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


cocky-hero-club
romance
arc
contemporary-romance

Dirty Player


Gwyn McNamee - 2020
    Only one word can describe Sebastian “Bash” Fury…DIRTY.He’s dirty hot.A dirty talker.And a dirty player.On the ice, he truly earns his nickname.He bashes opponents without regard for the rules or safety.Which is precisely why I can’t have him on my team.As the first female head coach in the NHL, all eyes are on me, waiting for me to fail.A man like Bash Fury is a liability who could ruin my career.Even worse, he’ll destroy my willpower.I should despise that cocky bastard.But something about his swagger and quick smile make him irresistibly charming.Despite my best efforts, things are heating up and the ice around my heart is starting to melt…All because of this dirty player.

Wicked Bedmate


Jenika Snow - 2020
    Sexy and confident—or maybe arrogant—he had me yearning for more with just a smoldering look and a smirk of his lips.But when a night of drinking leads to getting in bed with him and having the wildest, most intense night of my life, I didn’t know if I should ask to see him again or do the good old walk of shame.And it’s when I walk into my interview the next day and come face-to-face with my prospective employer that the reality of my situation sinks in.Because there, sitting across from me with that devilish smile on his face, that knowing expression of what we’d done the night before, is the one and only Jason, my supposedly one-night stand.Looked like my humiliation wasn’t over just yet.

Cocky Captain


Ellie Masters - 2020
    He’s a cocky jet jock, a former Navy Blue Angel, and full of all the arrogance that comes with being the best of the best. I’m an ex-Zoomie, a female Air Force tanker pilot. The rivalry between our sister services is nothing compared to that between fighter jocks and tanker pilots. We’re bitter rivals and I’m low-man (woman) on the totem poleThe last thing I need is to spend six hours at thirty-five thousand feet locked in a cockpit with the cocky captain. But I have no choice. I’m his co-pilot, and we’re taking the CEO of Montague Enterprises, and his family, on a mini-vacation to the Grand Caymans.We have three days on the ground before we fly back.Three long days in paradise and he wants to spend them with me.I have a thing for fighter pilots.It isn’t animosity, exactly, but rather a deep-seated dislike. They get all the glory while the rest of us sit at the butt end of their jokes and wither beneath their ridicule.I hate fighter pilots. There, I said it. I hate the arrogant pricks with a passion.But after one look into those magnetic eyes, and the devastating wink which follows, I’m thinking of throwing caution to the wind. What harm can come from some innocent flirting? I’m not prepared for the air to sizzle when he’s close.I’m not ready for our explosive chemistry when he touches my skin.I’m not equipped for the fallout when our three days come to an end.Nothing can prepare me when I have to walk away.And I’m not ready for what comes next.He’s arrogant. He’s cocky. He’s determined to get what he wants.And he refuses to let this end.He’s fighting for a forever…with me.But, what if I’m not ready for our beginning?He's arrogant enough to prove me wrong.

Doctor Heartbreaker


Kathryn M. Hearst - 2020
    Heartbreaker. They say I put the hot in hot-shot cardiologist.Not that it matters. I never stick my tongue depressor in my co-workers.What can I say? I play by a set of personal rules.Even if those rules eliminate 99.9% of the woman I come in contact with from my dating-pool.Even if those rules land me on a blind date with Emily, my childhood sweetheart, a woman I hadn’t seen since I broke her heart freshmen year of college.Let’s just say the evening was a disaster. She took one look at me, and it was…Date over. Do not pass go. Do not collect your two-hundred dollars.The thing is, I can’t stop thinking about her. She was my first kiss, and every other first that two people can share.She’s the only woman I’ve ever loved.How can I make her understand what really happened between us when she wants nothing to do with me?How can I let her walk away again, when it could mean another ten years wondering…what if?The answer’s simple. I can’t.Unfortunately, the solution to my dilemma is a five-year-old Colombian girl with a deadly heart condition. The same little girl Emily’s non-profit organization brought to the United States to receive life-saving surgery.When the chief of staff informs me, I need to improve my public image because my bedside manner sucks--not THAT bedside manner. I’m just fine between the sheets, thank you very much—I agree to perform the girl’s operation… Because spending more time with Emily is worth the risk.Even if it means I have to break every rule in my playbook.Even if it means destroying myself in the process.I may be a sap, but I’ll do anything for a second chance with the woman who’s owned my heart since the fourth-grade.

