Book picks similar to
High Stakes by Vanessa Waltz
mafia
romance
dark
bdsm
Beast
Measha Stone - 2018
After all, Ellie Stevens has been her father’s keeper for as long as she can remember.However, Ashland Titon isn’t a man of mercy. If you owe, you pay. End of story. His unrelenting control has built his empire, and he’s not going to give over that power now. But when Ellie charges into his life with her demands and possibilities of sweet surrender, her offer proves too tempting to pass up.Yet there’s more at play here than just working off a debt. There are secrets buried in the shadows, and dangerous desires to be explored. While the two of them dance to an erotic beat, outside forces threaten Ashland's empire and Ellie must decide where her heart truly lies - and what she's truly willing to risk for love.
Honor
Jay Crownover - 2016
Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I've fought and I've survived. I've had to.The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.I'm here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don't worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.Like I said, don't be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise… I'm the one front and center.
The Skull King
Penelope Sky - 2019
I sold myself to save someone I loved...and this is the price I have to pay.I was sitting alone in a bar when the most handsome man walked inside. Striking blue eyes, cheekbones as sharp as glass, and a muscular body fit for a war. He was gorgeous. I couldn't take my eyes off him. When he bought me a drink, I didn't say no. I'd been unfulfilled for so long, and I wanted a real man for the night. My husband had his affairs so why couldn't I?I noticed the peculiar ring on his right hand, a diamond carved into a skull. If only I'd known what that meant, I would have known who this man was.The Skull King.A man more cruel and ruthless than my own husband.
With Visions of Red
Trisha Wolfe - 2015
Dark and light battle. This explosive first installment of the Broken Bonds series sets the exhilarating pace for a cat and mouse game where no one knows who’s really pulling the strings.Criminal profiler Sadie Bonds knows blood. Her affair with the gruesome, dark world of killers began long before she started applying her analytical skills to investigate gory crime scenes. She gets inside the killers’ heads, breaks them down, relates to them on an arcane level. She prefers it this way—because it’s safer to ally herself with the villain than the victim. At least, that’s how she’s coped ever since she was abducted and tortured as a teen.She will never be a victim again.Now, she’s honed her skills in order to bring justice to these ritualistic offenders. Working alongside her colleagues, armed with sharp wit and a SIG, Sadie always catches her sadist. Until one ruthless serial killer gets inside Sadie’s head, turning the tables. He knows her secrets. Her obsessions. The darkest, most deviant part of her soul.When she meets Colton Reed, dangerous stakes are raised as he threatens to unravel her control and reveal her darkest fantasies. The sexy-as-sin bondage rigger at an exclusive BDSM club pushes her boundaries, forcing her to acknowledge that side of herself she fears. Plunged into a realm of torture and suffering, pain and pleasure, Sadie balances on the razor-sharp edge of two intersecting worlds threatening to swallow her.
The Arrangement: The Ferro Family
H.M. Ward - 2013
Just when she doesn't think things could get any worse, they do. When her car stalls out at a busy intersection and she gets out to check under the hood, a guy steals her car. Armed with a dress and a pair of Chucks, Avery runs after the thief. When a hot stranger offers to help, she can't say no. That's how Avery meets Sean Ferro, the totally sexy, totally damaged guy with more secrets than she has time for.Avery doesn't have time for anything anymore. Her is life falling apart and it's not just the car. It's everything, and it doesn't matter how tightly she tries to hold on, there's nothing left to hold on to. With the sudden death of her parents, it's only a matter of months until Avery's shot at college is gone, and she's living in a cardboard box. Other students have their families to rely on when things get bad. Avery has no one. But there's one option, one incredibly sexy, morally devoid, option. If Avery takes a job as a call girl, one guy could save her. One client. One time. She just has to say yes.
