Pepper Pace has created a collection of romance stories that shows the sweeter side of eroticism.
Someone to Love
"God, I'm happy she's gone," one of Jill's friends said. "Yeah, looking at her face makes me sick to my stomach." Words like those have followed Raina every since she was a child and half of her face was destroyed by a tragic fire. Once upon a time, she was one of the ‘beautiful ones' with her hazel eyes, light brown skin and long flowing hair. But now, Raina only watches the world around her. Too ashamed of her looks to actually interact, she finds joy in following Bill with her eyes. With her head down and her hair obscuring her scars she manages to get by.
Bill doesn't like anyone and has little patience for Jill's flirtations. He has been described as looking like Brad Pitt on crack -- and it's not very far from the truth. The only thing that matters is getting through the work day so that he can get high. But one day he literally crashes into Raina and for the first time in either of their lives they allow themselves to actually be ‘seen'.
The Way Home
Jamie thinks too hard, reads too much and doesn't much care for her looks. At fourteen, she knows that she's never had a real childhood. When her mother died she was the one that had to step up to the plate and run the household -- and for the most part she doesn't mind at all. And then one day she sees a white boy coming from the woods who was dirty, hungry and obviously uncared for but with eyes so lost that despite her normal shyness she offers to help him. As they come to terms with the fact that their lives transcends the ‘norm', Kenny and Jamie's relationship reaches heights that they could have never imagined, and lows that their love may not survive.
Baby Girl and the Mean Boss
Nicole wasn't sure why she had gotten the nick name Baby Girl when she was not-by far-the youngest employee of The Down Home Calabash. Her much younger co-worker complained, gossiped or talked about how attractive their boss was. But Nicole didn't have the luxury of a fantasy existence. She was on a mission to make money and to get her degree and her plans most definitely did not include Marty. Besides he was mean and he yelled at her!
But once she experiences a tragic accident, Nicole sees a different side of her sexy, boss. But each has their own secrets and if they can't express their heartfelt emotions their relationship might be doomed even before it begins.