Swoony Sweet Romance Bundle

The Kissing Dilemma:

He was her older brother’s annoying friend, and she was the girl he couldn’t let himself have.

Cassandra Carrigan carries the past with her every day in the form of crippling anxiety and PTSD.

She tries to hide it, but for a girl who insists on taking high school classes online and rarely leaving the house, that isn’t easy to do. Therapy sessions only go so far.

Throw in a grieving father and three brothers with no one looking out for them, and her life is a mess.

When a friend of her brother’s needs a place to stay as his parents move abroad, the Carrigan house is the logical place. They have the room and what’s one more mouth for Cassandra to cook for?

It’s only at night as she reads her romance stories that she finds herself staring at their shared wall.

A challenge to break out of her comfort zone from her therapist sends her on a risky mission. Get Roman to kiss her. Feel something other than the pain.

And then convince herself it didn’t need to happen again.

The Kissing Dilemma is book two in the Gulf City High series, featuring charming hockey players and a battle of wills they weren’t prepared for.

This is a sweet, young adult contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Download it now to see why readers are swooning.

Home was where the heart was, as they say, and Roman’s heart wasn’t in his own house. Heck, his parents were rarely even there as they traveled back and forth to Eastern Europe for some business he didn’t understand. 

But he never missed them, and that should have been sad. 

Instead, he ingrained himself into the Carrigan household, not caring if they got sick of his constant presence or not. 

Roman Sullivan didn’t care what anyone thought of him. It was part of his charm. 

“Yo, Carrigan, open up!” Roman pounded on the front door, surprised to find it locked. Jesse was more like a brother to him than a friend. He hadn’t been at school and that meant one of two things. Either Jesse was on his deathbed or Cassie needed him. 

No one came to the door, which was a surprise. There was always someone around at chez Carrigan. A minivan pulled into the driveway, and Roman turned around to watch two boys scramble from the back and run toward him. 

“Rome!” Will, the more talkative of Jesse’s brothers yelled in excitement—as if he hadn’t just seen him at dinner the night before. Eli followed in his twin’s footsteps, smiling with less effusive excitement. 

“Roman.” Mary, the boys’ nanny since they were born, sent him a kind smile. “Good to see you, young man.”

When Jesse’s mom died, Roman lost her too. Morgan Carrigan was more of a mother to him than his own. He’d known her since he met Jesse when they were five. 

But Mary helped soothe the burn for all of them. She stepped in with her gentle hugs and motherly presence. 

Glancing at the watch on her wrist, concern washed over her. “Is Jesse not home? I have to go pick up my daughter.” 

“I don’t know where he is.” Roman shrugged. “But I’ll keep the boys company.” 

She patted his cheek and moved past him to unlock the front door. “You’re a good one, Roman.” After kissing Will and Eli on the tops of their heads, she went back to her car. 

Roman followed the boys into the house where they dropped their school bags in the hall and ran for the backyard where the dry grass sloped down to a pond. 

“Don’t go out there,” Roman hollered. 

“But Jesse said we have an alligator!” Will pushed the sliding glass door open. 

Roman cursed and followed them. He stopped as he went past the staircase where a silent Cassie sat. Her face flushed when their eyes met, but she didn’t say a word. 

Roman should have been used to her silent presence, to the way she avoided him whenever he was in the house. There was a time when they were friends. He spent a lot of time with the Carrigan siblings before their mom died. 

After that night, Jesse clung to the friendship tighter, while Cassie let go of it altogether. 

“Hey, Cass.” A smile slid across his lips. 

She didn’t return it, and her stare unnerved him. He rocked forward on his heels and stuffed his hands in his pockets, unable to tear himself from her gaze. What was it about her that always intrigued him? Every time he entered their house, he looked for her, hoping to catch her eye. 

But he never did. Because one thing was certain: Cassandra Carrigan didn’t care one lick about him. 

The front door opened, breaking them from their spell. Jesse and Charlotte bickered like an old married couple as they walked into the hall. Their relationship was new, and they were complete opposites, but it worked. 

Roman would never admit it, but he envied Jesse. 

They stopped when they found Roman and Cassie. Jesse lifted an eyebrow. “She let you in?” They all knew Cassie didn’t answer the door. Ever. 

“Mary.” 

Jesse cursed. “I forgot she had to leave early. Charlotte needed a ride, and it slipped my mind.”