A Beautiful Mess
T.K. Leigh - 2013
Having lost her parents in a tragic car accident when she was a little girl, she’s struggled to get close to anyone. Instead, she prefers to avoid all relationships, keeping them superficial at best.Until retired Navy SEAL Alexander Burnham walks into her life and sparks something inside her she thought was dead.But he has demons of his own, ones that could turn her world upside-down.Ones that could reveal the truth that’s been kept from her for years.Ones that could cost her everything…Including her life.A Beautiful Mess is the first book in the Beautiful Mess Series, a gripping, suspenseful story about two souls destined to be together and the forces threatening to keep them apart. Pick up your copy of the first book in this USA Today Bestselling series today!
Crazy Good
Rachel Robinson - 2014
They put the bad in badass because, well… it’s their job.Navy SEAL Maverick Hart has everything. Women want him. Grown men idolize him. Little boys want to grow up and be like him. The job, the glory — it’s all his. Not because it’s handed to him… because he works hard for it. The second his sights lock on something, he owns it — or destroys it. Unfortunately he does both at the same time. Windsor Forbes only takes calculated risks in her profession and in her personal life. After being left at the altar by the only person she’s ever loved, the very last thing she’s looking for is a relationship — especially the insane brand an arrogant Navy SEAL is offering. Hesitant, yet trusting to a fault, she gives in. She knew she shouldn’t take the chance, especially a second time, but love is irrational and their love is perfect, infallible. Or so she thought…The downfall to having everything is you have that much more to lose. A man like Maverick can’t have it all without something slipping out of grasp. Crazy people perish for love. Good people live for it. Love doesn’t die. No matter how many bullets you put in it. *Due to sexual content and graphic language this book is intended for readers 18+.*
Bad Billionaire
Julie Kriss - 2016
To me, he’s Mister Hot, Dark, and Handsome, the neighbor I watch from the window, wondering what he’s really like.Turns out, he’s a thief. A getaway driver. He gives me the hottest night of my life before he’s put away for taking the wrong job. When he’s gone, I try to forget about him and get on with my normal, unexciting life.Until he gets out, and an inheritance makes him a billionaire.Now Devon is back. He’s the richest ex-con you’ve ever seen. He doesn’t care about penthouses, fancy dinners, or private jets. He doesn’t care that his enemies are after him. He doesn’t care that everything is about to go up in flames.In his world of chaos, Devon Wilder says he only cares about one thing.Me.
The Seduction 1
Roxy Sloane - 2014
But trust me, I’ll have you wet and begging for it before you can think of all those bullshit, good girl reasons why not.I'm your darkest secret. Your dirtiest fantasy.Who am I?The Seducer.And I’ve never lost a case.Until her. Keely Fawes. My mysterious new target.Someone wants to destroy her -- and I’m their weapon of choice.Her secrets could be my undoing. Her innocence will ruin me.But I don’t care.I’m going to show her how fucking good it feels to be bad. She’ll come screaming my name if it’s the last thing I do.***Part 1 of a filthy, seductive new serial***
The Don: The Oath Duet
Serena Akeroyd - 2021
How could my Lady be anything other than a silken promise taunting me with every breath she takes?A new Don reigns over Manhattan.But though I won the war, peace isn’t easily brokered.Over a decade of avenging my father’s death, I made many enemies.To each and every one, Jen’s a target.But I’ll paint NYC red before I let them harm her.I just never imagined I’d be in the line of fire first… A heart broken by grief can feel no guilt or shame with the brutality in which vengeance is delivered. This is the first part of ‘The Oath’ duet in The Valentini Family series.
Dark Russian Angel
Odette Stone - 2019
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,And I witnessed a crime.The police are failing to protect me.And my chance of survival isn't looking good.Andrusha, is the cold and dangerous leader of the Vancouver Russian mafia,He's also my best chance to make it to trial alive.The only thing we have in common,Is our shared enemy.This man is everything your mom warned you about.He's ruthless.He's cold.And he likes to be in control.I should be afraid of him.I should keep my distance.So why is he the only one who makes me feel safe?Who will protect me from my protector?
