Death to Valentine's Day

Maia St. James spent the year since she caught her boyfriend cheating avoiding anything to do with love. Now her friends drag her to an anti-Valentine's masquerade ball at a mountain lodge in Colorado, where her ex is among the guests.

To get away from him, Maia kisses a masked stranger. He turns out to be Decker, the ex's older brother and a professional football player. He has had his eye on her for a long time.

Before the two can sort out what that kiss means, an avalanche seals the guests inside the lodge. One of them is found dead, and the party becomes a murder mystery with no way out and no help coming.

Maia and Decker have to work through their history while they try to work out which of the people around them is the killer. The romance is new and the clock on it may be short.

The story is a short, witty romance with a suspenseful edge, written to be read or listened to in a single sitting. Amazon Original Stories released it in January 2026 as installment five of the Second Chances collection, part of The Improbable Meet-Cute.