Book picks similar to
Payment for Sin by Lexy Timms


romance
mafia
contemporary-romance
contemporary

Southern Heat (#1)


Amanda Heartley - 2013
    Dark and deceptive...AnnieSo, I'm a small-town girl, but I can still dream big.Maybe I'm naive, but I'm in the audition of a lifetime.One that could launch my acting career into stardom.If I can navigate the director's couch.But sex and starlets are what drive men like Vicktor Rossen.He’ll say and do anything to get what he wants.Like so many other women, I saw it, and now I'm out for revenge.And my gay best friend, Daveed knows exactly what to do. But my world is shattered when a phone call from home changes everything.. .

When the Stars Align


Isabel Jolie - 2019
    I can’t stand the place. But when an offer to move to NYC includes a fast track to partner at a well-respected law firm, there’s no way I can decline. My move to the city goes exactly according to plan, everything falling perfectly into place…until the elevator door in my new apartment building opens, and I come face to face with my past. Four years ago we parted ways, neither of us willing to change our future career plans. We were too stubborn, too ambitious, and refused to make sacrifices. To add salt to the wound, she ended the year dating my roommate. But right now, staring at her beautiful face after all this time, I can still feel it. The attraction, the desire—it’s palpable. Four years ago, I wanted forever with Anna. Now, I’m a different man. A relationship isn’t in the cards. She threw that chance away. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun…right?

Smitten in a Small Town: A First-in-Series Boxed Set


M.J. Fredrick - 2015
    Leo doesn’t know how to be a single parent since the death of his wife, and he certainly has no desire to return to Bluestone. But he needs a place for his son, a place where he’ll be with family, while Leo does his job. He’ll stay long enough to get Max settled, then go back to work. School counselor Trinity Madison watches Leo struggle with his son, trying to overcome the mental barricade she’s erected against the man who sent his son away when he’s perfectly capable of caring for the child. The situation brings about her own unsettled feelings about giving her child up for adoption when she was young. But as she observes Leo’s difficulties, his sacrifices, she softens toward the man. While he’s in town, he ends up working with some old friends and Trinity on a committee to revitalize Bluestone. The former resort town is struggling and looking for ways to bring tourists back. Leo finds himself charmed, then smitten with the feisty counselor, but will he still love her when he learns her secret? Waltz Back to Texas (Lost in a Boom Town Book 1) After growing up in a dying town, with only two restaurants, no movie theater, and no future, waitress Cassidy Simon wants out. For once, luck is on her side when the oil boom comes to South Texas. She’s determined to use it for her advantage, starting up an RV park for the oilfield workers to add to her escape fund. She’s never been out of Texas, and she’s itching for adventure. Grady McKenna couldn’t get away from his family’s ranch fast enough when he was a teenager, but a tour in the Air Force in the Middle East is enough to convince him there’s no place like home. He’s seen the world, had his adventure. Now he’s ready to contribute to his family’s legacy in Evansville. Naturally, the woman who draws his attention is the one intent on slipping through his fingers. How can he convince her life with him will be all the adventure she needs? The Love I Want to Be In (The Off-Season Book 1) Single mother Brioney Mayburn has learned about responsibility the hard way, working as a maid in the motel in the small beach town of Avalon Island, Texas and looking after her younger brother. Local jack-of-all-trades Blue Maddox was her sister's high school boyfriend, but stayed behind when she went off to college. He's now drawn to Brioney, admiring her drive, her determination to give her daughter the best life she can. But will Brioney look past his beach-bum facade to see who he really is?

Silent No More


N.E. Henderson - 2013
    Life couldn’t get any better—or so she thought. Just when you think you have it all, add in a little betrayal and a few lies and you have the perfect mixture for a storm, strong enough to send you spiraling into a life full of unknowns—or could that have been the point? When traveling down the wrong path sometimes we need to be blown into a different direction. Now unsure of everything she had planned for herself, Shannon is on a mission to forget, but what she isn’t expecting to run into is the arrogant, womanizing, control freak that clearly thinks he’s a gift to all women. That may be for most women, but not this one. Meet Nicholas Lockhart. He’s sexy, domineering, and has a temper that is easily triggered, but those things are a must when in the business environment that he is. To be successful means to be the best, the alpha, controlling all others. Meeting a woman who can turn his world upside down is not in the cards, not part of the plan. Why have one woman when there are so many appetizing ones to taste? A renowned eligible bachelor is the person he likes to be, that is until the defiant, redhead turns his head and puts him in his place. Their quick and intense passion takes them both by surprise, eliciting a relationship neither expected. When her past collides with her present, Shannon is forced to confront it head on, tangling her in a web of lies and twisted truths that soon leave both bare and vulnerable. Sometimes the only option is to be silent no more…

