The Big Bundle

A compilation of Quint's series', providing a sweet mix of novels and shorter reads.

***💗***

She nibbles on her upper lip, glancing anxiously at the river of people flowing right beside where she and him stand. Clearing her throat, she takes a small step further toward the wall of the restaurant as if to avoid the jostling of passersby.

Jay narrows his eyes as he observes all of this; hating the feeling of dread beginning to burn just under his ribcage.

He doesn’t know this woman. And, for whatever reason, he doesn’t want to.

Straightening to his full height, he allows his regard to comb her body, from her sensible, beige flats to the top of her head. She barely reaches his chest. When his eyes return to hers, he can see her jaw has become slightly unhinged as she stares at him in apparent confusion.

“You’re Johnny—Jonathan Harley-Byrne, right?” she seems to squeak. She clears her throat and sticks out her hand. “I’m Tory Hill.”

Jay arches his eyebrow as he glances at her hand.

What—is she with the IRS or something?

“I uh—look— this is awkward, I know, but…I just moved to your town a few months back?”

She seems to wince, slightly shaking her head as she averts her gaze. “I messed that up,” she hisses before turning her attention back to Jay. “Look, I was hoping to talk with you for just a moment. I won’t take too long…I don’t think. It’s just, well, there’s something you need to know. It’s really important,” she forces out in a voice that is, obviously, not made for speaking over a crowd. “Can we go inside, please?”

“I don’t have anything to talk about if it’s regarding Fated.” Jay delivers in a growly staccato, his voice low yet sharp enough to slice through the noise of the city.

Her brows pucker before he turns and removes himself from her presence.

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "The One Who Got Away" (a Slow Burn Grumpy/Sunshine Small Town romance from the "Fated Beginnings" series)

***💗***

“You always order the second thing, Naomi. Every single time, when you’ve talked about what you’re thinking of getting, you get the second thing.”

He slides the menus back toward her. “And I’m hungry,” he adds. “So I figured I’d help us waste a little less time.”

Naomi narrows her eyes. Lips pressed together, she grabs her menu, settles herself back into her seat and ignores Arik until the waitress arrives.

Naomi sniffs and orders the Chicken and Waffles.

Later, when their plates arrive, Arik notes the look of longing she casts toward his meal.

Reaching forward, he grasps her plate and switches her meal for his.

She looks up at him, barely restraining her smirk, though her quarter-moon eyes tell the tale of her state of amusement.

“Whatever,” she huffs. “You’re messing with my process, Man,” she warns, her brow puckering even as she bows her head, extending her hand across the table.

Arik doesn’t restrain his smirk as he places his hand in hers. Bowing his head, as well, he listens to Naomi’s voice as she says grace over their meal.

She squeezes his hand before releasing it.

Looking up, Arik sees her regarding him, her lips curved into a soft smile.

“You want some of my lasagna?” she asks, flatly, eyeing him as she nudges forward the plate of food he’d sacrificed on her behalf.

“Sure, if you’ll take some of my chicken and waffles” he agrees, mirroring her offer by pushing forward his newly acquired meal.

“Deal,” she consents, allowing her full smile to shine through and melt Arik from the inside out.

As she busies herself with sawing off a generous portion of her meal to place upon his plate, she doesn’t notice him melting into a puddle before her.

But then, she never does.

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "Three Wrongs to Get Wright" (a Friends to Lovers Second Chance Small Town romance from the "Fated Beginnings" series)

***💗***

The person standing before her must be the most beautiful man ever created.

The few images that’d floated to the surface of Marlia’s mind had seemed too good to be true.

Now, she sees that they don’t even do him justice.

The way he’s staring at her, though, blue eyes cold and flat; it causes dread to pool in her stomach.

She does not want to go home with him.

“Uhm, Lucas?” she queries, dismay tugging her brow low.

“Yeah,” he croaks, then is seemingly nudged by one of the agents who had informed her of her husband being out of town and being on his way to check on her.

Somehow, Marlia doesn’t get the impression that he’s overly worried…or overjoyed to see her.

Her mouth goes dry.

So the only thing, the only person she remembers, is a husband who apparently cares so little for her?

Maybe her brain had decided it wanted to forget; maybe it’d been trying to give her a chance at a fresh start.

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "Forget About Faking It" (a Marriage of Convenience WITSEC Small Town romance from the "Fated Beginnings" series)

***💗***

“Maybe, I shouldn’t have been so hard on you,” he croaks.

