That's how long I survived in that hellhole. They tried to break me, but I resisted. And I owe it all to the memory of warm summer nights, the scent of peaches, and the one woman who loved me more than I ever deserved to be loved. Now, I'll do anything to get back to her. Only Shelby Eubanks isn't the girl I left behind all those years ago. She's someone else, a stranger. My Shelby-my little green-eyed firecracker-would never give up her dreams, would never disappear into her mother's ambitions. But I won't give up on her. On us. I may be broken, and scarred, and not the man I used to be, but I will do whatever it takes to remind her of the story of us.

     I was born into darkness. Just like a puppy, only my darkness is eternal. Everyone else sees a world I can only imagine, but hey, don't pity me. I don't. I've got a lot of imagination, and I’ve made my world beautiful more beautiful that you can know. When I was a small child, my mother said I used to run into furniture, and if I was not too badly hurt, I’d get back up and continue running down the same path. When I grew older I understood that the world is not built for blind people. I needed a white cane and I needed to trust my bestie, Elaine, and jump when she yelled, “Puddle”. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, she’d yell puddle and there would be no puddle, but generally our system worked well. Now, I’m all grown up and she tells me that the most mysterious man in Durango Falls has stuck a job vacancy on her noticeboard and that I should apply for it. Apparently Kit Carson needs a blind reader. To be honest it sounds a bit like those times she yelled puddle and there was no puddle. But what the hell? I’ll give her a laugh and jump once again. This is the story of what happened when I jumped. Kit. I came to Durango Falls because it was the perfect place to hide. The townsfolk here don't like strangers and I don't like people. So I don’t talk to no one and no one talks to me. Suits me just fine. For five years now I’ve been livin’ alone at the edge of this forest. Just me and the wolves I’ve adopted, but this winter my soul has started hankering for something more. I know it’s sure as hell ain’t for the warmth of a woman’s body. I’m done with that. The military made me into a fuckin’ monster and I wouldn’t put any woman through that. Not even a whore. She’d have to be blindfolded to enjoy herself. Maybe I’m just hankering for a woman’s sweet voice reading to me the way my mother used to when I was five. Just before she died. Think I’ll advertise for a blind reader. A female blind reader. That’s what I thought I wanted. Well all that shit went out the window when I laid eyes on her. Now this woman’s body is all I can think about …

    My wild love affair was Netflix without the chill. I had no business dating the older man who looked as though he'd stepped out of an expensive advertisement.But he was determined to have me.Wickedly sweet, Theo gently and strategically pulled me from my rut, handing me the world in the process. Growing up with nothing, I suddenly found myself with everything. More than I'd even known to dream of.But shadows play tricks on the eyes, and life wasn’t always what it seemed. With Us…It was better.Warning: Recommended for readers 18+ due to adult content, language, and situations.

    It was just so damn easy to fall for the dark-haired hometown hero with his charming smile and strong, athletic build.Thousands of sleepy smiles, aimless drives down country roads, and squeaks of the backdoor after a swing shift later, reality hits. And it hits hard. Falling in love was definitely the easy part. Watching it break apart was impossible.Through the tears, the second-guesses, the memories of a life built together, the world keeps spinning. With each turn comes clarity and hope—sometimes in the form of a pair of muddy boots by the back door or from the words of a wise friend.When Ty shows back up with a new found determination to put his family back together, Elin's torn between the fights of the past and the possibility of a new start. This is the man that holds her heart, the man she loves beyond anything else. But this is also the one person in the world that can cause her the most pain.Life’s not always easy. Love’s not for the faint of heart. But with life comes lessons and Ty and Elin have the scars to prove it. But it's their love written in those scars that will hold them together … or break them apart.

    You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.Please don’t make her go through it alone.Ryan

    Another night tears them apart.Grace Miles misses her easy friendship with Asher, but growing up means growing apart. And really, how could he fall for her when they spent their childhood getting muddy in the creek and splitting sticks of gum? But this summer, something feels different. If Grace didn’t know better, she’d think Asher was flirting with her. Those dark eyes, hard body, and wicked smile make her insides swirl and her heart dare to hope for things she’s convinced herself she’ll never have. Falling for your best friend shouldn’t be complicated, but for Asher Bailey, loving Grace is anything but simple. The road to romance isn’t smooth thanks to his pack of wild brothers who are protective of the girl next door, a take-no-sass grandmother, a small town where gossip is a spectator sport, and a feud that spans generations. But Asher realizes his feelings are too big to ignore. Loving her isn’t the risk. Losing her would be. And one night, one kiss, changes everything. Finally admitting their feelings is the beginning of their happily ever after. Until their fairy tale love story is tragically interrupted, and neither of them will ever be the same.Author’s note: Lifelong soulmates, ridiculous pranks, brother shenanigans, and a feuding town. Protecting You is the Bailey Brothers series origin story. Be there when it begins and fall in love with this wild band of unruly brothers. The series is meant to be read in order, and Grace and Asher’s story concludes in Fighting for Us.

