All Roads Lead to Shepherd Grove

By Dania Voss

Who says you can’t find your soulmate when you’re five-years-old?

Melissa “Missy” Green and Noah “Shep” Shepherd’s fates were sealed as childhood sweethearts one fateful day on the playground when they were just kids.

When she’s forced to leave Shepherd Grove, Texas by Noah’s spiteful, wealthy parents after high school, Missy’s world is shattered. Leaving Texas, her family, and Noah behind, she shoves her heartbreak aside and creates a successful life for herself in Boston.

After ten years, Missy returns to attend her sister’s baby shower. The attraction between her and Shep is undeniable, but she's torn. Is she open to a second chance at love or are the wounds of the past too deep to ignore?

Please note: All Roads Lead to Shepherd Grove is a small town, second chance romance short story, on the sweet side – about 10,000 words.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dania Voss
• Release date: Dec 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985260557

Dania Voss

Int'l bestseller and award winning author Dania Voss writes compelling, sexy romance with personality, heat, and heart. Born in Rome, Italy and raised in Chicagoland, she uses her background to create stories with authentic, engaging characters. A favorite with romance readers, her debut novel “On The Ropes,” the first in her Windy City Nights series, became an international bestseller.The second and third installments in the Windy City Nights series, “The Warriors' Whisper” and "Hannah's Bliss" received 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite ®. "Hannah's Bliss" was voted April 2019’s Book Of The Month at The TBR Pile. All three novels in the series were designated as Recommended Reads in the 2019 Author Shout Reader Ready Awards. “Hannah’s Bliss” earned an award in the Oklahoma Romance Writers of America’s 2020 International Digital Awards contest, and won 1st place in the 2021 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Awards (NERFA), in the Erotic Romance category. Dania has also contributed stories to multiple romance anthology collections.Dania’s work has been highlighted on NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX, and she has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Southern Writers Magazine, and Chicago Entrepreneurs Magazine (selected as the #8 Top Chicago Author in 2021). The Windy City Nights series is going to the moon in 2022, as part of the Writers on the Moon project.When she’s not writing, you can find Dania at a sporting event, a rock concert, or at the movies (usually a comedy).

Book preview

Chapter 1

Melissa Green rushed to the elevator with a smile on her face, rolling her suitcase behind her with ease. Thank God for multi-directional spinner wheels. She giggled at the security guards as the doors closed once she was inside the elevator car.

They couldn’t help appearing confused. They’d never seen Melissa dressed in her most comfortable jeans, worn leather cowboy boots, and navy-blue plaid button down shirt. Not her usual Thursday attire, and with her long, silky blonde tresses loose, instead of pinned up. She was the epitome of the All American Country Girl. You left that life behind ten years ago, Missy. But today I’m going back.

Melissa had thirty minutes to check in with her senior executive assistant Jesse Davis before her cab arrived to take her to Logan International Airport. Then she was headed back to her hometown of Shepherd Grove, Texas, from where she’d been banished and ordered never to return by the founding town’s family, the Shepherds. It had been the most heartbreaking day of her life. She was stunned she’d been given permission to return for her younger sister Daisy’s baby shower.

Due to Melissa’s demanding work schedule, Daisy had been kind enough to delay her baby shower until the last possible moment. She was due in a week.

Daisy was married to a Shepherd after all. Mathew or Mattie as everyone called him. Mattie wasn’t the Shepherd that mattered though. His older brother Noah was, and he was the reason she hadn’t stepped foot in Texas for ten long years. She wondered if everyone still referred to Noah as Shep. It doesn’t matter. He’s none of your business anymore.

Melissa exited the elevator on the third floor and hurried toward the offices of the Irene Wagner Literary Agency. This was her life now, and she had so much to be proud of.

You really shouldn’t be in here. Melissa heard Jesse holler as she approached her office. He was standing in the doorway alongside Steve Kessler, one of the agency vice presidents. Both seemed surprised to see her. She hadn’t mentioned she’d be stopping by before leaving on her trip. Good thing I decided to. What the heck is going on?

Mind your own business, Jesse, Todd Wagner, Irene’s son barked from inside her office.

Calm down, Todd, Jim Wagner, Irene’s husband warned.

Melissa’s muscles tensed and she drew in a long breath. This was all she needed. A confrontation with Todd and Jim right before she left town.

It had only been two months since Irene had passed away from brain cancer. Her diagnosis had taken everyone by surprise. Irene had asked Melissa and Steve to run the agency when she had become too ill to manage day-to-day operations herself six months ago. Truth be told, Melissa had been co-managing the agency with Irene for the past four years since she had graduated from Harvard Business School with her MBA. Todd had been making a nuisance of himself at the office since his mother had become ill.

Melissa placed her suitcase against the wall outside her office and stepped inside