Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life.
Four caskets. Two bodies.
Jessica and Jude Day witness their funeral and that of their parents a few yards away from mourning family and friends. Stripped of the only life they’ve ever known, the Days say goodbye to San Francisco forever.
Four months later, two thirty-year-old misfits with elite self-defense skills and penchants for alcohol, sex, and trouble arrive like an earthquake to Peaceful Woods, a retirement community in Omaha, Nebraska, that thrives on rules and gossip. Welcome home, Jackson and Jillian Knight.
Jackson celebrates his new beginning by embracing his job and wiping his cavalier past clean with a temporary oath of celibacy. But Jillian’s past is branded into her soul—the deaths, the insanity, Dr. Luke Jones, and the need to make her lovers bleed. Her chance for redemption comes in the form of a next door neighbor, one Senior Master Sergeant Monaghan. He’s sexy, dangerously alluring, and riddled with emotional issues from years of service. He’s also … So. Damn. Grumpy.
Their mission is simple: Let go, start over, don't kill anyone, and pray that nobody wakes the dead.
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
Jessica’s smile slipped. “If I told you then I’d have to kill you.”
“So you’re a secret agent?”
She flipped onto her stomach, resting her chin on her crossed arms. “If I said yes then it would no longer be a secret. Come on, Jones, you’re losing your focus. Don’t let me feel smarter than you or our time together will be over and I rather like hanging out here.”
“Luke,” he corrected.
“Lucas.”
“Luke.”
“Lukey.”
“LUKE!”
“Lulu.”
“I mean it!” Luke showed another rare moment of teetering emotion.
Jessica chuckled. “What are the chances of us having sex? I’ve never done it missionary, but you could possibly counsel me through it.”
He refocused on his crossword puzzle, filling in a word in pen. “Less than zero percent.”
“So, not in my favor, eh?
“Why not missionary?”
Jessica smiled in delight that Luke continued with the topic of conversation. “I’m sure you already know, but if you want me to say I need control, then sure, I need control. But the truth is I’d control any sex position you want to put me in.” Jessica winked as Luke gave her a fleeting glance. “I just don’t want you thinking you have control, even if I know it’s not the case. Pisses me off to see the smirk on a guy’s face when he thinks he has control.”
“Tell me why you need control.” Luke continued with his crossword.
“In bed?”
“Yes.”
“Someone has to have it.”
“Why?”
“Because someone initiates it.”
“So if I initiate sex with you will I have control?”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Jessica wiggled her eyebrows at an ill-humored Luke.
Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.
With 10 years of flossing lectures under her belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business.
After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the Contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing.
When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree at a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course…heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.