    He stormed in during the scariest moment of my life, and even though he fights his own demons, he fights harder for me. Together, we have an unbreakable bond.KaneI’m ruthless, especially when it comes to Sydney. She has a stalker, and he’s brought company. Sydney is MINE, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. But, when we’re hit with a surprise, our lives are changed forever…

    I thought he was only mine, until one picture turned my life upside down. She can fight it all she wants, but I knew the moment we met that she'd be mine, and I'm never giving her up. I tried to deny it, but in the end I know I'm Only His.

    Her family had three wishes and they’d only ever used one so Fazire was stuck in the human world. This worked since he’d become a member of the family anyway. Even with a genie, Lily's young life wasn’t perfect. To escape the kids making her miserable at school, Lily buried herself in romance novels. One day, when the teasing was just too much, she used one of her wishes. She told Fazire she wanted to find a man like in her books and she made the most complicated wish Fazire had ever heard. Her wished-for man had to be impossibly handsome, virile, fierce, rugged and ruthless (amongst a dozen other things). He also had to think she was beautiful and he had to love her more than anything in the world. Nathaniel McAllister wasn’t born to a life where there were such things as genies granting wishes. His life was filled with drugs, crime and neglect. He was running errands for a gangster before he was in his teens and, even though life and hard work led him to wealth and respectability, he always knew, deep down, he was dirty. When Nate met Lily he knew he was no good for her but as virile, fierce, rugged and ruthless as he was, Nate was no match for the pull of sweet, innocent Lily. Unfortunately, Lily’s wish included that she and her hero go through trials and tribulations to test their love. And Fazire wasn’t only a good genie, he loved Lily – so he gave her exactly what she wanted.

    That’s what he was. Dash Frasier—my hero from the day we met, when I was six and he was nine. His sister was my best friend, the three of us one happy crew. Then one sweaty summer night changed everything. No one understood me like Dash. No one made me feel so loved. That’s why, when he skipped town, it wrecked me.Now I’m older. Wiser. I’ve just snagged my dream job, writing at a film studio. The lead animator on my project? You guessed it.He’s not the boy next door. Not anymore.I’m guarding my heart this time. But Dash has secrets that could break us both.

    Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).

    No, I’m not an idiot.Yes, I had my reasons. Now I’ve made a new life for myself working at a large firm in Richmond and I’ve left the past behind. Or so I thought.Upon returning to my hometown of Serenity Point, Virginia, to take care of some business, I find that Kade’s now home for good and he’s none too happy about my being here. Two months. That’s all I’m staying then I’m out of here. Unless I believe the town’s pink-haired psychic’s prediction. Or embrace the sense of belonging I feel at being back home. Or give in to the emotions stirring inside when Kade's attention is suddenly on me. He scares the crap out of me. He thrills me. He used to tell me our love was bigger than the sky. I always knew ours was a once-in-a-lifetime love. So how can he be so sure it can happen again?

    The fact that Shane's in the military and away for long periods helps—but when tragedy strikes, everything changes.After Rachel, pregnant with her fourth child, dies in a car accident and the baby miraculously survives, Kate upends her entire life to share parenting duties. Then on the first anniversary of Rachel's death, Kate and Shane take comfort in each other in a night that they both soon regret.Shane's been angry for a year, and now he feels guilty too—for sleeping with his wife's best friend and liking it... liking her. Kate's ability to read him like a book may have once sent Shane running, but their lives are forever entwined and they are growing closer.Now with Shane deployed for seven months, Kate is on her own and struggling with being a single parent. Shane is loving and supportive from thousands of miles away, but his homecoming brings a betrayal Kate never saw coming. So Kate's only choice is to fight for the future she deserves—with or without Shane...

    but wanting Claudia is wrong.She's been like a little sister to me since the day she was born. Now, everything between us is changing--including the special bond we've always shared. It's stronger than ever... and becoming something so different. Something so hot. Something so forbidden.My little dove is growing up.Doesn't matter how wrong it is, I can't stop wanting her. I will have her.CLAUDIA—Bram Windsor. I have loved him my entire life.For years, I was nothing more than one of the boys to him. Owen's little sister. The pest who tagged along everywhere the boys went. But now, everything has changed.I've grown up and it's time Bram sees me for what I am. A woman. A sexual being who wants him. A virgin more than ready to give herself to him.I don't care what our friends or family say. I love him and everything about being together feels right. I will have him.***Note from Georgia--Sweet Torment is a 33k+ word standalone novella. It is a rewrite of a 12k word short story previously published as Cherry Popper under the pen name Jade Sinner and is no longer available for purchase. HEA. No cheating. No cliffhanger.

    comes a falling for my older brother’s best friend romance.Subject: Delete this message after you read it...Dear Hayley,I'm assuming you're still hungover, so I'll make this brief.Last night, you slipped under my sheets (without my permission), and we almost had sex. I got the hell out of the bed once I realized it was you, and I took you home.That's the story.The end.Period. Just in case you've forgotten, you're my best friend's little sister. We will never be anything more. (We can't be anything more.) Our previous friendship is still unresolved--or "over" in your terms, so I'd prefer if we worked on becoming 'just friends' again since you're in town.Nonetheless, I'm not a man who leaves questions unanswered--even the drunken ones, so to properly close our inappropriate conversation:1) Yes, I liked the way your lips felt against mine when you were on top of me.2) Yes, I do "prefer" rough sex, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't rough with you.3) No, I had no idea you were still a virgin...This message never happened,Corey