Now Guardian team leader Dominic Serrano will be forced to choose between the vengeance he craves and the woman he can’t live without…Movie location scout Mackenzie Foster-Shaw has always known that she's cursed to die young. No one can protect her from the evil that has stalked her family for generations—vampires who crave her rare blood type. Until one afternoon in a wooded cemetery, she encounters an impossibly sexy stranger, a man she must trust with her life.For Dominic, a man haunted by loss, Mackenzie satisfies a primal hunger that torments him—and the bond they share goes beyond heat, beyond love. She alone can supply the strength he needs to claim his revenge. But in doing so, he could destroy her.

    And he wore it all so well. From the moment his mesmerizing gaze met mine, I had no choice but surrender to everything he was. His power. His decadence. His passion. He was all I never knew I needed. He wanted to possess me, and I wanted to be his everything. All I had to do was accept what he offered. But everything has a price. The world he gave me fulfilled my wildest dreams, but would that be enough when the past crashed into the present?

    Most people back home pegged him as a dropout. Over time, he’s worked to make something of his life and leave his past behind, so when his ten-year reunion comes up, he has no intention of attending. Only when his best friend begs him to go, Grayson finds himself confronted with a past he’d rather forget and the one woman he’s always craved.Kate St. Dalton had everything when she left her hometown. Not only was she Valedictorian with a full scholarship, but she was also engaged to the boy of her dreams. Then fate threw a wrench in her plans, and she had to find a way to live the new life fate handed her. The last thing she needs is the hot boy from high school returning to town as the sexy man of her dreams.When the two take a chance and use the reunion week to burn up the sheets, they’ll have to remember that it’s only for a few nights—not for a lifetime—and decide if what they have is just a fling…or something far more than a mere reunion.

    They build a life for themselves, far away from the expectations of their parents and the people of their hometown in Massachusetts. They travel the world together, living life to the fullest and seizing every opportunity for adventure.On their first wedding anniversary, Jesse is on a helicopter over the Pacific when it goes missing. Just like that, Jesse is gone forever.Emma quits her job and moves home in an effort to put her life back together. Years later, now in her thirties, Emma runs into an old friend, Sam, and finds herself falling in love again. When Emma and Sam get engaged, it feels like Emma’s second chance at happiness.That is, until Jesse is found. He’s alive, and he’s been trying all these years to come home to her. With a husband and a fiancé, Emma has to now figure out who she is and what she wants, while trying to protect the ones she loves.Who is her one true love? What does it mean to love truly?Emma knows she has to listen to her heart. She’s just not sure what it’s saying.

    Something about her has left him staring at her picture and wondering what it would be like to touch her soft skin. When the time comes for the team to strike, Lukian senses danger and aborts the mission. He makes an attempt at meeting Peren and is set in his place by an independent young woman who knows what she is, and isn't, looking for in a man.Lukian is having trouble telling Peren that he's what she fears most, a werewolf. Can they make the passion that burns between them last, or will Lukian's condition be too much for Peren?Critical IntelligenceBook TwoWhen loyalties are questioned and bonds forged, the I-Ops find themselves fighting a war to guard not only their secrets but their lives as well.Missy Carter leads a rather boring, overworked life as a system analyst for the State Department or rather, that's what she lets everyone believe. No, in reality her life is anything but boring. As an agent with the Paranormal Security and Intelligence, she's seen and done it all. Intelligence is her specialty, assassination is her hobby. The only problem is that the things she spies on don't die easily. In fact, some of them were dead to begin with. She's learned to handle anything life can throw at her. That is until the biggest paramilitary pain her ass shows up again. Lucky for him, he's sexy.Roi Majors, second in command of the I-Ops, is having a hard time believing that Intel can only get half the information needed to bring down an underground ring of vampires with big spending backers who are hell bent on creating a race of supernaturals with multiple strands of DNA in them. As the team searches for answers, Roi searches for sexual release. When he finds himself paired with the one woman in the world who seems immune to his self-proclaimed charms, he can't wait to see her to safety and then bid her good riddance. He never counted on falling in love with her. And he sure in the hell never counted on her claiming to be an agent with a branch of the government no human should know about.