Pushing what he called “Cassie confusion” from his mind, Roman put a hand on his chest. “It’s a good thing you have a friend as great as me. Sometimes, I wish I had a Roman in my life.”

“Shut up.” Jesse shoved him with a laugh. “Where are the boys?”

“I fed them to an alligator.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

Roman jerked his head to the open glass slider. “They’re out there.” 

Jesse gave him an incredulous “you let my brothers go play by the pond” look and rushed out. 

Charlotte plunked down next to Cassie on the stairs. “Hey, Cass. Good day?”

Cassie shrugged. “I mean, it was a day.” 

Roman tried to hide the hurt he always felt when he heard Cassie talk to other people. He’d known her for over a decade. Charlotte only came into her life a month ago. 

“I need a drink.” By drink, he meant a coffee made with Mr. Carrigan’s fancy schmancy coffee maker. He walked into the kitchen, leaving the girls to their chatter. 

He’d done this so many times he didn’t need to think about it. A few moments later, he had a vanilla latte with whipped cream. 

Jesse walked in, dragging the boys behind him. 

“Dude.” Roman held up the empty whipped cream container. “You’re out.”

“You’re the only one that uses it for your girly drinks.” He laughed as he shoved his brothers toward the door. “Put it on the list, and we’ll get more with the next grocery delivery.”

“My drinks aren’t girly,” Roman grumbled. “They’re delicious.”

He carried his coffee to the living room where the girls flipped through channels. 

“Oh, is that for me?” Charlotte smiled. “Thanks, Rome.” She tried to steal his cup, and he held it out of reach. 

“It really is a shame you’re not taller, Charlie.” He took a sip and sighed. “Good stuff.” His gaze fell to Charlotte. “I’m not your boyfriend. Get him to make you one.”

“So chivalrous.” Cassie’s words weren’t meant for him, so he couldn’t count that as speaking to him, but they brought a smile to his face all the same. 

“Don’t believe I can be a gentleman, Cassie-girl?” He stared at her in challenge, but her lips didn’t even twitch. “Jess! Make Charlotte a latte.” 

“Sure thing,” Jesse hollered back. 

He shrugged. “See, I am very chivalrous. She wanted a drink, so I got her one.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. 

Roman sank into the leather recliner and put the footrest up. “Roll those pretty eyes any harder, Cass, and they’ll get stuck. Then you won’t be able to look at my pretty face.”

She grunted. 

“Let me translate.” Charlotte suppressed a laugh. “Cassie says what a great thing it would be not to see your ugly mug all the time.”

“Aw.” Roman set his cup on the table beside the chair and leaned forward. “Cass, are you really seeing me all the time? I’m flattered.” 

Again, Cassie only stared. 

At first, Roman stared back, but then he squirmed under her scrutiny. He tapped his thumb against the arm of the chair and glanced away before pushing down the footrest and standing. “I’m, ah, going to find Jess.” 

Charlotte’s giggling followed him out but still nothing from Cass. 

He found Jesse in the kitchen making Charlotte a coffee. “Cass,” he yelled. “Do you want one?”

“Nope, I’m good,” she hollered back. 

Roman leaned against the counter. “Your sister, man.” He shook his head. 

Jesse laughed. “You usually last longer than this around her before bagging out.”

“She won’t talk to me.”

“She doesn’t talk to anyone.” Jesse eyed him. “You know it’s not her fault, right? She isn’t just choosing not to talk to you.”

He sighed. He did know, but it didn’t make it any easier. He’d always struggled trying to understand it, trying to see how to help her. “What happened to the kids who spent every day together? Doesn’t she remember that?”

“Of course, she does. But in her life, really in all our lives—even yours, Rome—there’s a before and an after. She’s stuck in this in between place along with my dad. Neither have moved on to the after. Maybe it’s PTSD, maybe something else, but we have to have patience. We have to love her.”

He did love her. He always had. She was his family, the girl convincing him to break the rules when they were kids, the one he’d have followed over a cliff. In his after, that hadn’t changed, but she had. 

Jesse put a hand on his arm. “I know you care about her. She’s like a sister to you too. We just have to believe she’s making progress and help her in whatever way she needs.” He picked up two cups and walked into the living room. 

Roman waited a moment to get a handle on his thoughts. Most people didn’t think he had a thought in his head, not the airhead hockey player who was always making jokes. He wasn’t supposed to worry about anything. The rich kid who could do whatever he wanted. 

He hoped Cassie still knew him well enough to see someone else, someone who cared about her. 

