Book picks similar to
The Protector by R.S. Lively
romance
dnf
suspense
contemporary
Dare Me
Stella Rhys - 2015
She was drop dead gorgeous from day one - our maid's granddaughter who became my mother's spoiled living doll. I hated that girl with all my heart and at the same time, I worshipped every inch of her skin, every word that she spoke. I lived for her and the twisted game of truth or dare we created to feed our f***ed up needs for shock, shame and one-upping each other. Lake was my drug, my bad lifestyle choice.And I'd fallen in and out of love with her a thousand times till the day she disappeared.LAKEI know I ruined Callum Pike and going back to New York may be the worst decision I've ever made, which is saying a lot. But I'm willing to risk it. I never wanted to leave and now that I can, I'm going back - to be with the man I made, who made me. I know I screwed him up. I know he's hardened and become cold. I know the love we had is gone. But I need him now more than ever and no matter how much it hurts, no matter what kind of sick or satisfying way he decides to torment me, I'm going to fight through it.I'm going to repent for the way I broke him and I'm going to find the Callum Pike I loved again - even if it tears me apart.**a standalone novel**
The Price of Honor
Aleatha Romig - 2018
An epic tale of devotion and sacrifice spanning thirty years, bidding the characters, as well as readers to ponder the questions...What price is too high?What prize too big?What sacrifices too many?On the day Oren Demetri approaches Carmine Costello, the don of one of the most powerful crime families in New York, to ask for his niece’s hand in marriage, Oren gives his word, his life, and his loyalty. But is the cost his soul?Follow this journey set within the dangerous life of New York’s dark and infamous Mafia world as fidelity is tested and the price of honor negotiated. Is true love enough when everything that is held dear is on the line?How much can be gained and how much lost when a man’s honor is at stake?Have you been Aleatha’d?Formally titled Respect, this is a stand-alone novel.
Built for Love
Ella Goode - 2020
He knows a good piece of property when he sees it and he doesn’t hesitate to pursue a project once he has it in his sights which are precisely why he doesn’t hesitate when he spots Pepper Paddison on the sidewalk of a run-down apartment complex near Bell Heights. He knows she’s the one and he’s going to acquire her through fair means or foul.
Melting Steel
C.M. Seabrook - 2017
Stuck up. Arrogant. The kind of guy who hasn't had to work for a damn thing his entire life. Even his name, Henry Caldwell III, reeks of privilege.And me? Well, let's just say I come with more baggage than a 747 and enough bullsh*t to fuel it.The problem is I want him. Crave him. It's the kind of pure, all-consuming, panty-soaking lust that can make a girl forget why she swore off men to begin with.He thinks I need saving. But this isn't a Cinderella story, and he's no Prince Charming. At least not mine. I learned long ago that trusting any man with my heart isn't just dangerous - it can be deadly.HENRYEmotionally crippled, smart-mouthed, and sexy as sin, the woman is nothing I need and everything I want.Despite her hard edges, tattoos, and reckless spirit, I know she craves more. More from life, more from love, more from me.She thinks I'm just a trust fund brat and maybe she's right. But I've got secrets of my own. I know what darkness is. I've lived it - faced the pit of hell and barely survived.The question is, am I strong enough to face it again? Because if I'm ever going to break through the steel wall she's placed around her heart, it'll mean facing demons we both thought were long dead and buried.
Watch Me Follow
Harloe Rae - 2018
Freak. Crazy Eyes. I've heard it all. Over the years, they've slammed me with every demeaning name in the book. Their taunts warped me like a steady stream of poison. Anger replaced anxiety as I started believing the cruelty spat my way. Until she showed up and changed everything. Lennon Bennett is pure innocence—warm sunshine breaking apart my stormy existence. She's everything good and maybe I can be too. For her. With her. Because of her. Lennon doesn’t know I’m beckoned closer with each breath. She isn't aware that I'm completely consumed with her. It’s become my sole purpose to protect her, by any means necessary. But if she discovers the depth of my obsession, it will be the end of me. So, I remain in the shadows. Waiting. Watching. Wanting. She'll be my first. My last. My only. Watch Me Follow is a TOTAL STANDALONE new adult romance.
