But several nights of hookups in Vegas with easygoing businessman James Goings leads Jade to realize he's becoming the one bet she can't resist. Original.

    Not being happy all the time makes them stressed out of their tights. Carol practises uninhibited sex which ends with her panty liner stuck to the bottom of someone's shoe. Donnie, after a mystery bite in a third world country, thinks he's incubating a nest of spiders up his bum. Daphne gets fat. She makes soup all the time and wonders if Woolworth's sell a hose pipe to fit a Vauxhall Vectra. Pierce is a poet; a fat balding womaniser who's only steady relationship is with a cup at the sperm bank. He's the only one not on anti-depressants, and he's the hero.

    He needs to move fast to make sure everyone around him believes he is getting married for real and to the right woman, even if it’s for only two years. Anjali never expected a complete stranger to propose a marriage contract as if he were offering her a job with a salary and benefits package, especially the first time they meet. What he offers is tempting enough for her to give in, so she can fulfill her dream and keep the promise she made to a loved one. For their friends and family, Dheeraj and Anjali are a loving couple who fell in love at first sight, but they both have an agenda. Their reasons for the marriage contract were different, but what they never expected is what happens when two people start living under the same roof pretending to be a couple. Sparks fly and butterflies flutter between stolen kisses, but when they start to find out more about each other’s reason for the fake marriage, will they still honor the contract? Will love make its way into the contract as a clause? Note: This is a stand-alone romance with a passionate couple who finds their HEA. This book is recommended for mature readers.

    Unfortunately, shooting her shot didn't exactly go as planned and she's been trying to find anything to blame the dismissal on but rejection. The brushing off of her comments and never-ending jokes are merely enough to shut her up and she continues to poke the sleeping beast until he wakes. As fate would have it, the universe shifted in Rain's favor but she's completely speechless when her open threats are finally put to the test and her boss is dinging her doorbell.

    Having run out of options, former YouTube star Dax Flame must get a job at an ice cream shop in order to make ends meet.

    Can it? A one night stand, an engagement and a wedding, all within the space between New Year’s and Valentine’s day. Could it be love? If so, is it meant to be?

    At least it is for a guy like me. As a talent agent in New York, I know how to wine and dine with the best of them. Unfortunately, work has been my main thing for a little too long. And my body is showing signs of it. Doc says I need to take a summer off. Hell yes, I do. Lucky for me, I run into my latest wedding fling as my time frees up. And the pretty girl just can’t get enough of me. She needs a plus-one for an upcoming wedding and wants to up the ante of our deception. Be her fake fiancé. She’s tired of being the bridesmaid and never the bride. Why would I ever say no? I’m a no-strings-attached kinda guy, but with her, I want to be tied up—forever. The more time I spend playing the part, the more I want to hit my knee and offer her a ring. It started with us promising nothing, but now, I want her to promise it all—to me.

    A preacher bathes his ill and elderly mother, not knowing that she has mistaken him for the long-lost cousin she watched murder his brother in her father’s tobacco field. In six stories that read like novels in miniature, Kyle Minor plumbs the depths of human mystery, where they meet our kindnesses and our cruelties, our generosities and our pettiness.Kyle Minor’s work has appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, among them Best American Mystery Stories 2008, The Southern Review, The Gettysburg Review, Surreal South, and Twentysomething Essays by Twentysomething Writers: The Best New Voices of 2006. His work has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Kyle received his MFA from Ohio State University and is currently a visiting professor at the University of Toledo.

    He answers an ad in a local newspaper from a teacher looking for serious pupils, only to find himself alone in an abandoned office with a full-grown gorilla who is nibbling delicately on a slender branch. "You are the teacher?" he asks incredulously. "I am the teacher," the gorilla replies. Ishmael is a creature of immense wisdom and he has a story to tell, one that no other human being has ever heard. It is a story that extends backward and forward over the lifespan of the earth from the birth of time to a future there is still time save. Like all great teachers, Ishmael refuses to make the lesson easy; he demands the final illumination to come from within ourselves. Is it man's destiny to rule the world? Or is it a higher destiny possible for him-- one more wonderful than he has ever imagined?

    Abbott, "Cheever's true heir, our major American short story writer" (William Harrison).Here are stories about fathers and sons, stories about men and women, and stories about the relationships between men by one of our most gifted story writers. The narrator of "The Who, the What and the Why," begins breaking into his own house as a sort of therapy after his daughter dies. In "The Human Use of Inhuman Beings," the main character realizes that his closest relationship is to an angel, who appears to him only to announce the death of loved ones. All Things, All at Once reminds us why Lee K. Abbott is to be treasured: his perfect pitch for tales of hapless Southwesterners, his way with sympathetic irony, his eye that skillfully notes the awkward humiliations—common heartbreak, fractured families—and records it all in lyrical, affectionate language. In tales new and from previous collections Abbott examines lived life and the lies we necessarily tell about it.

