Taking the high road is a whole lot easier with someone to love¿Attorney Desiree Contando can think of only one word to describe her very first home. Disaster. The vintage Queen Anne is beautiful-or will be, in about a thousand years. Certainly not in time to host the family Christmas gathering."Disaster" also describes the bad breakup that left her picket-fence vision in tatters. Even the carpenter she's hired is a reminder of lost dreams-the high school crush who never spared her a passing glance. But she's a grownup now, perfectly capable of keeping things professional.Keiran O'Malley is back in Roses, North Carolina, lugging his own shattered dreams of home and family. Until he's on his feet and ready to open his own Irish pub, serendipity finds him an attic apartment in Desiree's fixer upper in exchange for his remodeling skills.Roses is all polished up for the holidays, but nothing outshines the Cinderella beauty who owns the house. The spin of warmth between them is instantaneous¿but their broken hearts may not be strong enough to build happiness on, especially when the past shows up to demand its share.When two hearts get in a jam, it'll take more than whiskey cake to sweeten the deal.