I kept it inside because Rory and I made a pact that our friend, Amber, was off-limits.He lied.I went off to college, and he got the girl.Amber never knew how I felt.They were together for years—before he broke her heart.Through it all and across the miles, she and I casually stayed in touch.When my job sent me to Boston for a three-month contract position, Amber let me stay in her spare room.Still reeling from her breakup, she’d sworn off men.One night, I opened her computer to find the shock of my life. She’d hesitantly contacted a male escort company. Afraid to date and get her heart broken again, she was looking for sex with no strings.Every emotion imaginable ran through me: protectiveness, jealousy—curiosity.Amber had chosen Gentleman Number Nine and sent him a message.She opened up to him, confessing, among other things, her physical attraction to her friend—me. But she considered me off-limits—and she thought I was a manwhore. (Ironic, considering the circumstances.)Eventually, she set up a date to meet Gentleman Nine at a hotel.When she showed up several nights later to meet him, she was stunned to see me standing there—with an offer I hoped she wouldn’t refuse.

    So trusting.
Like you think I’m not a monster.
Like I won’t wrap your hair in my fist and bend you to my will.
Like I won’t sacrifice you, piece by piece, to save my brother.I’m the most dangerous enemy you’ll ever have because every time you look at me, you see somebody good. That friend who died.And when you look at me like that, I die again.MiraI spent years making myself invisible.A good girl, apart from the noise.
Then you came back, beautiful and deadly in your Armani suit.
Don’t look at me like you still know me, you say.
But I remember your smile and those sunny days.Before they lowered your small casket into the ground.
Before they told us the prince was dead.

      Valentine French may be the sassiest dating columnist in New York City, but the abundance of metrosexuals in her adopted metropolis is seriously cramping her style. Where are the beefy all-American boys? Hoping to find some inspiration, Val heads to Alaska, where the men outnumber the women fifteen to one and wrestle grizzly bears for sport. Or so she can only imagine. Suddenly the most eligible bachelorette in a town full of horny lumberjacks, Val is writing her best columns ever. But if she doesn’t get her nose out of her laptop, she just might miss out on Mr. Right.   Logan Burke is the sheriff of the little podunk town that Val finds so charmingly backward. He’s not that different from the guys she’s using for her little experiment; it’s just that one date would never be enough for Logan. As he listens to Val complain about love over beers in the local tavern, he realizes that she can’t see the forest for the trees. Because if she would ever give up her Prada bags and fourteen-dollar martinis, Logan would give her the only luxury that matters: his heart.

    Too bad Ryan refuses to let her see anything but the club's tasteful bar. Sneaking off to explore, Ginny is busted by Ryan in the Voyeur Room. But instead of taking her home, Ryan intends to teach her a lesson-and immediately commands her to strip. Stunned, Ginny obeys and embarks on a night unlike any other. From shattering orgasms in front of strangers to light bondage, Ginny endures hours of sexual ecstasy, made to succumb again and again to her wildest urges-all by her best friend. After hiding from Ryan the rest of the weekend-resulting in delicious punishment in his office on Monday-Ginny discovers emotions in their lifelong friendship that may have been there all along. She doesn't know if she can convince Ryan of the same...but a bit of "sweet" bondage might help.

    She wants me to be her hero, But I'm not a good man.I am her damnation.

    Power, prestige, and plenty of women, the dapper politician’s life is pretty phenomenal. But in the midst of the biggest campaign of his life, he needs to focus. The last thing he can afford is a distraction.ALISON BAKER is a work-in-progress.As a single mother to HUXLEY, she’s rebuilding life on her terms. She’s focused on family, faith, and a future for her son that can’t be taken away. Putting her child first means not being careless, no matter what. A chance encounter forces Barrett and Alison to redefine what they really want out of life. But everything comes at a cost ... and sometimes, even for love, it’s a price too steep to pay.

    It’s impossible. Growing up together, Conor and I shared all our firsts. First love, first kiss, first… Not all our firsts. We were sixteen the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched. I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering. Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma. Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact. Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets. She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her. I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains. She’s mine. TRAILS OF SIN series (HEAs with no cliffhangers - must be read in order): Knotted #1 Buckled #2 Booted #3

    I fought through life with my scarred soul, wrangled through the dark empty nights where I’d pray I didn’t wake up the next morning. I would shut my eyes and mentally take myself to my happy place.Red rosesThe sound of waves crashing on the sand under my feet. The final time the cold blade pushed up against my thigh, and I waited for my blood to trickle over the other One hundred and thirty-six scars that covered my skin— never came. Who was this man who just saved me? He had no idea how close I came to ending myself that day. I was ready to blow my brains all over the bedroom walls and I had a nine sitting under my pillow to prove it.BeastSome people have families, I had engineered human killing machines surrounding me my whole life. I’d been a part of this unit since I was a baby, raised in a community that was shut off from the real world. A community where we were nothing but empty vessels, until Hella (my best friend) and I escaped. Hella took us to a girl who was in foster care with him before he was summoned into The Army. After finding out yet another complication in my life, I needed space. I booked in to a run down apartment, ready to clear my head. Only my head didn’t clear, because I was haunted every night from the screams that would vibrate through my walls.This is not a story of a perfect man coming in to save the day. This is a story of what happens when fate interferes and two completely broken souls collide.

