A dark romance inspired by the original tale of Beauty and the Beast.
Once upon a time, amidst the height of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, two lovers were cursed and sentenced to a fate worse than death. One would remain immortal, and the other would never reach the full bloom of womanhood. Haunted by the love he could never touch, never protect, the lover turned more beast than man.
300 years later, that curse is still at work- but this time, it is the only thing that can reunite them again. Isabella Bennett, the young and ever-curious daughter of a scatter-brained tinkerer, dreams of leaving her sleepy town of Danvers, Massachusetts behind. With her best friends to support her dreams of becoming a travel journalist, and keep her evil sisters at bay, Isabella survives senior year none the wiser to the curse that is taking root once more. Romance is far from her mind, despite the sudden attention on her from the team captain, Griffin Chambers. Even as the town buzzes about a handsome newcomer that moved into the old Pierce mansion next door to their coach house, Isabella refuses to buy into everyone else's excitement.
A chance encounter changes that.
Christophe Cavaleur appears at first glance to simply be a drifter passing through during the summer carnival. A living, breathing James Dean with coifed hair and wild eyes of gold that gives Isabella the strangest sense of deja vú. Despite the sudden, wild attraction, Isabella would rather avoid complications and forget him entirely. But he has other plans.
Soon, she will learn that they have more in common than just being neighbors.
When bubbly Emerson Kachi Smith starts working for the handsome Lucas Hendrix, she quickly discovers there's something hot and untamed behind his cold exterior...
*****
When bubbly Emerson Kachi Smith is offered a job as the personal assistant to the cold and handsome Lucas Hendrix, she's left wondering why. After all, she has no credentials to speak of, and working for a paranoid billionaire CEO who's impossible to please is far from easy. But a few weeks into her job, she begins to realize that she can't judge a book by its cover. Left alone to discover the mystery behind Lucas's cold exterior and to tame her uncontrollable desire to comfort him, she learns they have a lot more in common than she ever thought possible. Could their two lonely hearts share the same dream for happiness?
[[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]
Cover designed by April Alforque
Former title 'Coffee And Papers'