Boy Loves Girl #39

A girl who guards her heart behind sarcasm and cool indifference finds that armor cracking when she meets Chuck Anderson, a charming football star and pre-med student at Kingston College. As their connection deepens, she must wrestle with her fear of being hurt—and the painful choices that come when trust is broken. In "Afraid of Love," a young woman discovers that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is let someone in.

Beth had her whole life planned out—no romance, just career ambition—until the charming Vic swept her off her feet in college, derailing everything. Years later, working at an office where she's earned the nickname "the Icicle" for her cold reserve, Beth finds herself drawn to Lee Reardon, a persistent newspaper reporter who refuses to let her push him away, forcing her to confront whether she can really keep love locked out forever.

When Jill Lister escapes her troubled family's shadow and lands a job as a typist in Columbus, she's determined to reinvent herself—until an old acquaintance from her hometown threatens to expose her past. As whispers poison her reputation in the office, she's drawn to Ken Bayard, the one person who seems to see past the rumors, but his true motives leave her shattered and vengeful. Now Jill is willing to become exactly what everyone believes she is, just to hurt those who hurt her.