The Hunted


Christy Anderson - 2018
    They will catch me. I am only delaying the inevitable, postponing my fate if you will. I know what will happen when they catch me. It’s the same ending every time. Still, I push my legs as fast as they will go, my body aches from the exertion.I can hear them behind me. They are closing in. This is part of a twisted game. The goal, to catch their Prey.Me.I am the prize for the Hunter. I am the Hunted.The Hunted is book one of a three book interconnected series. This book is intended for mature audiences as it contains adult themes and situations. 18+ Only Due to Adult Content

Jesse


J.A. Huss - 2019
    I fell so hard for this girl I made all the promises. Only with Emma, I really meant them.And then I disappeared.But it wasn’t my fault. Let’s just call my reason “Family Business”. I’d tell you what that business is, but then I’d have to kill you. Just kidding. I can’t tell you what my family business is because it’s so secret, even I don’t know.My point is… I didn’t ghost. It was a weird twist of circumstances. And OK, yes. I did hook up with pretty much every girl on the island that week. But after I met Emma, I was ruined. She was the only one I wanted.It’s been thirteen years. I’m a changed man.I STILL want her. I have ALWAYS wanted her. But it’s kind of hard to tell her that with a gag in my mouth and a hood over my head. Bossy Brothers: Jesse features a bachelor auction gone wrong, four smart ladies who botch a crazy revenge kidnapping, a power dream date with fast cars, private jets, and expensive yachts, and a happily ever after that proves… sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.

Cards of Love: Justice


Amelia Wilde - 2019
    She's mine for a week...but I want forever.The richest families in the world don't bother with courtrooms to enforce their codes of honor.No—they come to me.The sight of Justice set my blood ablaze.Delivered to me by her family, she's in my hands now.But my entire existence depends on discretion.If I step out of line, the consequences will be deadly.Playing with her is a dangerous game.Only one of us will win.

A Love So Sweet


Addison Cole - 2018
     A Love So Sweet is a Sweet with Heat novel and conveys all of the passion you'd expect to find between two people in love without any graphic scenes or harsh language. If you're looking for a spicier romance, pick up the steamy edition, Lovers at Heart, Reimagined, written by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster. Addison Cole is Melissa's sweet-romance pen name. In A LOVE SO SWEET… Treat Braden wasn’t looking for love when Max Armstrong walked into his Nassau resort, but he saw right through the efficient and capable facade she wore like a shield to the sweet, sensual woman beneath. One magnificent evening together sparked an intense connection, and for the first time in his life Treat wanted more than a casual affair. But something caused Max to turn away, and now, after weeks of unanswered phone calls and longing for the one woman he cannot have, Treat is going back to his family’s ranch to try to finally move on.A chance encounter brings Treat and Max together again, and it turns into a night of intense passion and honesty. When Max reveals her secret, painful past, Treat vows to do everything within his power to win Max’s heart forever—including helping her finally face her demons head-on.

Chasing The Dragon


T.K. Leigh - 2015
    She's the target. Can he resist falling for her?Mackenzie Delano craves control in every aspect of her life. From her business life. To her social life.To her love life…Until she crosses paths with a mysterious man who seems to break down the walls she spent the past several years erecting.Tyler Burnham has lived the past few years with one rule in mind...Never fall in love.But when he must form an intimate relationship with a sharp-tongued woman in order to obtain the location of a man deemed an enemy of the State, he finds himself straying from that rule.Will Tyler be able push his feelings aside and recover the information he needs?Or will he risk his mission and their lives in order to follow his heart?Chasing the Dragon is the first book of the Deception Duet, a part of the Beautiful Mess series. Pick up this gripping story of secrets, intrigue, and betrayal today.Beautiful Mess Series Recommended Reading Order:1. A Beautiful Mess (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #1)2. A Tragic Wreck (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #2)3. Gorgeous Chaos (Beautiful Mess Trilogy #3)4. Chasing the Dragon (Deception Duet #1)5. Slaying the Dragon (Deception Duet #2)6. Vanished (A Beautiful Mess Series Standalone)7. Heart of Light (A Beautiful Mess Series Standalone)***Author's Note: While it is not necessary to read the Beautiful Mess Trilogy prior to reading the Deception Duet or the Beautiful Mess Series standalones, the above is the recommended reading order for the best reading experience.

Alex


Irish Winters - 2013
    . . Alex Stewart, ex-Marine and tough as nails boss, ditches the success of his fledgling business and flees to his cabin in the deep woods. He’s had enough. Four years after the deaths of his wife and daughter, he’s stuck in the anger stage of grief. He wants to be left alone. Life used to make sense. It just doesn’t bring him joy. Nothing does. She’s trying to remember . . . Left to die in those same deep woods, Kelsey is the last thing Alex expects to find at his cabin. She’s everything he’s running away from. Responsibility. Memories. Having to care about someone else beside himself. To make matters worse, she can’t remember anything except her first name. Neither can she explain the marks on her body, nor why two darling baby boys haunt her dreams. But Alex can . . .