    One that seemed like a good idea at the time. A handsome bachelor, luxury accommodations, and a chance to win a prize my family desperately needed. There were some rules though. Lots of them actually. Follow the script, no dating, sex, or disclosing the terms of the deal. After my self-imposed moratorium on men the last year, it wouldn’t be hard to live up to my end of the bargain... so I thought. Until I realized the deal I’d made was with the devil... and I was in love with his dirty-talking brother.Can be read as a standalone.

    Black,I know you were hurting. I heard your cries. I wished over and over again that I could make it better, but as you stated I was too inexperienced; too good for someone as bad as you.Perhaps you were right, but it didn't matter because what I did know was that I loved the way you felt--loved the way you smelled. I loved how hard you got for me, and when you called me your Little Knight.I can still remember that day in the park, when you held me close and kissed me deep. How you effortlessly made me cry your name on top of sweet smelling grass, making me feel like the only girl in the world. I loved how you looked at me, how you spoke to me.I had been madly in love with you ever since I was twelve years old, but I shouldn't have been.Isabelle would have hated it--my best friend. I couldn't afford to lose her. Besides, you two had already lost enough. Losing Mrs. Black was the epitome.It's Chloe Knight.I wanted to be there for you no matter what, but Isabelle needed me too.And she would have hated me if she ever found out I was sleeping with her father.** Tainted Black is a forbidden love-story about a girl who helplessly falls for her best friend's father. After a tragic accident ends the life of Theo Black's wife, he turns to the one person he has always found interesting.Chloe Knight, the girl from across the street, his daughter's best friend, and a person that is considered completely off limits for him. **- WARNING: If you aren't a fan of taboo love stories, age gaps/differences, of if you're expecting a novel with that "unicorn and rainbows" type of feel, then this may not be the novel for you. But if you want to read about an alpha male with a tortured soul that rides a motorcycle and owns a boat named Dirty Black, then READ this! You may have just have found the right kind of love story for you! -- Taboo Romance (Best Friend's Dad)- Full-length standalone (98K words)- New Adult / Erotica

    Kenton Mayson learned this lesson firsthand when he made assumptions about Autumn Freeman and the kind of woman she is based on what little information he had. What he finds out is she’s not only beautiful, but also smart, funny, a fighter, and exactly the kind of woman he wants to share his life with. Autumn made assumptions of her own about Kenton, and now he needs to prove her wrong in order to protect her and their future.

    But after twelve years of only being his best friend and wingman, the heartache that comes from watching him with countless other women becomes too much, and Paisley decides its time to lay all her feelings on the table.Eli Jenkins has a life most guys would kill for: Dream job, countless women, and his best friend, Paisley, to be the girl he can always count on for everything else. But one conversation not only changes everything between them, it threatens to make him lose the only girl who has ever meant anything to him.When tragedy strikes his family and Eli is forced to reevaluate his life, he realizes a life without Paisley isn’t a life at all. Only now, he may be too late.

    Between his classified position as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon unit and his role as a single father, he hasn’t thought about women or sex in the six months since he got custody. However, his niece’s new pre-school teacher breaks down all of his defenses, especially since they have a history.

 Single mom Bobbi Granger has struggled since the death of her husband, but when her high school crush walks in with his niece, things may be changing for the better. She’s not particularly thrilled about dating another Marine—especially one who goes deep undercover at a moment’s notice—but she can't deny the pull she feels for him.

 When Ron is called away for an unexpectedly long mission and trouble finds Bobbi, will he get back in time to help or will he lose his second chance with the woman he’s been thinking about since high school?

    Since the moment he saw her, he’s been denying his feelings for her, ignoring the void in his heart he knows only she can fill. Everything about them was wrong, the kind of wrong that felt so right. But none of it mattered. Not the terrible timing. And definitely not the mess it would create if Archer made a move on his best friend’s baby sister.It was supposed to be one night, but one night is all it takes to make everything more complicated, and they only have nine short months to sort it all out.No, none of it mattered. Until it did.

    Not the drama of working in a tattoo parlor, which seems to be around every corner. When things get him down, he smiles and cracks a joke. But he’s not the kind of man you cross, or you’ll find yourself at the wrong end of his fists.Annika Belousov takes everything seriously.Like her job as a reality television producer, given that she typically has something to prove. Or her love life, which is defined by a series of requirements — affluent, ambitious, accomplished, to name a few. Definitely her family, who worked their whole lives to afford her every opportunity, a sacrifice she doesn’t take lightly. When she’s tapped to produce a reality show at Joel’s shop, she doesn’t think twice, just goes in for the kill, as if there were any other way.The second Annika walks into Joel’s shop, he makes it his mission to crack her open, but she’s not having it. He’s all wrong — too crass, too hairy, too un-serious. But it doesn’t take her long to find out there’s more to him than smirks and tattoos. And what she finds could put her career and his heart on the line.Not that Joel cares. Because for the first time in a long time, he’s found his tonic.