Or rather, ran away.One of seven brothers, all of them hot enough to need a cold shower and a blast of AC.We were supposed to get married, but he ran away without a goodbye. Something about needing to join the military and serve.Good luck, buddy. Hope it is all you wanted it to be.And here he is back again in Green Valley. A wounded warrior.Every cell in my body woke up the moment I saw him again.But I don’t trust him as far as I can throw up.I ain’t interested in building a future in my head that could get yanked away again.Unfortunately, it isn’t my mind that gets to make the decision on where things go with this second chance at my first love.It’s my reckless heart.

    I drag him down a road of humiliation and pain to try to cope with what his brother did to me. A few months after Christian’s passing, Oliver leaves town, and for the next two years, he is absent from my life. The demons claw their way back in, and I must learn to live with the secret that has destroyed me. Now I’m starting a new life, away from Gargle and away from my past, but everything crashes when I see Oliver the first day at university. It’s clear that many things have changed since we’ve been apart. Now he is captain of the rugby team and the most popular bloke on campus. Then he makes a bet and gives me an ultimatum: I leave Braxton forever and start somewhere else, or I stay and play his game… because he’s never forgotten that it was me who ruined his life two years ago.

    I come from nothing. I have no one but myself. Sometimes I do things I don't want to -- I do them because I have to. Stripping. That's my life in Vegas. And my boss keeps pressuring me to do more than just take my clothes off...Then John Carter Quinn crashes into my life. He's an older, gorgeous billionaire in a thousand dollar suit. He keeps coming to see me, night after night. I'm not sure what he wants -- but I know what I want. One night he pulls out his gun at my club to take down a bad guy, and I find out what type of business he's actually in. Hint: he doesn't sit at a desk, he employs a bunch of ex-Navy Seals, and it's lethal to be on his bad side. Like me, John has his share of secrets. Dark secrets, dark pain. One of his secrets involves my past. These secrets will bring us together. And then tear us apart.18+ due to mature content. Contains a cliffhanger, but the finale, Liberty At Last, is available now!

    I was the unpopular outcast with frizzy brown hair who was always picked last for softball.But Coach Mason was behind me every step of the way.He made me feel good. Wanted. Cherished.And now, I’m giving him something precious in return.

    That is until she finds out their families are in an all-out war.His to MarryRafe needs a wife. Bailey's the perfect woman for the job ... except that she's in love with him. Faking a marriage with the man of her dreams isn't a bad idea, is it?His to ProtectEmma Heathcliff's life is in danger. Too bad the only person who can keep her safe is the one man she can't stand.Her Favorite RiskShe just needs a job. He needs her. But since they've both been burned by love is he a risk she's willing to take?

    I want someone to push me against a wall, kiss me hard and pull my hair to the point of pain. I want to want someone so much they are all I think about."He was quoting exactly what I had said yesterday-word for word. My heart stopped, I think. His face was close to mine, his lips brushing against mine as he muttered,"Let me be of some assistance here."****************You can't help who you fall in love with.... 'I think that we have relationships with different people to learn things. Learn how to behave, how to fuck, how to break up, how to be.' Cal FallonGretchens life is just average. She has the boyfriend, the friends and the family. She is in the final year at high school and is set on following her career ambition as a therapist. Then Cal Fallon enters her world, changing everything she thought she knew about herself, her friends and the world as she knows it....Cal Fallon. He has a past that he needs to keep a secret, until he meets Gretchen, and he realises he doesn't want to keep any secrets from her...even though it could put them both in danger....

    Back in high school she was the one girl he couldn’t have, and the one girl who haunted his dreams. When he sees her again for the first time in ten years, he knows he’ll do anything to make her his—even if it’s just for one week.There’s only one flaw in his plan. With a woman like Sarah, one week will never be enough.By His Desire is a steamy romance novella of 20,000 words.EXCERPTKeith shook his head. “Whatever good opinion you might have about me, I’m about to destroy it.”Sarah stared at him. “What are you talking about? How?”“With the offer I’m about to make you.”“What offer?”He leaned forward across the table. “The museum has the portrait for one more week. When the week is up, I’ll have the painting delivered to you. It will be yours.”“No, Keith. I told you I don’t want your charity.”“This isn’t charity. Don’t you want to hear my price?”She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “Fine.”“In exchange, for one week, you’ll live with me in my house. During the day, you can do whatever you want. There’s a gym, an indoor pool, a library, a home theater. There’s a study where you can write, and I have a chef who’ll cook you anything you want to eat. But at night...” he paused for a moment. “At night, you have to do whatever I want.”

    BUNDLED FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. HALF MY HEART BOOK 1: THE CLOVER SERIES At nineteen, Devin Sutton lost his first love, his freedom, and his hope. Years later, the only thing he has on his mind this holiday season is finally settling the score back in Clover, North Carolina. That is, until the girl he thought he’d lost forever crosses his path. Rebecca Farrus is supposed to be off living the life of her dreams, not tending bar in some dive. When faced with the choice, will Devin decide to celebrate what he’s finally found or keep seeking retribution for everything he lost? CHANGE MY HEART BOOK 2: THE CLOVER SERIES You really can't have it all, or so Devin Sutton is finding out fast. Returning to Clover was all part of his plan to exact revenge on the town that robbed him of nearly a decade of his life. Unfortunately, things quickly begin to crumble when he's forced to choose between rekindling an old love or destroying the town. Walking the fine line between both might just end up leaving him with nothing. With his heart full of vengeance is there any room for love?

