Book picks similar to
Cruel Beloved by T.L. Smith


cocky-hero-club
romance
arc
contemporary-romance

The Legacy


Dylan Allen - 2018
    I craved every touch, every filthy promise that fell from his beautiful mouth, knowing he could break me. My past had left me battered and bruised, with scars he was determined to heal. Loving him was like drowning—he consumed me, body and soul.But Hayes has secrets of his own. And nothing could prepare me for the shocking pieces of our pasts that threaten to rip us apart. When the truth is revealed will our love be enough to shelter the storm?

Don't Kiss the Bride


Carian Cole - 2021
    He was my own personal hero who seemed to be in all the right places at the right times. Like when my car broke down and I needed a ride home, and when I face planted on the sidewalk right in front of him and had to be taken to the emergency room.Those weren’t exactly my best moments, but they were his. We became friends, and it didn’t matter that he was sixteen years older than me. We had a lot in common—like our love of old rock music and vintage fast cars, and our aversion to relationships.When he approached me with a crazy idea to help me out, I couldn’t say no.The arrangement was supposed to be temporary. A marriage on paper and nothing else.It should’ve been easy, but it wasn’t.Because here I am, eighteen years-old, still in high school, and married to a man I was never supposed to fall in love with.We had just one rule—no kissing the bride.But we broke that rule, and it sealed our fate forever.

Hold You Close


Melanie Harlow - 2018
    Every time I see him climbing out of his pool, practically naked and unreasonably sexy, my blood boils.I’ve always loved to loathe him. I never planned to need him.*** London Parish is my little sister’s best friend, not that it stopped me from falling for her.Our history is complicated. The only thing we have in common is being godparents to my sister’s three adorable kids—until our lives are changed in one tragic moment. Now we’re trying to raise the children we love, mourn an unthinkable loss, and fight an undeniable attraction.My life is already upside-down, and the last thing I need is for old feelings to resurface. Because I’ll never be able to keep her, no matter how hard I try to hold her close.

Magnetic Medic


Alexa Padgett - 2021
    I’m pregnant with another man’s baby. What a time to fall in love… Coming home seemed like a good idea at the time. My ex-fiancé split, I was almost done with my master’s degree, and I was already working at the family architecture firm. When I move in next door to pediatrician Ryder Mackay, I’m not expecting the connection—or the passion in his eyes that I feel deep in my soul. He’s the best doctor for my baby, but he’s not the guy I need. Still, the way Ryder looks snuggling my puppy—and my infant daughter—to his rock-hard chest makes me wish this sexy, smart, compassionate man was mine. Maybe, it’s pregnancy hormones. Or...maybe this magnetic pull is forever.

Tough Customer


Erin St. Charles - 2020
    Dear Ida,The arrogant man at the dry cleaners made my bad day worse.So, the last thing I expected was for him to offer me a job.I shouldn’t have accepted—not if I wanted to maintain my sanity.But the allure of a big paycheck overpowered my reservations.Now, I know he’s just as infuriating as a boss as he was the first day we met; yet, the sparks that fly between us are far more than on a professional level.The more time I spend with him, helping him secure investors for his new restaurant chain, the harder it is to ignore the attraction between us.Playing with fire, you’re bound to get burned.And this man has seared himself into my soul.Tell me, Ida, is there hope for our future, or is it impossible to really please this Tough Customer?

Arrange Me


Katy Regnery - 2019
    and I'm sick of games. Sick of the Friday night bar-scene-cum-meat-market. Sick of the boy-girl, man-woman, mars-venus, flirtation-without-expectation, game-playing nonsense. Sick of awful dates and one-night stands, booty calls and guys who don’t call back, mixed messages or NO messages and—and—and...I'm sick of all of it. I’m done. I just can't do it anymore. It's too hard, and worse: little by little, it's making me hard. It's breaking my heart. What DO I want? That's easy. I want a house in suburbia with a white picket fence. I want babies to buckle into a minivan. But most of all, I want to be married. I want a husband. So I've made an important decision: I'm making my escape from the dating world and the single life. I've filled out my application on ArrangeMe.com and I'm putting my fate into the hands of experts. Is it a little scary? Sure. I mean, I have no idea who I'll end up with. After all, I'm planning to marry a complete stranger. But between you and me? I can't wait. Being arranged can't possibly be worse than being single. Can it?

The Assignment


Penelope Ward - 2022
    He’s now as successful as he is undeniably handsome.Lucky me. Four hours a week of having to deal with his insufferable personality and unsolicited advice.The only consolation is getting to stare at his annoyingly gorgeous face in between our many arguments.Eventually, though, we slowly warm to each other and our outings become something I actually look forward to.What’s happening to me?Apparently, I misunderstood the assignment, because it certainly didn’t include thinking about Troy when I close my eyes at night, imagining what it would be like with him—just once. All the while hating myself for fantasizing about a guy who’s all wrong for me. A guy whose car I keyed back in the day. (Long story, but he deserved it.)That’s all this is—a fantasy.Well, until that one night at the bar.The night Troy and I run into each other, and all of our pent-up frustration comes barreling out.Still, I refuse to accept that it means anything.There’s no way the guy I’m supposed to hate is also the one I can’t live without.