    A self-appointed revolutionary hero, Howard always comes out on top. And Malcolm Bradbury dissects him in this savagely funny novel that has been universally acclaimed as one of the masterpieces of the decade.

    The characters include the suicidal painter, Margie, who has been teaching her evangelical neighbor, Etta, how to paint nudes; her husband, the town therapist, who suspects his work helps no one; and their college aged daughter Noel—whose roommate, Pixie, joined them at home for a winter holiday, only to fall into Trinity’s freezing river.

    When fortune deserts Jai and his carefully ordered life spins inexorably out of control, Jai stands on the brink of ruin. Only a delayed monsoon can save Jai’s biggest project from disaster, but there are millions across the land praying for the exact opposite. Reason seems to have its limits - the weather defies all prediction, let alone control. Will Jai relinquish the beliefs of a lifetime? Will he reconcile with the awful ambiguity about his past? Will he be able to save his crumbling marriage?

    With his easygoing charm, whiskey-colored brown eyes, and sinfully sexy half smile, women seem to fall all over themselves when he’s around. Well...most women. Katie Lawson’s the one woman who isn't putty in his hands, and she's the only one he’s ever wanted in his arms. Katie Lawson left Harper's Crossing ten years ago, immediately after her high school boyfriend Nick's funeral. She left behind all memories of Nick, and she left behind her life-long best friend, Jason Sloan. Now she's on the fast track to junior partner at one of San Francisco's top law firms. Her life is all about maintaining order and sticking to the rules. Rule #1 is keeping herself too busy to think about all that she ran away from. But that rule is about to be broken. It's time to face the truth-that maybe she didn't lose her first love the summer after high school. Maybe her first love has been waiting for her all this time, at home in Harper's Crossing. Book #2: My Last – Riley & Chelle He was the bad boy... After twelve years in the Marines Special Forces Riley Sloan is more than ready to start his new civilian life. No one to answer to. No one depending on him. No more dangerous rescues...he thought. After receiving a distress call he is sent to check on the one girl that's completely off limits and the only girl who ever made him question his loyalty. His best friend's little sister. She is the last girl he should want...but the only one he does. She was the good girl... Rachelle Thomas is honest, kind and always sees the best in people. So she is completely blindsided when her fiancé dumps her for his pregnant 18 year old secretary. Confused and heartbroken she heads out of town to regroup. When her friends and family get worried they send out a search party of one. Riley Sloan. Star of all of her teenage (and adult) fantasies. The man Riley has grown into is even more tempting than the teen she once had a crush on. Chelle knows it's wrong to want him, but is tired of always doing the "right thing"...especially when Riley makes the "wrong thing" feel so right. Book #3: My Only – Alex & Jamie The Firefighter… With his sexy good looks, natural born charisma, and playful sense of humor, firefighter Alex Sloan is Harper's Crossing's most eligible bachelor. Since returning home from serving his country as a Navy SEAL women have been lining up to be with him. Alex works hard and plays even harder. Nothing can stop him when he sets his mind to something. The Nurse… Jamie Miller learned the hard way that there is one person she can depend on in this world...herself. To keep her life on track she needs to stay focused on her ten-year plan that includes working two jobs and does not include sexy distractions. And distractions don't come much sexier than Alex Sloan. Will Jamie be able to resist the irresistible Alex Sloan, or will her resolve crumble when Alex decides that his mind is set on her? Book #4: My Everything – Seth & Amber Strong. Sexy. Skilled. Seth Sloan is returning to Harper’s Crossing a war hero. As the leader of a Special Forces Marine Elite Unit Seth is trained to handle any situation…except one. An injury forced him to accept a medical discharge. Now he’s heading back to his hometown to a world he doesn’t recognize. Out of all the faces there to greet him is the one that he never expected to see again may just be the one that holds all the answers. Beauty. Brains. Bella. Amber Webb has everything she needs…she thinks.

    No one seems to notice her - not really. Heck, she often doesn’t notice herself, except for her monthly scrutiny in the mirror to check on her body’s steady slide towards middle age.But when her ancient, practical estate car is consigned to the scrap heap, Candice falls in love with a cute, purple convertible, and from that moment on her life begins to take on a whole new meaning. Strangers wave at her and people stop to talk, and suddenly she isn’t invisible any longer.Life seems to be looking up, especially when she meets silver fox and handy-man, Paul. There’s just one fly in the ointment, one thing that has her second-guessing herself.Is it the car that Paul sees - or is it her?