Irrevocable
Skye Callahan - 2014
” (Everything Marie) Book 1 in the Irrevocable Duet Stripped of everything she knows--even her real name--Silver is forced to adapt, to obey, and to do anything she needs to do to survive. Sometimes when you can’t go back, the only way out is to descend into the darkness. my Captor When I woke in that place, I just wanted to survive. But survival came at a cost, for which they demanded my will and body. my Master With pain came acceptance. Fully-dependent on the man who claimed me, I learned to appreciate what I had-life and relative safety. my Protector I watched him spill blood and tend my injuries. With betrayal came a revelation. “Not only did Irrevocable gut me, it took me on a roller coaster ride full of emotions that I usually don’t experience while reading romances…. You start to hate, you start to sympathize, and you begin to fall in love in every way. Ms. Callahan has turned my world upside down with her writing. Dark, sensual, and at times overwhelming, Irrevocable will bring you on a dark journey that you will never forget..” (Shayna Renee’s Spicy Reads, TOP PICK of 2014!) IRREVOCABLE is a dark romance intended for adult readers 18+ only. Not intended for those easily offended by dark subject matter.
Brutally Beautiful
Christine Zolendz - 2013
With blood still on her hands, Samantha Matthews is on the run, running from dark secrets and a man she prays to God will never find her. Running and hiding, just to stay alive. She had no choice but to run, to leave, to hide and forget about her life before. When Samantha believes she's gained enough distance from her past and her demons, she stops running, hoping to find her future in the heavily wooded area of the Adirondack Mountains, a place she never expected to encounter a man with secrets as dark and as sordid as hers. Kade Grayson is hiding, not from the demons after him, but from himself and from the entire outside world, wishing every day he could have just died. Arrogant and domineering, he’s tormented and terrorized by his past, seeing nothing good for his future. With the ghosts of his past still haunting him, he has exiled himself to a life of solitude, only living for his words and through his stories.Until her.An undeniable attraction, turns into hate and then ultimately obsession, an obsession that grows into a powerful story of love and redemption.Will the bond they have begun to build between them grow stronger than the tragedies that have scarred both of their lives? Or will they allow their demons to consume them?
Still a Bad Boy
Ada Scott - 2015
Jace Barlow: the most powerful man in the city. Mysterious, scarred, pure muscle and tattoos.He was my first. That didn’t stop him from pinning me against a wall, using me for his own pleasure until I screamed his name.Now my boss thinks I’m getting the scoop of the century, but all Jace is giving me is orgasm after leg-quivering orgasm. When he puts his hand on my throat and growls in my ear…“You are mine.”I know it’s true.I’ve fallen hard and I’ve never felt safer…Until I see him kill somebody.JaceI dedicated my life to taking down the Picolli Crime Family from the inside. I made a name for myself, the mafia’s most brutal enforcer. I worked my way up the chain, and my revenge came. A righteous bloodbath.Then I took their place so they could never come back.Nothing else has ever mattered. Until Kendall.She was an innocent girl for me to defile, and then leave her ruined for other men like all the rest. But she makes me so hard I ache for release, and for the first time in my life, I want to have her again.Kendall’s the chink in my armor my enemies have been looking for.I don’t care.She is mine and I’ll die before I give her up.
The Mafia And His Angel: Part 1
Lylah James - 2017
Ruthless. Killer. I am respected and feared by all. I wasn’t put on this earth to love or be loved. I was put here to wipe out every last member of the damn Abandonato mafia, to pay them back for my mother’s death. When I find a strange girl hiding, beaten, under my bed, I don’t let her live out of compassion. She’s a trinket, my plaything. Ayla… I thought Alessio was only one more man who wanted to use me, hurt me, and throw me away. I don’t know what it is to trust anymore. I can’t find my heart under the pain. Alessio found it. He touched it, and brought it alive again. But if he discovers just how dangerous I am to him…I’ll lose my life.