nerves) on her rear. Literally. 100 Lifetimes of Us is a charming, low-angst rom-com that’ll have you laughing, crying, fanning yourself, and everything in between.

I was living in a house of cards. All it took was one night for my mansion to come tumbling down. Every dream. Every goal. Forever changed. Either we own our mistakes, or the mistakes own us. Releasing Winter/Spring 2025. Cover and summary to come.

-Joelle- You know what they say about enemies. * Know the enemy * Keep the enemy close * Outsmart the enemy * Make out with the enemy Okay, maybe not that last part. And maybe that’s what got me in trouble with Vaughan Thompson. But in my defense, he started it. That city boy should have known better than to act a fool in these parts. I don't get mad. I get even. ______________________________ -Vaughan- None of this would have happened if an armadillo hadn't wrecked my car. That was my welcome home to Maren, Texas. The other half of the welcoming committee was a five-foot-three pile of sass and pure evil. Too bad everyone else in Joelle Reed’s life was completely smitten with her. But not me. Jo was the incarnation of evil in a pretty package. A pretty hot package. I wasn’t at fault for what transpired. The she-devil started it. ______________________________ Cry About It is a standalone enemies to lovers romance with moments so hot they’ll melt your Kindle and a swoony happily ever after. Get ready to laugh your head off, and be prepared for an excessive amount of canned ravioli, topless bull riding, and to fall in love with the world's worst guard dog.

A Griffith Family Holiday Short A bite-sized holiday treat of Silas and Claire Griffith's love story! Silas and Claire are the parents of the four Griffith Brothers. Cowboy Christmas is best enjoyed AFTER reading the Griffith Brothers series, though it could be read on its own.

Aurora Whitlock hit rock bottom. Broke, single, and mourning her career going up in smoke, she decides to kick-start her new life by renovating the bones of an old beach house hidden along the Carolina coast. What a cliché—inheriting a fixer-upper from a deceased relative. That kind of thing only happens in books. But beggars can’t be choosers. The Old Whitlock Place, and all its secrets, is home sweet home for the summer. Jack Wharton didn’t expect to find a summertimer squatting in the dilapidated mansion next door.As a career firefighter tasked with protecting Cedar Island, North Carolina, he’s seen a thing or two. But he’s never seen anything quite like her. Painting walls and fixing floors in the middle of summer shouldn’t be that hard to handle. But the temperature isn’t the only thing that’s hot. Can Jack and Aurora’s sizzling romance stand the heat? Or will the secrets they uncover consume them? _____________________700 Senses of Summer is a fun summer read full of witty banter, the best girl gang you’ll ever meet, mystery, and a scorching romance with a swoony happily ever after! It is book two in the Romantics series but can be read as a standalone.