The afterword explains where the ideas for the stories came from.

    The intimidating, tattooed Russian operates one of the most elite mixed-martial arts training centers in the world but it's his shadowy past and reputed connections with Houston's underworld that interest her most.To find her sister, she'll need the help of her big, scary Russian protector--but asking for help from a man like Ivan carries a steep price, one that might just include her heart.DIMITRI (Her Russian Protector #2)Refusing to lose her brother to the violent Hermanos street gang, Benny turns to Dimitri, the dead sexy Russian who lives in the apartment above her family's bakery. He's the only man tough enough to get through to Johnny and save him from a life in prison--or worse.There's nothing Dimitri won't do for Benny, even if it means dealing with her troublemaking brother. He quickly realizes that it's not just Johnny and his thug friends that pose a threat to Benny. A shady real estate developer needs to buy her bakery to secure a multi-million dollar deal and he'll stop at nothing to make her sell.Threatened from all sides, Benny finds safety in Dimitri's strong arms--and in his bed. Her big, sexy Russian has no intention of ever letting her go--and he'll brave the fires of hell before he lets anyone harm her.YURI (Her Russian Protector #3)While clawing her way out of Houston's worst neighborhood, Lena vowed to never let any man have power over her. After a lifetime of broken promises from her criminal father and a mother who abandoned her, Lena believes that love makes you vulnerable. She's never been tempted to test that belief...until Yuri.Sexy as sin and with a dark reputation, Russian billionaire Yuri Novakovsky survived a miserable childhood of poverty and neglect to ascend the pinnacle of success. He enjoys the perks of his massive wealth without much thought to the consequences...until Lena.When Lena's father and cousin blunder into an international art theft operation, Yuri seizes his chance to be her protector. But when past misdeeds catch up with him and threaten Lena's safety, Yuri puts her love and trust in him to the test.He'll prove he's the man she needs--a man she can depend upon and trust--one sensual, wicked kiss at a time.

    Alone.   It was a simple request, right? Just stroll into the coffee shop on the corner, grab my usual cup of liquid nitrogen, and walk back out.   All while minding my own business.   But I had to walk in at that exact moment. Not ten minutes earlier. Not ten minutes later. Precisely when Savannah Fields needed someone to help her. When no one except me had the courage to stand up for her.   After the incident, she looked at me like I was her hero. But I’m no hero. I don’t even know who or what I am anymore. Who is Nick Tucker? A DEA agent? A criminal? Both? Neither? The lines I crossed while undercover blurred my staunch sense of morality.   Then the auburn-haired beauty showed up at my apartment, begging for my help. I couldn’t turn her away.   The more I lost myself in her, the more I found myself again. Or so I thought. Even a broken clock gets to be right twice a day. There's a fine line between right and wrong, love and hate, heaven and hell.

    Uncanny and unexpected creatures appear from behind bushes, rise from beneath the seas, or manifest from seasonal storms to pursue the objects of their attention—with amorous or sinister intent—relentlessly.From the gentle tones of a storyteller’s cadences to the terror of a blood sacrifice, tales of favorite characters from Marr’s Wicked Lovely novels mix with accounts of new characters for readers to fall in love with...or to fear.Lush, seductive, and chilling, Melissa Marr’s stories revel in the unseen magic that infuses the world as we know it.Table of Contents:"Where Nightmares Walk""Winter's Kiss" (Fairy Tales)"Transition" (Vampires)"Love Struck" (Selchies)"Old Habits" (WL World)"Stopping Time" (WL World)"The Art of Waiting""Flesh for Comfort""The Sleeping Girl and the Summer King" (WL World-ish, the short story that started the series)"Cotton Candy Skies" (WL World)"Unexpected Family" (WL World)"Merely Mortal" (WL World)

    Vampire enforcement agency, All the King’s Men (AKM), is charged with maintaining the truce, but when volatile enforcer Micah Black loses his mate and falls into the biological agony that results from the broken bond, he tests the boundaries of the truce by seeking out Apostle, a leader in the dreck community. Micah wants Apostle to kill him, a request Apostle is more than happy to fulfill. When ex-Army medic Samantha Garrett inadvertently disrupts the plot and saves Micah’s life, a chain reaction sets Micah’s heart on a collision course with Sam’s, but he will have to protect her from Apostle and her obsessive ex-husband, Steve, if they will have a chance at forever. Can Micah hold his emotions together to keep Sam alive?