    No one has secrets like Watts.Catherine Kolb has found the perfect diversion from her life of nearly complete seclusion: a virtually anonymous correspondence with a man she knows only as “Watts.”Intelligent, mysterious, and with an insatiable appetite for sex, he begins to draw Catherine out of her closely guarded world, tempting her with his words—some dirty, some simply enticing…“You should indulge your curiosities, especially the forbidden ones.”Watts insists on privacy. He has no choice. In the wrong hands, his secrets could get people killed. Including Catherine.Common sense says they should never meet, but curiosity and lust prove stronger than reason and caution. A planned one-time encounter sets into motion a series of events that bring Catherine and Watts to the edge of ecstasy and the brink of peril.Two very private people. One risky night. A shot at love and redemption.Due to mature themes, this book is recommended for readers 18+.

    Trust me when I say, it's a breathtaking sight to see. You burn as bright as the sun."When Aubrey Miller begins her education at Titan University, she is no longer the beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of her youth. In fact, she's no longer even Aubrey Miller. Overcome with guilt and unable to cope with the loss of her beloved family, she has long since buried eight-year old Aubrey along with them and transformed herself into Raven Miller. Now with jet-black hair, multiple sets of eccentric contact lenses, and several facial piercings, she's veiled herself in complete darkness as a form of protection for herself, as well as others. As she enters her first year of college, her goal is simple: Earn a degree with the least amount of social interaction as possible. What she never anticipates is the formation of very unlikely relationships with two people who will change her life in ways she never believed possible: Quinn Matthews, the overtly cheerful pageant queen, and Kaeleb McMadden, a childhood friend who never really let her go. Over the years, as their connections intertwine and strengthen, a seemingly indestructible bond is formed between the three. And eventually, the ties of friendship and discovery of first love begin to coax her from her darkened path as they slowly bring Aubrey back to life. But when faced with the possibility of yet another death, one from which she may never recover, Aubrey finds herself lost again, burying herself deeper than ever before beneath the familiar abyss of her fears. Spanning the course of four years, this is the story of a young woman's plight to finally reemerge, finding strength within unbreakable bonds as she delivers herself from her own manufactured darkness and safely back . . . Into the Light. ****WARNING - Due to the graphic nature of some scenes, this book is not recommended for those who are particularly sensitive to the death of a child and/or suicide and is intended for mature audiences only. Contains adult language and themes.****

    A journal with a list.Take a karate class. Go skydiving. Learn to play the ukulele. Say yes to everything for an entire day. The list goes on, line by line, of youthful dreams.For too long that list has haunted me. But starting today, I’m going to cross one item off. Today, I’m opening my new restaurant in Bozeman, Montana. The Maysen Jar.It should have marked the first day of a new life. A fresh start. But then Cole Goodman waltzed through the door and brought with him the past. A man who shattered my heart. A man I tried to forget.Maybe it’s a good thing he insists on sticking around. Because the only way I’ll finish the list is with Cole’s help. And then I can finally say goodbye.

    Then, Wolverine faces down Nanny and Orphan-Maker, and lets former New X-Men member Trance in on all his secrets.

    But his nights are another story… And when his lovely new neighbor, Honor Brown, reluctantly accepts his help in remodeling her house, Jason finds himself wishing his handyman skills could knock down the defenses she keeps building around herself. Martial arts teacher Sullivan Dean knows real danger when he sees it—even when it takes the form of the gorgeous blonde helping her friend move in across the street. After putting his wayward past behind him to focus on teaching control to troubled kids, Sullivan has learned to avoid party girls like Lexie Perkins. But Sullivan can't seem to keep his hands off the real woman behind that flirty charm—or keep his heart from landing at her feet…