A Change in Tide


Freya Barker - 2017
    Retreating to the wilderness helps her cope with a world that is suddenly too loud, too turbulent. Her existence safely contained to the small cottage on the lake, she is unprepared for the neighbor that moves across the bay A career-ending injury has Jared permanently benched. His reputation as The Enforcer won’t survive the unanticipated responsibilities awaiting him. Away from the public eye, he adjust to his new reality, under the quiet observation of the intriguing hermit on the other side of the water.

More of You


A.L. Jackson - 2018
    . . The second I saw him walk through the door, I knew he was trouble. A gorgeous rebel with a bad attitude and a huge chip on his shoulder.My heart warned me. I didn’t listen. I fell hard and fast. He promised we’d be together forever, and then left me with a broken heart. Now, ten years later, Jace Jacobs is standing at my door.Sexier than he’s ever been. Provocative and commanding.Successful and powerful. The man I always knew he would become. But I promised myself I’d never lose my heart to him again.Even time couldn’t dim our chemistry. One glance of his intense eyes, and I become weak. One brush of his hand, and he brings me to my knees. Little do I know, Jace holds the key to everything I’ve lost and everything that threatens my future.Now he will either save me, or he will break me all over again . . . More of You – a Confessions of the Heart second-chance, stand-alone romance

Heartless Havoc


J.L. Leslie - 2021
    Ruthless. Heartless. I don’t consider those characteristics to be insults. If I am arrogant, ruthless, and heartless, then people cower down. I make my own rules and call all the shots. I suppose that’s why people opt to call me by my last name.Havoc.It’s very fitting for me. I wreak havoc on anyone who gets in my way. Right now, that person is a beautiful redhead who refuses to play by my rules. Doesn’t she know I’m the only one who’s allowed to break them?She came out of nowhere. Hit me a like a freight train. Now, she’s the one causing havoc in my life. Destroying everything I have worked for. Taking pieces of me I wasn’t aware I had to give.They call me arrogant. Ruthless. Heartless. I guess I’ll have to show her exactly how heartless I can be. What kind of havoc I can wreak on her life.Before she completely ruins me.**This is a Cocky Hero World book. This book contains adult content, adult language, and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers only.**

Asher Black


Parker S. Huntington - 2017
    Huntington comes a steamy, slow-burn love story full of unexpected love and banter.It started with my bladder.I didn't mean to witness a shady deal in the restroom hallway.I didn't think twice when I called the cops.And I certainly didn't know who the club belonged to.Asher Black.Former mafia hitman.Billionaire CEO.New York's most eligible bachelor.When he shows up at my college, looking for the girl who called the cops on his business, I know I'm as good as dead.What I don't expect is his offer--he'll pay my tuition and set me up with a cushy job after I graduate.All I have to do is... be his fake fiancée.Asher Black is a 90,000-word standalone novel in The Five Syndicates mafia romance series.

Trophy Wife


Alessandra Torre - 2017
    That's what happens when you develop half a town and sleep with the rest. Four years ago, his fiancee disappeared. Last night, he proposed to me. I'd wanted to escape my life, the seedy strip club and the mountain of bills. I had seized the opportunity to live in a mansion, fill my days with country clubs and caviar, my nights with romance and sex. Maybe I should have done my homework first. Note: This book is an expanded and revised version of Mrs Dumont, which is no longer available for sale. It contains filthy hot scenes, voyeurism, a dominating alpha male, and a plot you won't be able to step away from.

Hard Rules


Lisa Renee Jones - 2016
    His reckless and ruthless brother, Derek wants to keep Brandon Enterprises cemented in lies, deceit, and corruption. But the harder Shane fights to pull the company back into the light, the darker he has to become. Then he meets Emily Stevens, a woman who not only stirs a voracious sexual need in him, but becomes the only thing anchoring him between good and evil.Emily is consumed by Shane, pushed sexually in ways she never dreamed of, falling deeper into the all-encompassing passion that is this man. She trusts him. He trusts her, but therein lies the danger. Emily has a secret, the very thing that brought her to him in the first place, and that secret could destroy them both.This is book ONE of FOUR in Shane and Emily's story.

Savage Beginnings


J.L. Beck - 2020
    Like a thief I came in the dead of night and stole her away from her protected castle and placed her in a gilded cage made of gold. The arrangement had been made. Her father knew I was coming, knew I had intended to make him pay. His empire was crumbling. He had no money, nothing of value to me, nothing except... her. Which is why he agreed. His precious, virgin daughter in return for a debt paid. He thought I would break her, kill her, he had no idea what I had really planned. She would become my wife. She would bear my children. She would bend to my will. And I would go to any lengths to keep her by my side. *This is a dark mafia romance that contains mature themes, graphic violence, and sexual content. This is a standalone with a HEA.*

Intoxicated By You


Kristin Mayer - 2018
    I thought if I put enough time and distance between us, my heart could forget him. I thought wrong.Drake Foster owns my heart, my entire being. He always will. As the pieces of what happened to us begin to fall into place, I realize our relationship had been sabotaged.We'd​ been pawns​ in a game neither of us knew we were playing, and our relationship was the price we paid. Now, we must find our way together ​before it's too late.