All things, when placed under pressure, eventually break or leave a mark.

Tattoo artist Brody "Cujo" Matthews knows how to keep things simple. In life and in love. Abandoned as a child by a mother who refused to stick around to raise three boys she didn't want, he's intent on staying clear of complicated women. The only things complicated in Cujo’s life are the killer tattoos he designs and inks. That all changes when he’s asked to help organize his best friend Trent's engagement party, which means working with Trent's fiancée's best friend, Drea, the definition of high maintenance and sizzling curves. And the one woman he doesn’t want to walk away from.

Andrea "Drea" Caron is broke and tired. After years of caring for her ailing mom, she's at the end of her rope trying to manage the piling medical bills, two jobs, and a life placed on hold. She certainly doesn’t need the added frustration of a sexy playboy tattoo artist messing up her best friend’s engagement party or her carefully balanced life. But when Drea witnesses the abduction of a woman from the café she works at, she can’t help but turn to Cujo who’s determined to prove to Drea that he’s someone she can count on forever…but as they attempt to bring the truth to light, someone is working to bring that forever to a sudden, deadly halt.

Can a love built on secrets survive?

Rugged, hot, and rock hard, Dred Zander is exactly the type of man that normally sends Pixie running. Not dreaming about running her hands down his washboard abs...and lower. The lead singer and guitarist for the band Preload embodies trouble behind his quick smile and guarded eyes, and Pixie left trouble behind her years ago along with the name Sarah Jane Travers and the pathetic trailer her mom called home. With her abusive past in her past, she has a new life, a new family at Second Circle, and a dream of opening her own business. She needs capital and time. What she doesn't need is a tempting long-haired rocker or the paparazzi that follow him around.

But Dred has other ideas. Pixie's sweet hazel eyes, purple hair and kaleidoscopic tattoo of exotic flowers that swirl up her arm haunt his dreams, and he knows she wants him too. He just has to convince her. But as a juicy exposé threatens to expose their pasts, and a blackmailer terrorizes their present, Pixie and Dred have to decide what really matters and fight like hell to keep it.

When her car breaks down off the side of a lonely highway far from her sunny Miami home, tattoo artist Lia never expected her very own white knight to ride up on the back of a barely street-legal motorcycle...and she never expected to fall for her dark savior. After a string of failed relationships and a bruised heart Lia is not looking for forever, and the hot mechanic, with his sexy scruff and shaggy hair, is simply impossible to resist. He's the perfect candidate for a mind-blowingly-perfect, no-strings-attached one-night stand.

Reid left his life in Chicago far behind him and hasn't been back, but he's never been able to escape the guilt he feels about his own painful role in inviting a monster into his baby sister's life. A monster who almost destroyed her. Being with Lia is an unexpected gift, one he doesn't feel he deserves, and their one night together has him wanting more than he should. When he surprises her at her tattoo studio, Second Circle Tattoos, in Miami, he's in for a shock—and a fist to the face—when his past and present collide.

With secrets coming to the surface, Reid and Lia are thrown into a world of betray and lies that threatens to pull them under, and the last link to his former life may be the darkest of them all.

This is a standalone story which happens to include characters you may know and love in the Preload/Second Circle Tattoos stories. It takes place between The Darkest Link and Jordan Reclaimed and is a lead into the Preload stories.

Holly is crushed when a public vote leaves her runner-up on the tattooing reality TV show, Inked. The prize, her own tattoo studio, was the only way to get her career, and reputation, back on track. But without it, she’s stuck with a freezing apartment and no prospects. Until Dred Zander, lead singer of rock band, Preload, offers her a way out.

Ryan will do anything to head up the New York office of his talent agency, even take on a band whose career is on the line. Turn Preload around, and the job is as good as his. It’s an easy win for a man who likes to get things done… alone. There’s only one problem, a sexy as hell tattoo artist with a knack for social media.

When Preload offer Holly a temporary position helping with their social media campaign, it’s a distraction Ryan doesn’t expect. But then he doesn’t expect to lose his heart either.

This book is not a standalone and picks up a year after Lennon Reborn (Preload). The Sweetest Gift is a Christmas novella for fans of the Second Circle Tattoos and Preload series.

It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s the rough with the smooth. It’s love. And most of all, it’s family.

It’s Reid and Lia’s Christmas Day wedding, and everyone is invited.

Preload has officially become a cross between Pixie’s beloved Sound of Music Von Trapp’s and the McCallister family of Home Alone. With so many family members involved, it takes a private jet and a whole heap of patience to get the group to Miami. Elliott’s faith in the future is rocked, Nik needs to figure out how to reach the three children placed in his care, Lennon faces a dilemma, and Jordan has reasons to worry about Lexi.

Meanwhile, Cujo misses his wife, Trent’s world is shaken, Pixie’s heart is somewhere else, and Lia will be walking herself down the aisle, even though she worries she’ll be a terrible wife.

Each chapter in this 35,000-word novella catches up with all eight couples (even PETAL and Kendalee’s Daniel get their own chapter), as they all come together to celebrate.