New rules. New school.Change was supposed to be…good.Until I met him.No one warned me Principal Renner would be so hot.I’d expected some old, graying man in a brown suit.Not this.Not well over six feet of lean muscle and piercing green eyes.Not a rugged-faced, ax-wielding lumberjack of a man.He’s grouchy and rude and likes to boss me around.I find myself getting in trouble just so he’ll punish me.Especially with his favorite metal ruler.Being bad never felt so good.

    When the residents of her small hometown aren’t pitying her because of her ex-husband’s very public departure, they’re attempting to hook her up with a man…any man. Fed up with being everyone’s favorite charity case, Callie considers closing her animal clinic and moving to the big city. But, before she goes, she decides to give herself a Christmas treat to remember: a romantic holiday fling. And who better to have a fling with than the gorgeous newcomer who is turning heads around Maplesville? When injured Navy pilot Stefan Sutherland reluctantly rescues a gutter cat for the sake of his five-year-old nephew, he never imagined it would lead to him discovering Maplesville’s most fascinating attraction…its smoking hot vet. Getting involved with a woman was the last thing Stefan anticipated when he agreed to care for his nephew during his Army nurse sister’s deployment, but if he’s going to spend the holidays in this sleepy Southern town, why not make the most of it with the perfect holiday fling.This is a novella of approximately 28,000 words.

    It doesn’t spoil the main story.

    “I am going to make love to you now.” He says, “So if you want me to stop, tell me.” I shake my head frantically. If he stops at this point, I’ll probably die. Sophie Bennett has virtually no experience with men. Orphaned from birth, she’s gone from living with her reclusive spinster aunt, to a sheltered education in boarding school. So nothing prepares her for David Preston. The intensely attractive business-man is entirely out of her league. Can she handle such a dangerous man, or is she in over her head?

    Worse than that? She's broke. Her boyfriend recently left her, so she's stuck paying her hefty apartment rent alone. After two months unemployed, there's no money left. With no immediate family to turn to, Red reaches out to her estranged grandmother, a reclusive writer living on an island off the coast of Charleston. Several days later, Red receives $30,000 and an invitation to visit. James Wolfe is not Red's grandmother - but he's the only person waiting for her at the boat dock. Red has something he needs. He won't take "no" for an answer, and he doesn't mind screwing her over to get it. He lost his conscience six years ago, when he went off the grid. Since then, life is about him - and the renowned oil paintings he does under the mysterious pseudonym "W." Until the moment he sees her. Then Red is all he wants. And Wolfe will have her - any way he can. * This story is the first of three serials about Red & Wolfe. Red & Wolfe Part I was originally published in The BEND Anthology, a collection of stories from the authors of The Erotica Consortium.

    The party is rockin, and Claire is in her usual spot holding up the wall. It's all right. She's much happier scribbling in her trusty little notebook than mingling. Especially since those notes turn into the sexy erotic romances she pens in secret. Those two gorgeous gods across the room are perfect hero material and oh dear, are they headed her way?Mason and Hunter know she won't remember them as the scrawny geeks they were in high school. She also doesn't know they've been lusting after her for ten long years, waiting for her to meet a man and have a normal relationship. They're through waiting. The time has come to make their move and show her exactly how much they've changed.One night in the middle of a Mason/Hunter manwich, and Claire has enough research material to fill a hundred notebooks. Good thing she's got OfficeMax on speed dial to order more. Except suddenly her two hunks have this crazy idea that keeping her is selfish. Selfish? She may be mousy, but this mouse is about to roar "

    This year, the holidays are gonna be a lot less happy because she can’t afford the plane ticket home to celebrate with her family, and her best and oldest friend Josh is moving halfway across the country for a new job that he couldn’t turn down.When Josh asks her to accompany him on his road trip from Texas to Connecticut and offers to pay for her plane ticket back home, how could Amy say no? He’s promised some fun surprises on the trip, and more time with him could never be a bad thing.One surprise Josh hasn’t planned on is the record-breaking blizzard heading their way. They decide to wait out the storm in the charming town of Holly Hill, where a little holiday magic and a lot of snow combine to help Josh and Amy realize that the something that’s always simmered between them could easily become something more...

    Caryn I was fine at home for the 100th Friday night in a row, but instead my bestie drags me along to the biggest Halloween party of the season at a mansion. And now I’m dressed as a ghost and I think I’m seeing ghosts. But that can’t be. I’m ready to leave when I trip over my makeshift costume and straight into a prince. Rex is tall, sweet, and could scare away every ghost with his tight muscles and foreboding aura.But will I learn there are scarier things than ghosts, including falling in love. RexI’m supposed to be security for this event. But the host made me dress up, it was the last costume in the store, and now I’m fending off advances instead of watching for trouble.When trouble falls right into my hands in the form of a lusciously curvy ghost. Caryn is timid and funny, and she’s no apparition, but she might just disappear on me like one.Can I convince her that the ghosts might not be real…but I am.

