It was a relative term, or so I thought.After a relationship from hell that almost killed me, I didn’t want another man in my life. A job, a home, and great friends were all I needed.Simple.Uncomplicated.Until two men interrupted the calm I was pretending to be.One could take me to the future—a future I never dared to dream I could have. A man who gave me a chance to smile and fix the mistakes I’d made. But, I shouldn’t get a second chance at a happily ever after. The other would take me back to the past—a past I didn’t want but was all I knew. After losing the most important thing in my life, I didn’t deserve more than that.Faced with choices I didn’t see coming, I knew I had to make a decision. Be thrust forward into a new life, or be held prisoner of bad choices from my old one. I was terrified of both.Ages 18+ due to adult situations and violence.

    His phobia against commitment is challenged when his best friend asks Delaney to marry him first.As a helicopter pilot for the 160th Night Stalkers, Delaney knows the risks of loving a SEAL. When her lover's friend loses an arm in battle, she can’t refuse his marriage proposal when he's already lost so much. In love with one man, pledged to marry another, she’s torn. Tuck and Delaney must come to grips with the happiness they owe themselves and the happiness of their friend who has lost so much.

    Amanda screams, but the visitor turns out to be Raif Weston, a very handsome off-duty fireman come to rescue her and the other residents of Johns Creek.They attempt to get to the shelter where the residents are being evacuated, but the storm is so fierce that they only get a short way down the road before they hit a tree and are forced to turn back, and so they both end up trapped in Amanda's house."So, now that you have me here, what are you going to do with me?" Raif asks.…. and the storm begins for real.

    She’s always been the girl who does what she’s told. Except that time two years ago when she shocked everyone in the small town of Fairhope by breaking up with the richest guy in town and heading off to Boston to follow her dreams.It was the single most exciting thing she’s ever done for herself, and it felt like the start of something big…Until one terrifying night ripped it all away.With no place else to go, Leigh Anne heads home to reclaim what’s left of her old life. On the outside, she seems like the same reliable girl everyone knows and loves. But deep inside, she’s hiding a terrible secret.That’s when she meets Knox Warner, a troubled newcomer to Fairhope. His eyes have the same haunted look she sees every day in the mirror, and when she’s near him, the rest of the world fades away. But being with Knox would mean disappointing everyone all over again.If she wants to step back into that old life, she has no choice but to say goodbye to him forever.Only, the Trouble with Goodbye is that sometimes it’s about courage and sometimes it’s about fear. And sometimes you’re too broken to know the difference until it’s too late.

    She lost her heart that night, but his plans didn't change. He left their small town to pursue his dreams.Seventeen years later, a trip home leads Cameron McCade back to Salt Fork, Texas and the newly widowed Jessie Devine. Since his return, the fire between them burns as hot as ever. Can they take up where they left off? Can Jessie risk her heart again?

    It's addictive romance reading that gets more satisfying as you journey further into these characters experience. Book one of the LOVE in the USA series features Daisy Blanchard and Belmont (Jack) Lord. Don't be surprised by the hot and fast start, Daisy and Belmont have a lot to learn about love, and here is where their education begins. It was one intense week in late October. I probably should've slowed our pace but I wasn't thinking clearly. I had just learned my boyfriend and best friend were engaged via a Facebook post, which left me heartbroken and wrestling with ghosts from my past.But Belmont Lord was so convincing and uninhibited, unlike me. He also had demons of his own. We threw caution to the wind. Could fate had picked a more perfect time and place for two people to meet?Yes, it was one steamy and surprising week, but was it long enough to make us last forever?Find Her, Keep Her: A Martha's Vineyard Love Story is the first sexy, sensual and addictive contemporary romance in the LOVE in the USA series by author, Z.L. Arkadie.This manuscript has been updated as of 6/18/2017. Sex scenes are still frequent but they are no longer written in graphic detail. Also, some of the details that were hard to swallow have been made palatable. Although, do realize that I had chosen to write two imperfect human beings. In later books, as they choose to make their relationship work, they also choose to resolve their personal issues. After all that is the theme of the LOVE in the USA series--true love, real love is another catalyst in life which helps evolve two people for the better. So I write love stories more than romance, and from book one through twelve of this series, you will be able to read the difference. Visit zlarkadiebooks.com to learn more about the author.

    Having lost both her parents and grandparents, and with nowhere else to go, Layla is moving from Florida to a small town in North Carolina to live with the only family she has left: her estranged uncle and aunt.The last five years of Layla’s life were spent appeasing her less-than-loving grandmother, followed by being her grandfather’s caretaker. Growing old before her time, Layla lost her identity. Now she must learn how to allow herself to be the one cared for and loved.Life takes an unexpected turn when Layla meets Will Meyer. His breathtaking good looks are enough to catch her eye, but his sincerity and passion are everything she needs to find the strength and confidence she lost — and lead her into love.When tragedy once again strikes Layla’s life, her hope is all but completely crushed. Through it all, Layla learns what it means to truly love and be loved.

    To society, I was the girl only after his money. I was the party-goer who managed to seduce a man twice my age to have the lifestyle some could only dream of. I was every magazine’s cliché of what a gold-digging whore was.I wanted to prove them wrong—that our love was real and that I wasn’t that girl.But then everything changed. One wrong decision. One unfaithful night. One haunting reality.Perhaps they were right. The media didn’t see it coming... and neither did I. This is a stand alone romance suspense novel with no cliffhanger. HEA depends on who you ask. Recommended for readers 18 and up due to strong language and explicit sexual content.

    A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure.College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think.But what if the more is something darker than a game of toying with emotions and breaking hearts?Quinn and Emilie might be falling for each other, but there are secrets he’s not ready to tell—and lifestyle changes he’s reluctant to make. She willingly stepped on the court, but if Emilie finds out she started out as nothing as a pawn in Quinn and Sebastian’s twisted game, she might never forgive him.To his surprise, Quinn finds that he might finally care about someone more than he cares about himself…even if that means letting Emilie walk away for good.

    That doesn’t mean the media is willing to leave the Titan of Telluride alone—not when his past is shrouded in mystery and not when one particular journalist has something to prove. As a young girl, Kinzey Vance first met Rane. She’s never forgotten him. She’s also never lived down her perceived failure as one of the Kirk Enterprise Grant’s original scholarship recipients. She had planned to change the world, only life got in the way. As an adopted orphan herself, she feels particularly responsible for her siblings, and gives up her dream, in order to care for them after the death of their mother. Years later and back in Colorado, Kinzey finally has something she must share with the elusive Rane Kirk. Climbing the mountain to Kirk’s compound, Kinzey is more determined than ever to tell her story. And to learn the truth of his. She doesn’t know Kirk has never forgotten her and the moment she lands in his koi pond, their stars don’t realign; they collide.

    Brian Nash is a tennis-obsessed, college senior who's unlucky in love and the roommate and best friend of Jillian's son, Rob. When Rob brings Brian home for spring break and he meets the surprisingly young and also tennis passionate Jillian, their shared interest quickly develops into an intense mutual attraction. After nearly giving in to their feelings, they hatch a plan, while under the influence (of something more than just the perfect Miami night), to be friends with "partial" benefits complete with rules to define the boundaries. Will the lonely pair continue with this distinctive relationship, actually explore their desires or will they discover all of it is a really bad idea? READER ADVISORY:This story contains content some readers may find objectionable, including explicit sex and language.Inappropriate Thoughts is a more explicit version of another currently available novel. For more information please see the author page.