Ruthless Renovator


Paisleigh Aumack - 2021
    The opportunity to host a satellite radio show gave me a new lease on life and everything was great…until I was forced to interview a ghost from the past.I guess what they say is true…some ghosts are meant to haunt you. He was always my ultimate dream but instead he became my devastating heartbreak. With his interview over, I was ready to move on with my life. However, he had other plans. While his focus was getting reacquainted in a way he said was meant to be, I just wanted him and the memories he brought gone. He challenged me. I built up my walls—my heart was closed to him—but I forgot he was ruthless in the pursuit of what he wanted.They say there is a fine line between love and hate and I skated it until I couldn’t fight it anymore.

Dirty Cowboy


Erin Trejo
    I knew who I was and what direction my life was headed. I owned the most prestigious night clubs down the east coast yet I kept my identity a secret. I don’t like being in the lime light and my hometown was none of anyone’s business. However, making people happy was. I did that with my clubs. Until the day tragedy struck my family. I had a choice to make and it wasn’t an easy one.At the end of the day, family always comes first. I went home to take care of my mom and the ranch. I didn’t plan on that little smart mouth Hope showing up with a laptop in hand. Just out of a cheating relationship the girl was hell bent on hating all men. Me included. Hating me wasn’t the only thing she came back home for. She needed a quiet place to write her next article. Her interest? The man that suddenly closed down all the upscale clubs on the east coast.I wanted to be anonymous for a reason. I didn’t want the cameras and all the tabloids in mine or my family’s business. So, I don’t give her anything. Well, nothing she wants anyhow.I give her the cowboy, the man that I’ve once again become with the dirty mouth. Until she learns the truth and wants to run with it. I should have known that a second chance at love wouldn’t happen for me. All fairy tales have to end, right?

Contemptuous CEO


K.L. Myers - 2020
    Eleven years later, all his dreams have come true. All except for one: marrying the love of his life.Madison (Maddie) Hightower had always been a loner until Xander came along. Devastated after he left her behind to chase his dreams, she focused all her energy on becoming president of a digital software company – the same business Xander has just acquired. Even after all these years, her attraction for Xander is still sizzling and palpable. He still makes her heart sing, but she isn’t sure if he feels the same way. Xander is interested in the merger for two reasons. The first is the potential for growth in the digital market, and the second is a chance to reconnect with Maddie. He’s never forgotten her. She was supposed to be by his side as he climbed the corporate ladder, and now he has the opportunity to have Maddie working under him. Literally.But Maddie has a secret. One she never told Xander when he left her in California and headed to the East Coast— a secret she never thought he’d ever uncover.The merger of their companies will bring Xander face to face with Maddie’s life-altering betrayal. How he handles this discovery will decide the fates of these two star-crossed lovers.

The Ruthless Gentleman


Louise Bay - 2018
    Until British businessman Hayden Wolf comes aboard—all sexy swagger and mysterious requests.He wants me. And Hayden Wolf’s a man who’s used to getting exactly what he demands. Despite being serious and focused. Demanding and ruthless. He’s also charming when I least expect it as well as being devastatingly handsome with an almost irresistible smile.But guests are strictly off limits and I’ve never broken a rule. Not even bent one. My family are depending on me and I can’t lose my job.Only problem is Hayden Wolf is looking at me like I just changed his life. And he's touching me like he’s about to change mine.A standalone romance.

Brainy Bartender


Natalie Ann - 2020
    A dash of a pretend role. A shot of steamy chemistry. Put it in a shaker, then pour for one exotic cocktail on the rocks!Wesley Templeton was determined to not follow in his namesake’s path as a cardiac surgeon. Was he smart enough for it? Of course. Did he have the time and patience to master the craft? Absolutely. Was he going to let his controlling grandfather hold his trust fund over his head until he achieved what was expected of him? Hell no!Harper Fairchild was the redheaded stepchild. Literally. Smart, nerdy, picked on, and often thought of as an outcast. Her social life was as dismal as her family one, so she left home when she could and made a new life somewhere else. Unfortunately she found it was hard to break the mold of what cast her as undesirable. Until she loses a bet with a coworker and agrees to a makeover for a blind date. When that turns into another disaster she escapes to a bar to nurse her emotional wounds, striking up a conversation with the sexy bartender and wondering if she could keep up the ruse of the confident sexy chick she was pretending to be.