    On the outside rich and successful Gabe Peterson has everything.No one would guess the ghosts from his past are tearing him apart.Desperate, he reaches out to Elena – a resilient call girl, with her own childhood scars – for help.In their moments of honesty, the two forge the most surprising relationship of their lives.But will they be brave enough to make it into something more?NOTE: Originally published in the Summer Rain Anthology.

    He buys stolen police files on serial killers, and uses them to find and dig up missing bodies. Calls in the results anonymously, taunting the police for their failure to do their job.Detective Sandra Whittal takes that a little personally. She’s suspicious of the mysterious caller, who she names the Finder. Maybe he’s the one leaving the bodies behind. If not, who’s to say he won’t start soon?As Whittal begins to zero in on the Finder, Martin makes a shocking discovery. It seems someone—someone lethal—is very unhappy about the bodies he’s been digging up.Hunted by a cop, hunted by a killer. To escape and keep his family safe, Martin may have to go deeper into the world of murder than he ever imagined.

    A waitress and a sexy FBI agent mix business with pleasure while investigating a crime over the holidays. A crime lab worker finds herself in danger six days before Christmas...and only her off-limits but oh-so-attractive coworker can help. And two childhood friends rediscover their sense of wonder—and love—when reunited for the holidays. Discover these four classic seasonal novellas:And a Dead Guy in a Pear Tree by Leslie KellySeduced by the Season by Merline LovelaceEvidence of Desire by Debra WebbSeason of Wonder by Marta Perry

    From secretaries sleeping with hot, sexy billionaire bosses to getting it on with drop dead gorgeous rock stars, and a whole lot more! What more could a woman want? Book 1: Backstage Pass Sasha has one rule when it comes to her dating life—never date a musician. She knows the way things can end, so she doesn’t let them get started. When she’s setup with one by her well-meaning best friend, she puts the brakes on before they even get going. Jesse has a rule about dating too—don’t let a good one get away. And he knows right away that Sasha is worth the chase, no matter what her skewed stereotype of musicians may be. He lays it on thick with charm and nurses her back to health after a running accident. Sasha knows she should give him a chance, but is he worth it? She’s seen it all go horribly wrong in the past. He can up and leave whenever he has a tour, and there’s nothing she can do about it. But as he continues to pursue her, she starts to question her rule and feels herself starting to let him in, whether she’s ready or not. Book 2: You Only Live Once 1 At 18, Brooke is convinced she’s an adult and free from her parents’ overbearing grasp. She admits that she’s spent her whole life being careful and is tired of it. So she heads off to college with her best friend and a new motto to live by—you only live once. She’s looking to have fun, take chances, not over think things, and wake up every morning with no regrets for how the day before ended. Nick Benson is a self-proclaimed ladies’ man. They want him just as much as he wants them. But he never sleeps with them more than once, and never brings them back to his room. He has no boundaries and an attitude that screams trouble. He admits that he likes to live life on the edge, exactly what Brooke is looking for. So when they meet by chance early in their freshman year of college, it looks like a match made in heaven. But things quickly take a turn for the worse when Brooke learns about Nick’s dark side—an obsession with fighting, taking drugs and sleeping around. Will she be able to take what he throws at her, or is she in over her head from the start? Will her best friend be able to shed some light on Brooke’s newly destructive choices, or will their friendship take the biggest hit of all? Book 3: Curiosity Killed the Kat She thought she had the perfect marriage…He gave her everything – and more. Then he tried to kill her. Katherine’s marriage was fading. She could feel it. Her husband, Steven, was up to something. She knew it. Katherine would do anything for her husband. That is, until she discovers he’s the ring leader of a human trafficking organization. Caught in the cross hairs of her husband’s illegal business and on the run to save her life, as well as others, Katherine is on a race against time to figure out exactly how deep this rabbit hole of political intrigue, sex, and revenge goes. As her husband and his partners close in from all sides, Katherine is about to learn who she can trust – and who is determined to silence her for good. Book 4: Trinity Trinity Collins knew she shouldn’t have crossed the line with her boss, but she did and now she has to face whatever the future brings, even while fighting the demons of her past. She’s surprised how persistent he is and has to constantly fend off his advances for more of what she truly wants—another night with him.