    He exercises shirtless in his office, is notorious for his lunchtime nooners, he even yawns sexily. If I didn't need this job so bad, I'd take his black Amex and tell him where to swipe it.He doesn't even know I exist, but why would he? He jets off to Paris with supermodels, I spend Friday nights with Netflix and a chunk of Pepperidge Farm frozen cake—waiting for his call. Because every time he crashes his yacht, or blows $500k on a single roulette spin in Monte Carlo, I’m the PR girl who has to clean up his mess.But this time, it’s going to take more than just a fat charity donation. This time, the whole company is on the line. He needs to show investors that he’s settling down, and Step #1 is pretending to date a nice, stable girl until people forget about what happened with the Playboy Bunnies backstage at the Oscars.My plan is perfect, except for one thing:He picks me.

    How about a mom...times two? Nora has to find a way to juggle babies, her mate, and friendships while catching the occasional nap. Can she get her groove back? This is one of the Slice of Life Short Stories set in the ICE PLANET BARBARIANS series and does not stand alone. It should be read after BARBARIAN'S MATE.

    She had been butting heads with straight-laced John McBride since they were kids.John McBride only takes one week of vacation a year, and there isn’t any way he’s driving down a mountain back to Raleigh just because Kelsie Cole is already standing on the porch staking her claim when he arrives.The cabin has two rooms, and they are adults. They can share a space for seven days. It’s not like they’re attracted to each other or anything, right? Kelsie grits her teeth, but assures herself she can handle it.

    After the final rude message she wrote in my yearbook, I decided that we didn't need to see each other anymore. (But if we ever did, I would show her exactly why I had every reason to be "cocky," and make her admit that I really *was* "that damn sexy.")Now that it's ten years later, I've graduated from law school at the top of my class, and I'm being recruited to work at the number one law firm in New York City.Since I'm in desperate need of a change and want to meet new people, I don't hesitate to accept the offer.Until I find out that Courtney Ryan graduated from law school, too.Until I realize that she'll be working at the same exact firm, in the office right across from me.And if this timing isn't unfortunate enough, she's far more tempting and sexier than I originally remembered.(Oh, and last night I found out that she lives right next door...)We don't have to be close.We don't have to be best friends.But she's going to pay me back for making us enemies all over again...

    She can’t wait to leave Creekville again, and she’ll keep everyone at arm’s length until she’s out of there. That especially means the new high school coach…no matter how cute and charming he is.Noah Redmond knows Creekville is just a detour for Grace, the funniest—and sexiest—woman he’s ever met. He even joins forces with her to defeat the matchmaking schemes of . . . well, just about everyone trying to get them together. But when he and Grace must also tackle building a Christmas booth for the town’s biggest event of the year, he sees his chance for escape from the friend zone. When Grace agrees to a fake relationship to convince Noah’s boss he's ready for a promotion, the plan works perfectly until they share an unplanned kiss that changes everything. With the lines between friendship and romance blurred, is their undeniable chemistry worth risking their friendship when their future is anything but certain?

    And I certainly didn’t plan on spending hours more trying to win a contest to decide who would get to buy it. But when our time is up, would the toy be the only hot item I wanted to take home? One Night Only by Lucy Score After a Christmas Eve concert mishap, divorced Brooke finds herself snowed in with the silver fox retiring rocker she’s been trying to interview. Will it take a Christmas miracle to get him to open up to her or does the tattooed bad boy of punk rock have other ideas on how to pass the time? A Kellan Holiday by Tijan Humans are so simple with their holiday traditions. They are ignorant of the powerful and majestic creatures among them, like me. I am the most powerful demon above the surface. Nothing can stop me...except, well, some stupid prophecy. Holiday Swing by Kennedy Ryan For our five-year wedding anniversary, my husband decides he wants another woman.The traditional gift is wood, but okay.After trying everything with little improvement, our marriage counselor suggests we experiment to reignite our sex life. A swing party is my husband’s adventure of choice. Once inside, I can’t go through with it. Seeing him walk off with someone else, I realize we want very different things. Our marriage is over, and I have no intention of having a random hook up with a stranger.But then away from the noise and revelry, I find him.It’s one illicit encounter. A night with no names and no inhibitions.I don’t hold back, knowing I’ll never see him again. And I don’t…until my parents’ Christmas party… Nochebuena by Marie ForceNochebuena is the Cuban community’s Christmas Eve celebration, and in this short story, the cast of Marie Force’s Miami Nights Series comes together to mark the holiday after a year of change that's touched nearly every member of the family. Catch up with the characters from How Much I Feel, How Much I Care and How Much I Love and get a sneak peek at the couple that will headline book 4, How Much I Want. If you haven’t read the books yet, you’ll still enjoy this short story set in the Miami Nights world!

    I call it clever research.It gets me what I want and when I want it.When I get bored, I move on.My system works like a charm…Until a little ray of SUNSHINE shows up.***Dating is nonexistent for me.I’m quirky, silly, and inexperienced.This means my romantic life is certainly lacking.I don’t date because no one’s interested.Some say I’m an independent woman who doesn’t need a man.But I know I’m on the fast track to becoming a lonely cat lady.How many cats are too many cats anyway?My boring world stays that way…Until my future stepmother’s STALKER shows up.