Layover Lover


Jeannine Colette - 2020
    It’s my home.Ten years ago I ran away from everything I’ve known and vowed never to return. That is until my flight is canceled due to weather, and I’m stuck in San Francisco. Fate is not on my side when I end up in an Uber rideshare with the one man I thought I’d never see again. Zack Hunt was my high school sweetheart, and the boy I walked away from without a note saying goodbye. Except, he’s no longer a boy. No, this man is gorgeous, intense, and heated at the sight of me. The anger searing off him is nothing compared to the way my heart pounds from seeing him again. Words are said. Feelings are crushed. But when he invites me into his bar to hash out our past, I find myself following him in, desperate for more. The line between past and present is blurred when Zack challenges me to a dare—come back home with him to see what I walked away from. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I do. Then I challenge him right back to live a day in my shoes. We drive home to rediscover the past We fly abroad to live in the present.When we stop moving, we realize we may never have a future. Layover Lover is a second chance romance, aligned by fate. Can two lost souls really find love again on a layover? Or do they need to keep flying?

Deal with the Devil


Meghan March - 2019
    He was a predator, and he had set his sights on me.I knew better than to bet more than I could afford to lose that night. I knew better than to bet myself. But desperation leads to bad decisions, and I thought there was no way I could lose.I was wrong. Now I have no choice but to make a deal with the devil.

Slick Senator


Mika Lane - 2020
    on Wednesdays.Oh, and I might have stalked him in the dining hall, too. Turned out he ate a lot of grilled cheese.And thanks to my big mouth, the paper I work for now expects me to do a story on him because he's not granting interviews. Not even to Anderson Cooper.But surely he'll meet me since we went to college together? Right?Logical assumption. Except that he doesn't know me from a hole in the wall.But I wasn't about to blow my chance with the paper. Writing obituaries for three years at one of the country's top newspapers was not my idea of a fulfilling career, especially since the money I'd borrowed for my Ivy League education could buy a small country. I wanted more--I wanted to report on real news. I wanted to prove myself, and even work in the face of danger. A girl's got to have dreams.All I needed was a break. No question, I was getting an interview with Talbot Richardson if it was the last thing I did. If I had to beg, borrow, steal, or... even take my panties off.

Beauty in the Broken


Charmaine Pauls - 2019
    He gave his daughter to Jack Clarke in exchange for the excavation rights. Today, I’m walking free, and I’m coming for him with a vengeance. Six years of cruelty make beasts out of men. I’m going to take back what he stole from me, and more. I’m not interested in his properties or shares. I don’t want his small change. I want his biggest asset. Beautiful, mentally unstable, Angelina Dalton-Clarke.Worth billions, she’s the wealthiest widow in the country, and also the craziest. Her self-harming tendencies had Jack declare her incompetent before he put a gun to his head and blew out his brains. Lina isn’t allowed to touch a cent of her riches. Her father manages her finances. He has all the signing power. As her husband, that 'chore' will fall to me. But if she thinks I only want her for her money, she’s sadly mistaken.*This book is a stand-alone. No cliffhangers.

Cocksure Ace


K. Webster - 2020
    From USA Today Bestselling author K Webster comes a standalone novel in Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward's Cocky Hero Club world!I’m a fighter.At least that’s what my daddy always told me.It’s in our blood.Hard work, hustle, and a little Hennessy is the Reid motto.He taught me to fight for everything I wanted in life.Take down those who threaten the dream.My dream is to marry the perfect man.That man is my father’s best friend and I won’t stop until I have him.And at Daddy’s wedding in Costa Rica, I plan to make that dream finally come true.Then, my life will be smooth sailing.Until a chance flight with an arrogant pilot throws me off course.Literally.Camilo’s decisions affect my future, and I can’t allow anything—not even a cocksure, ridiculously hot idiot—to stand in my way.Problem is, he fights back.Every battle I’ve won in life, he shoots down and exposes me for the fraud I am.Trapped in paradise with my devilishly handsome nemesis seems like one of the seven circles of Hell…and, boy, is it getting hot around here.He’ll strip me of my armor.Remind me of my past.Force me to rethink my future.And help me live in the moment.Will he steal my heart too?One thing’s for sure.This girl won’t give up without a fight.

The Hate Vow


Nicole French - 2019
    Looks like millions. Worth billions. A body like the David with a mind to match. Unfortunately for this wayward heir, to keep his money, he needs a wife. And of all the women in the world, he chooses me. Too bad I’ve hated him for five years, since he took all my tears and tossed me away. The guy slept his way through half of New England and discarded women like hotel toiletries. Been there. Done that. Still...what would you do for twenty million dollars? Would you wear the dress? Fake a smile for the man who broke your heart? Or would you run far, far away? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I’ll see you at the church.