She looks up at him. “Or maybe, sometimes, we all need a good nudge in the right direction.”

She turns back toward the table, rubbing her arm as she chuckles; though he can’t help but get the impression that there’s an inside joke he’s not a part of.

Oh, to be privy to whatever is going on in his mystery woman’s mind, right now.

“You know,” he says, lifting himself from his stool and taking a step toward her. “I never got your name.” Leaning his hip on the table just a few handspans away from her, he reaches over to her pile of lego and adds a piece to her build, letting it click into place before he continues. “I feel like I should at least have that before I ask for your number,” he continues, turning his attention to her.

She turns her heart-shaped face to his, her eyes wide, lips parted. The pulse at the base of her neck beating as rapidly as his own.

Rafael is certain, right then, that he’s not leaving this event until he’s secured an opportunity to see this mystery woman again.

Just as sure as he is that he’s found the woman he hadn’t even realized he’d been searching for.

His teeth involuntarily clench in response to the hum thrumming through his entire being, ringing out the same refrain:

Mine.

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "Nice After Five" (a Fairytale Retelling Small Town romance from the "Fated Beginnings" series)

***💗***

“So? How’s marital bliss?” Reyna’s mom prodded over the phone a few days following.

Reyna snickered. “If by ‘marital bliss’ you mean, ‘an odd form of roommate-hood’, then I’d say it’s fine.”

“Well, he’s not a bad looking roommate to have in your life. Doesn’t hurt that he has your ring on his finger, either.”

“Consider that a prop, Mom. Despite it all, we’re both believers; we agreed to honor one another in the most basic tenets. But other than that, this is purely platonic.” She didn’t at all appreciate the slight pang in her heart prompted by that statement. 

Inhaling, she finished, as much to herself as to her mom. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "The Sum of Love" (a Fast-Friends to Lovers Sweet Romance from the "Books of Love" series)

***💗***

“Intelligence has nothing to do with matters of the heart,” Everleigh breathed, bending to pick up the fallen dustpan.

Collin turned back to her, watching as she surveyed the layer of dust that’d managed to spread in all directions.

“Let me get that, Everleigh,” he said, reaching for the plastic tool in her hand.

She snatched it away just before he could grasp it.

“Oh, no. What are you trying to do, take my job or something?”

Collin chuckled. Swiping at the dustpan again, and missing as Everleigh moved both hand and body out of his way.

He trailed her as she walked backwards, a soft grunt escaping her when her back hit the wall. She nibbled at her lower lip as she watched his eyes deepen in color, a look of triumph spreading across his face.

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "The Art of Love" (a Fast-Friends to Lovers Sweet Romance from the "Books of Love" series)

***💗***

“Hey,” he said, licking his lips, “Don’t suppose I could take a look at some of your designs? You have any handy?”

Aleeyah found herself mirroring him, wetting her own lips. She cleared her throat. 

“Sure!” she agreed, turning to grab her phone from her purse and hide the craving she feared was evident on her face. “I’d love that,” she continued. “And give me your honest opinion.” Her eyes slid over to him as she added with a grin, “Tell me how much you honestly think I’m a design genius.”

He chuckled. “I have no doubt, Miss Aleeyah.

Even as she navigated to her online cloud storage where she stored images of all her designs, her breathing quickened at the thought of sharing her work with someone whose art she admired so much.

“Wow,” Liam said, moving in closer to Aleeyah as he peered over her shoulder to get a better look at the first design she’d pulled up. 

The heat from his chest warmed her shoulder blades and Aleeyah resisted the urge to lean back and rest against him. Instead, she debated whether or not to just hand the phone to him; but neither of them seemed to mind the current arrangement.

He reached over and swiped the screen, the cuff of his shirt brushing her wrist with each swipe; she felt his breath against her cheek as he applauded each design with softly murmured words of encouragement.

“These are amazing, Aleeyah.”

--- 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 "The Dream & The Real Thing" (a Never-Been-Kissed Love-at-First Sight Sweet Romance from the "Sisterhood of the Tiny House Revolution" series)

💖 Friends-to-Lovers

💖 Enemies-to-Lovers

💖 Fake Relationship

💖 Marriage of Convenience

💖 Christmas Romance

💖 Grumpy/Sunshine

💖 Boss/Employee

💖 Enemies-to-Lovers

💖 Christmas Romance

💖 Love-at-First-Sight

💖 Neighbor/Roommates

💖 Love(able) Love Triangle

💖 Forced Proximity

💖 Second Chance

..and more!