The Billionaire's Enemy


Elana Johnson - 2018
    But what do you do with the billionaire who's stealing your clients and whose brains are as attractive as his face?For Stacey Stapleton, the owner of a premier B&B, the answer is clear. You stay in his brand-new high-rise hotel to see how he's making all the money. It's not spying. It's market research.You definitely don't start dating the enemy...

Ember Casey Starter Bundle: His Wicked Games / The Sweet Taste of Sin / Claiming His Treasure


Ember Casey - 2019
    As it turns out, the arrogant billionaire is willing to give her the money he promised her, but there's a catch: she must win it from him. And the games he has in mind aren't exactly...innocent. This ultra-steamy romance is perfect for those who love brooding billionaires, enemies-to-lovers stories, “stranded” romances, and oh-so-sexy competitions. THE SWEET TASTE OF SIN (The Fontaines, Book 1) To the rest of the world, Dante is Hollywood royalty, the ridiculously attractive oldest son of the notorious Fontaine family. To Ashlyn? He’s the guy who made her swear off men forever. Ashlyn just wants to move on with her life, run her bakery, and forget about the man who broke her heart. But when an accidental—and humiliating—encounter throws Ashlyn and Dante back together, she’s forced to face the truth: Dante hasn’t forgotten about her. And this time, he has no intention of letting her go… This sizzling contemporary romance will thrill those who enjoy second-chance love stories, summer/beach reads, celebrity heroes, and sexy kitchen scenes. CLAIMING HIS TREASURE (The Devil’s Set, Book 1) Charlotte “Charlie” Carver knows she’s in trouble when Jackson North shows up at her door in the middle of the night, nearly a year after he unceremoniously broke her heart. She’s always suspected her ex had secrets, but she never thought those secrets would put her in danger—or lead her on an international adventure beyond her wildest dreams. This gripping action-adventure romance is perfect for those who are looking for something a little different in the romance genre! Thrilling adventure meets a sweet second-chance love story in this exciting installment. What readers are saying about the books in this set: "His Wicked Games was, quite simply, one of the sexiest books I've read...The story went deeper than most, which I loved. Ember Casey has definitely earned a place in my favorites." - Amazon reader review of HIS WICKED GAMES "I'm at a loss for words. This is one of the very best books I've read, ever." - Amazon reader review of HIS WICKED GAMES “5 AMAZING STARS!!! MY OH MY, I could never get enough of Dante Fontaine. That man knows how to push all the right buttons, and is every woman's fantasy!!!” – Amazon reader review of THE SWEET TASTE OF SIN “Ember Casey does it again! Casey is a master at creating intense, complicated characters with rich back stories that not only draw you in, but keep you interested until the very end. Dante and Ashlyn's story is no exception!” – Amazon reader review of THE SWEET TASTE OF SIN "Holy amazeballs; Ember Casey rocked Jackson's story. This is not your average romance; this is a romance full of action, anticipation and thrill."- Alison S. Parkins Book Reviews on CLAIMING HIS TREASURE

He Loves Me Not


Christine Kersey - 2011
    After all, she's barely met the two men it could be referring to. But as she begins to fall for the man with the striking blue eyes, the disturbing messages increase.Refusing to believe warnings from an anonymous sender, and trusting her own heart, Lily presses forward with her relationship, eventually coming to understand the meaning behind the messages as she fears for her life.He Loves Me Not does not contain any profanity or sexual content.

Her Desert Prince


Marie Tuhart - 2018
    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.

Fake Fiancée (Big Bad Billionaires)


Laxmi Hariharan - 2016
    Smirky Pants.Mr Obnoxious who asked me to be his fiancée, so he could save his inheritance. If I agreed, he'd deposit a million dollars in my bank account, no questions asked.I should have turned him down and walked away... should've!Sadly, I needed the money to save my floundering start-up, and to put my sister through college.Besides, the rules were pretty simple: Feelings were not on the table, not unless I initiated it.As if?I hated him, I loathed him. No way was I going to fall for the most notorious playboy of the Valley, right?I definitely didn't need to think twice about this, I signed. Guess what happened next? Yeah... no!We barely lasted the flight on his private jet across the pond, failed to convince his family... oh! Did I mention I got drunk and swam naked in front of them, gulp!Only that seemed to catch his attention.He wooed me, courted me, floored me with his trademark panty-melting smirk. He convinced me that he was the one...He must be, right?Then a phone call from my past changed everything... Note: This is an enemies to lovers, pretend fiancée billionaire romance with a very satisfying HEA.This book was previously published as Jace (Love Caution, #1).