Wild Kisses by Skye Jordan

Wild Kisses features a romance between two hard-working and dedicated people who have each suffered in the past. Trace Hutton is a contractor trying to build a business after having served three years hard time for buying a few illegal prescription drugs (which seems like a harsh sentence for a first offender) while taking care of his father who suffers from dementia. He’s renovating a former bar for Avery Hart who has returned to the town of Wildwood after eight years of an unsatisfying marriage to an army soldier. She’s pouring everything into building a bakery and cafe business.

Each of them is working long hours to build up their businesses and have a lot to lose professionally and financially if their gambles on themselves don’t pay off. Avery seems to spend all her time baking innumerable incredible sweets that she’s selling and giving away all over town. I found it hard to believe that she could bake such a variety of goods in the tiny apartment kitchen that is described. She doesn’t just make two or three sweets in an assortment, but makes eight or nine plus a whole other assortment that she sells in a local grocery. I found myself getting distracted by trying to compute how much time it would take to make all those desserts in any one day. No wonder she’s exhausted and day-dreaming about hot sex.

They’re both deeply attracted to each other but worry that the time isn’t right for a romance. Trace worries that he’s not good enough for such a sweetheart as Avery. Avery worries that she’s not experienced enough for such a good-looking player as Trace. Of course, they eventually succumb to their sexual attraction and have some hot sex. And then some more.

There is a sense of threatening doom as we’re told over and over again how thinly stretched the H and h are financially and how everything is riding on Avery being able to make a go of her bakery and for Trace to get some new contracts from people impressed by his work on her building. Throw in a former ex-con who seems shifty and a policeman who has an irrational resentment of both Avery and Trace. I spent the second half of the book waiting for the hammer to fall.

The sense of tension as well as two likable main characters make this a very enjoyable read.