    Daring declarations of love. Writer-for-hire Jaine Austen has penned them all. But when one of the love connections she made is broken up by murder, Jaine finds herself freelancing free-of-charge--and uncovering more than she bargained for. . . No one seems to need her help more than geeky, gawky Howard Murdoch. His request is simple enough: a letter proclaiming his undying love for Stacy Lawrence, a gorgeous aerobics instructor. The fact that he's never actually met the woman gives Jaine pause--but she soon overcomes her misgivings, warms up her computer, and starts pitching woo on Howard's behalf. To Jaine's surprise, the letter is a success--the unlikely Romeo lands a date! But his triumph is, sadly, short-lived. On Valentine's Day, Howard finds Stacy bludgeoned to death with a Thigh Master--and is quickly named the prime suspect. Upon hearing the news, Jaine is shocked. Sure, Howard's awkward, eccentric, and a tiny bit odd. But a murderer? That's hard to believe. Especially after a little sleuthing turns up a whole bunch of people who harbored less-than-loving feelings towards the svelte Stacy. But Jaine had better wrangle her clues quickly, before a crafty killer catches on--and puts a whole new spin on her ghost writing career. . . "This book is laugh-out-loud funny. A real winner!" --Laurien Berenson

    Part 1 of the collection includes Twilight Phantasies, Twilight Memories, Twilight Illusions, Beyond Twilight, Born in Twilight, and Twilight Vows.

    Yet the girl's quiet pride spoke to him from across the bar, louder than a shout. Troubled, hungry, and homeless, she'd placed her trust in him. But after losing the grip on his dark desires that one fateful night, James has spent the last four years atoning for letting her down.This time I'll finally crack him.Rock band drummer Lita Regina has had enough of James' guilt. She wants the explosive man she met that night in Hollywood. The man who held nothing back and took no prisoners - save Lita. And she'll stop at nothing to revive him. Even if it means throwing herself into peril at every turn, just to get a reaction from her stoic manager.But when Lita takes her quest one step too far, James disappears from her life, thinking his absence will keep her safe. Now it's up to Lita to bring James back...and ignite an inferno of passion in the process.Listener Advisory: Rough Rhythm contains fantasies of nonconsensual sex acted upon by consenting characters. Readers with sensitivity to portrayals of nonconsensual sex should be advised.Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a stand-alone story. For new listeners it's an introduction to an author's world. And for fans it's a bonus book in the author's series. We hope you'll enjoy each one as much as we do.

    Lucky for her, a lovable mutt and his tall, sexy, blue-eyed owner provide enough distraction to subdue her paralyzing panic attack. But Beth’s human tranquilizer turns out to be her future brother-in-law, Joe Dempsey, and their instant attraction is both unwelcome and undeniable. Joe expects his brother’s fiancé to follow the materialistic, blonde-bimbo stereotype that is Lucas’ usual fare. Wild-haired, sweet-natured Beth doesn’t fit the part, but she does fit Joe and his island better than any woman he’s ever met. Though the men haven’t been close for years, Joe would never put the moves on his brother’s fiancé. That means Beth is off limits, no matter how much he wants her. When a demanding case pulls Lucas back to the city, Beth realizes her fiancé is already married – to his work. Are solitary nights and mind-numbing dinner parties really what she wants? Torn between loyalty to Lucas and her growing feelings for Joe, Beth rethinks her choices and contemplates a future different from the one laid out before her. One that includes an island, a dog, and a man she can never have.

    Her social work caseload has doubled, her son is acting out, and her SEAL husband is never home. Something has to give. When she’s shot and nearly killed by an irate husband during a home check, it does. Navy SEAL Senior Chief Petty Officer Langley Marks is five years away from retirement and his pension. He knows there’s trouble in his marriage when he returns home from a deployment to a wife who’s distant, overworked, stressed, and unhappy. He’s only seen her like this once before, when she nearly died after giving birth to their last child. When she’s shot, he re-lives that terrible experience, and feels just as helpless. But he’s not about to fly away and leave her to fight her way back alone this time. He’s willing to sacrifice it all to prove to her she’s the most important thing in his life. He just has to find a way to make her believe it.