AJAY

No one expects to be abandoned the day before Christmas but that is exactly where I find myself when my mum cancels our summer holiday to be with her new husband. Not wanting to spend the break alone, I jump at my best friend's offer to join him at his family's beach house.

The only potential hiccup? Dane's lazy, beach bum older brother, Nick, will also be there.

Except Nick is like nothing his younger brother has represented. He's a welcome breath of fresh air, a man who lives life to the fullest and who calls to me in ways nobody else has ever done before. Oh, and did I mention how good he looks on the back of a surfboard?

As far as I know I'm totally straight and it's easy to mistake attraction for admiration. But then the lightbulb suddenly flicks and I can no longer deny how much I want him.

I'm hooked and falling fast but we both have exes – my manipulative, slightly stalkerish high school sweetheart and his devastatingly beautiful supermodel ex who just so happens to be Nick's best friend – who aren't quite so thrilled about letting us have our happily ever after. Besides, this was only meant to be a summer fling. Right?

MATEO

Have you ever had to sit by and watch the love of your life meet the love of his life? Have you had to sit there and pretend you were oh-so okay with it? Because, you know, you were supposed to have moved on by now.

Yeah right.

I am drowning and spiralling, living my life so deeply in the closet I can hardly see for all the fear and internalised hangups. My career as a top model is right within my grasp too if only I can see past my family's judgement and disapproval and reach for it.

And then Jamie steps into my life in the most dramatic of ways, the sexy paramedic from the town next door who is about to shake things up for me in ways I never saw coming. He's pretty much perfect in every way and I can't fight the allure we both seem to have for each other, the one that makes me break all my rules.

But can I ever shake my heartache to let Jamie capture my heart and give him the love he deserves? He keeps telling me I'm worth it. But I don't know if I can believe him.