    He was always the unpredictable one, the one who would be brash enough to make it big self-publishing horror novels on the internet. He promised never to tell, but everyone knows you can never trust an Outlaw.Then a year later, in the middle of the night, she receives a phone call at Tulane. Her aunt, who took her in after her mother’s death, is in a coma under suspicious circumstances. Now she has to face that one person who knows all about what she did that summer—sexy Booker. Returning to Hope Parish to be with her aunt, stirs up all those ugly memories. When Aubree starts getting threats, she can’t help but wonder if what she did last summer was tied to her aunt’s “accident.” Afraid, she turns to the only person who knows the truth and Booker doesn’t hesitate to offer his broad shoulder for her to lean on. But Booker has a secret of his own that could crush their fledgling relationship.As the hot, sultry summer days move on, she finds that even a perfectly smart girl can lose her heart to a perfectly bad boy. What is she going to do when someone starts asking questions Aubree doesn’t want to answer? She’s knee deep into a terribly dangerous, wholly life changing, who-can-she-really-depend-on perfect mess.A Perfect Series: Three perfect girls, three perfect secrets, one unholy trinityA Perfect Mess, Book #1 – the girl most likely to succeed, an unpredictable Outlaw, and a dangerous secret that could be the death of her.A Perfect Mistake, Book #2 – A preacher’s daughter, a reckless Outlaw, and a secret that will change her life forever.A Perfect Dilemma, Book #3 – The town’s poor little rich girl, a sweet-talking Outlaw, and a secret that will ruin all that she holds dear

    All one million words of this witchy romance boxed set will leave you spellbound, but this collection won't last long. This limited edition omnibus is available for a limited time and packed with today's NY Times, USA Today, and International Bestselling authors, bringing you nothing but the best of the best in the witch romance genre.

    Small-town corruption and a serial killer in the bayou threaten a female sheriff struggling to make her way in a man’s world and keep herself from falling in love with the last man she should trust.

    Wild magic, unexpected allies, a conflagration of sorcery and shifter magic the likes of which has not been seen in centuries... That's what awaits the peaceful town of Grizzly Cove. That, and love. Lots and lots of love.This anthology contains:All About the BearWelcome to Grizzly Cove, where the sheriff has more than the peace to protect. The proprietor of the new bakery in town is clueless about the dual nature of her nearest neighbors, but not for long. It’ll be up to Sheriff Brody to clue her in and convince her to stay calm—and in his bed—for the next fifty years or so.Mating DanceTom, Grizzly Cove’s only lawyer, is also a badass grizzly bear, but he’s met his match in Ashley, the woman he just can’t get out of his mind. She’s got a dark secret, that only he knows. When ugliness from her past tracks her to her new home, can Tom protect the woman he is fast coming to believe is his mate?Night ShiftSheriff’s Deputy Zak is one of the few black bear shifters in a colony of grizzlies. When his job takes him into closer proximity to the lovely Tina, though, he finds he can’t resist her. Could it be he’s finally found his mate? And when adversity strikes, will she turn to him, or run into the night? Zak will do all he can to make sure she chooses him.

     Unfortunately, he just sees her as his friend's little sister. Desperate and infatuated, Emily resorts to lies and deception. She only needs one night with Paul, to finally get over this obsessive crush. But Fate has other ideas. . .

    But as she forms an unlikely connection with her abductor, Luke, her adventure takes a strange turn.There is nothing magical about growing up in a mountainside castle, when it’s your prison. Kaya’s ruthless and powerful father keeps her under lock and key, watched every second of the day–and Kaya’s not really sure why. She’s just a normal girl…no one special. She doesn’t understand her father’s obsession with her safety – until she is kidnapped. Dragged through a brutal wilderness, Kaya’s captor shows her the devastating truth, and even though he has dark secrets of his own, she is inexplicably drawn to him–when the stars are in your eyes, sometimes the line between right and wrong is blurred. Passion obliterates common sense. Love... makes you reckless. As Kaya's father’s men and her devoted bodyguard scour the woods to find her, she wonders if staying in the arms of her abductor is the safer place to be. At least, that’s what her heart is saying—her head is saying run… Dangerously passionate and darkly romantic, SERENADE is a page-turning thriller and seductive love story.