    Done with writing, done with men, done with all of it…Suffering from a recent heartbreak of his own, tennis athlete and college senior Brian Nash, is Jillian’s son’s best friend. During a spring break trip to the Graysons, he meets the gorgeous and tennis passionate Jillian, and their shared interest quickly develops into an intense mutual attraction.As Brian secretly pines away over his sexy host, Jillian is cheered on by Victoria, her unfiltered, over-sexed best friend, to explore a hot affair with her young houseguest.Intoxicated by a perfect moonlit Miami night, Jillian and Brian hatch a plan 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 discover all of it is a really bad idea?Friends with Partial Benefits is the first book in the series readers describe as sexy and laugh-out-loud funny. If you like quirky characters, razor-sharp wit and hilarious love stories, then you’ll love the first book in Luke Young's Friends with Benefits series.

    But falling for the wrong guy has always been Sidney Chase’s forte. She’s not about to submit to her inner bad girl by giving in to her secret fantasies about her sex-on-a-stick bosses. When she’s accidentally exposed to the supercharged aphrodisiac in their lab, Sidney tosses aside her inhibitions and unknowingly provides her bosses with an eye-popping display of self lovin’ courtesy of the office security cameras.Despite their mutual craving for Sidney, Leo and Devlin made a pact long ago to keep her off limits. The last thing they’d wanted was to scare off their best PA by overwhelming her with their kinky tendencies. Witnessing the arousing effects of their aphrodisiac elixir on Sidney changes everything. Not only is she the answer they’ve been looking for in regards to fine-tuning their formula, she’s the perfect woman for them. And with a little help from one helluva sinful science experiment, they’ll prove that love is far more potent than anything manufactured in a bottle.Warning: This red hot office romance contains 3 parts sizzling m/f/m menage, 2 parts sexy and sweet geeks, one part wicked bondage and sex toys, and a whole lot of combustible chemistry. Safety glasses required.

    Years of hard work has given her a degree of acclaim. When offered the opportunity to work in the middle eastern country of Bashir to create the defining mural for the new children's critical care ward, Catherine embraces the chance to meld her love of children and her love of art. What she doesn’t think she is ready for is the blatant and instant passion she feels the moment she meets the successful country’s crown prince, Malik. Malik al-Hakim has been raised with the sole purpose of someday becoming the king of Bashir. Years of careful preparation by his loving family has him ready to take the yolk from his father one day, but nothing could prepare him for the instant lust he feels the moment he sees Catherine. Never one to let an opportunity slip by, Malik pursues Catherine, convincing her to explore their desire. But when political intrigue places Catherine in danger, Malik soon realizes lust has evolved to love and he’ll do whatever it takes to keep the woman of his dreams safely by his side, no matter how hard she tries to fight their fate.

    See author's note, below Pulling Home (That Second Chance #1) It's taken nine years and a cross-country move, but Audra Valentine Wheyton has kept her secrets safe. She's created the perfect life: a husband who loves her, a daughter she adores, and a position as head writer for an award-winning daytime soap. When her husband dies suddenly, Audra returns to her hometown for the funeral and faces a community that has not forgotten her meager beginnings and the man who has never forgiven her for marrying his brother. Jack Wheyton is a successful pediatric neurosurgeon who is about to become engaged when Audra walks back into his life with her daughter. He forgave his brother long ago for taking something that had been his, something he hadn't even realized he wanted until it was gone. But forgiving Audra is another story...and forgetting her? Near impossible. When a shattering illness strikes Audra's daughter, she turns to Jack to save her child and risks exposing a secret that will change their lives forever. A Family Affair: The Promise (Truth in Lies #7) Grant Richot sprinted through life, a boy wonder with talent, intelligence, confidence, and charm. He never doubted the world awaited him, just as he never doubted the right woman would come into his life—but only when he was ready for her. Anyone before that was simply preparation for the one. How wrong he was. Years and a tragedy later, Grant arrives in Maggie Finnegan’s hometown of Magdalena, New York—broken, uncertain, and searching for that second chance with the woman he cast aside. But Maggie’s no longer naïve and impressionable; she’s a confident, competent widow with a child, who has more at risk than another broken heart… Note from Mary: I love secondary characters: writing them, reading about them, even watching them on the big screen. Secondary characters support the “stars”; make them more vibrant and compelling. But when the story ends, I’m often left wondering what they’d do if they were in the “spotlight”. That’s why I’ve created special boxed sets that were part of That Second Chance series and the Truth in Lies series. These boxed sets let the reader follow the before and after of select characters as they first appear in That Second Chance series and later in the fictional town of my bestselling Truth in Lies series. Boxed Set One contains Pulling Home and A Family Affair: The Promise. I invite you to follow their journey!

    With her two best friends along for the ride and to help her find herself again, Sophie is not prepared for the enigmatic Clayton Sinclair. Clayton comes from another world of privilege that seems like a fantasy to Sophie. Can this man introduce her to the passion & seduction she never realized she was desperately searching for? Sophie quickly becomes ensnared in Clayton's seductive web until a shocking treachery makes her question her judgment and actions...

    When forced to work together, they discover they have more in common than they ever imagined ...

    Especially in the lobby of the building I own, filled with people who work for me. Guess no one told the new marketing intern: She spills her coffee all over me and then offers to replace my custom couture with Kathy Ireland.Emery is a sweet little blinky-eyed Kansas girl. A kitten in the middle of our shark tank. It’s just common decency to protect her. Take her to lunch and get to know her. Wonder why she looks at me like she wants me to eat her alive, but pulls back every time I’m ready to bite.Okay, so that last one isn’t decent at all. In fact, every fantasy I have about her is downright filthy.Discovering I’m her first? Well, it gives me even more wicked thoughts about the big... city I can show her.I’ve been burned before. Fool me once, right? I built a billion-dollar company by planning for every possibility. Making sure nothing gets past me again.But I sure didn’t see this one coming.