Running a hand through his short blond hair, he pushed out a breath before re-entering the living room. 

His cup no longer sat beside the chair. Instead, a suspiciously similar one tilted against Cassie’s lips. 

For the first time in a while, she smiled his way, an ornery glint in her eye. 

“It’s okay.” He sat in the recliner. “I tend to backwash when I drink.” 

Her face twisted in disgust, and she spit the coffee back into the cup before setting it aside. 

Settling his eyes on the TV where a hockey commentator shared his opinions, Roman wiped the smile from his face. He wouldn’t let Cassie see how much her reactions got to him. 

Once upon a time, he thought that girl was perfect. She’d been smarter than the rest of them with a wicked sense of humor and a nose for trouble. 

Not to mention adorable dimples even the kid-version of himself could appreciate. 

Over the past years of silence and the crumbling of their friendship, many things between them had changed. 

But that wide-eyed wonder he’d developed as a kid, the image of her he had in his mind… that never had. 

* * *

It was dark by the time Roman pulled up outside his palatial home. His house belonged in an exclusive part of Gulf City like Wentwood, not the much smaller neighborhood it sat in.

Where the Carrigan house was large, the Sullivan house was grand. Even the pond behind his house—a staple in Florida—was larger than Jesse’s, and also more desolate. No other homes could be seen across the water. Only the birds and alligators inhabited the area along with Roman. 

Which was why he was surprised to see his parents’ cars both in the driveway as he walked up the drive from his parking spot on the street. 

That couldn’t be good. They weren’t due back for another few days at least. All the jokes and the “I don’t care” attitude he showed to the world disappeared when he stepped through the front door of his own home. 

The hall was dark save for golden light spilling out the door of his dad’s office. His footsteps echoed through the house, but that was probably just in his own mind. A foreboding feeling sliced through him as he peered through the doorway to find both his parents seated on the couch along the back wall, bookended by two tall, oak bookcases. 

“Um, hi?” He stood in the doorway. 

“Roman.” His mom looked up with a soft smile. “Come in, honey.” 

“It’s late, son.” His father looked at his expensive watch. 

“I didn’t expect you to be here.”

They nodded in understanding. His parents weren’t bad people. They weren’t even bad parents when they were around. They ran a financial services company with offices in Estonia, New York, and London. Their Tampa office was small potatoes compared to the others. 

Their biggest flaw was their dedication to their work. It came at the detriment of their relationship with their son. 

“Take a seat, Roman.” His father held an apology in his voice. Roman became well versed in their various tones. “We need to talk to you.”

Roman sat on the corner of his father’s antique desk. He knew whatever they wanted to discuss was serious because they didn’t chastise him. 

“I’m listening.” 

His mom sighed. “I’m not sure exactly how to tell you this, boyo.” She sent a pleading look to her husband.

“We’re moving.”

His dad’s words bounced around in Roman’s brain, refusing to take hold. Moving. Moving. Moving. 

Dread built in the pit of his stomach. “What do you mean moving?”

“Our offices in Estonia are expanding, and we’d like to oversee the project for the next year.”

“So, I won’t see you for an entire year? No more coming back and forth?”

His dad met his eyes. “Son, we can’t leave you here alone. You’re not even eighteen for another two months.”

Roman shot to his feet. “You can’t be serious.”

The meaning of their words finally hit him. His parents weren’t moving to Estonia. They all were. 

His mom stood. “It’ll be a new start. The country is beautiful and safe. They have wonderful schools and lots to see and do.” 

“But I’m a senior. You want me to pack up and move only months before graduation? What about my friends? What about hockey?” 

“They have hockey in Estonia.”

“But my team is here.” He couldn’t believe the words leaving their mouths. Now, out of all the times they’d abandoned him, they wanted to do what was right. “Can’t you just leave me here until graduation? I’ve been fine on my own every other time you’ve left.”

His mom reached out to take his hand. “Roman, we’re selling the house.”

He yanked his hand back and stumbled away from her. This was it. Soon it would all be gone. His senior year. His team. The Carrigans. 

What would he have in Estonia? Parents who were never around and a foreign country surrounding him. 

“No.” He backed away. 

“Roman.” His father approached him. 

Roman shook his head. “This isn’t happening.” He turned on his heel and marched through the dark house, climbing the stairs to a room that wouldn’t be his much longer. He closed the door, expecting his parents to have followed him. 

But true to form, they let him be. 

They only decided to be parents when it would upset his entire life. 

Perfect.