Rellik
Teresa Mummert - 2014
He uses and abuses them like drugs and tosses them out with the trash. The only thing he gives a f*ck about is his music. That is, until Ella Lighten walks into his life and stumbles upon one of his darkest secrets. In the midst of doing damage control, he begins to obsess over the mysterious woman who wants absolutely nothing to do with him.Rellik won’t take no for an answer.
The Mogul and the Muscle
Claire Kingsley - 2019
I wanted to feel like I didn’t have to be brave for a few hours. I wanted to let him be my courage. My protection. My shield.”
Cameron Whitbury—billionaire aerospace mogul—can engineer her way out of any problem. Sure, she’s living with the threat of a potential sex scandal thanks to her lying ex. And that attempted mugging in her parking garage might not have been a random attack. But she’s totally got this. Sacrifice her privacy to an overprotective bodyguard? No thanks. She doesn’t need a six-foot-five, motorcycle-riding, square-jawed, hazel-eyed man-beast shadowing her every move. Jude Ellis—one-man security operation and professional problem solver—is ready to retire from the cloak and dagger stuff to live a normal life. He doesn’t need another client. Not even one with coppery-red hair and mile-long legs who looks hot AF in a sexy pair of heels. To appease her worried friends, Cameron hires Jude as her bodyguard. And despite their feisty banter and their rampant—and totally inappropriate—sex fantasies, they’re both determined to keep it professional. But as the danger to Cameron escalates, the heat simmering between them just might combust.
Author’s note: Big wall-of-man hero with a fierce (and growly) protective streak. Confident and snarky heroine. All the banter. Sex in a closet. And a daring rescue with a big, heart squishing HEA.
The Bluewater Billionaires are four shared-world hot romantic comedies written by Lucy Score, Claire Kingsley, Kathryn Nolan, and Pippa Grant. They can all be read as stand-alone novels.
Beauty and the Billionaire
Lauren Landish - 2019
White Knight. But I just call him “boss.” Thomas Goldstone. A man of billion dollar deals in custom-tailored suits, he demands more than your best. He’s scary. Driven. Haunted by inner demons that have taken him to the brink. But beneath the arrogant, controlling façade lies a heart of gold. It makes me want to solve him one growly, messy piece at a time. To be the only one who sees the truth of the man. But I’m... me. A pink-haired, anime-loving, data-crunching geek with an office in the basement of Goldstone HQ. My chances with the big boss? Statistically insignificant. His burning gaze and clenched jaw say otherwise though. Gives me hope and ignites a flame so hot my glasses fog up. I shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. Shouldn’t tempt the beast upstairs. Shouldn't keep wondering... Do fairy tales really come true? From USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post Bestselling Author Lauren Landish comes Beauty and the Billionaire. Your favorite fairy tale with a side of... dirty. Prepare for twists you'll never see coming and loads of alpha goodness that will make your heart, and your kindle, melt.
Find Me Alastar
T.L. Swan - 2016
I had it all, dream job, boyfriend, stability. So I did the unthinkable, I packed up and left everything that was dear to me. Set out on the journey of a lifetime and it was all going to plan until I met him. Alastar O’Shea. An enigmatic, artistic Irishman who had more sexual energy in his pinky finger than anything I had ever dreamed of. I should have stayed away from him. He was hot, toxic and the most exhilarating experience of my life. Like a drug he entered my bloodstream. Like a drug he brought me undone. Did I meet him by chance or was it a calculated hit? I did believe in fairy tales but he isn’t who I thought he was. Will he find me? Will it cost me my life?
My Best Friend's Ex
Amy Brent - 2018
Rockstar. Bad boy. Heartbreaker. My best friend’s ex. Signing on as the headliner for his band was our chance, We could make it big if I could just resist temptation. I could stay away, keep my distance, It would be easy, I told myself. Boy, was I wrong. Dead wrong.
Never Have I Ever
August Clearwing - 2013
Between completing a Master’s degree at Caltech and beginning her fruitful career at a local observatory she has little time for socializing. Until she attends one specific party that is.There, Piper is introduced to a drinking game called Never Have I Ever, and she finds herself admitting to a secret fantasy which challenges her friends’ views of her otherwise prudish nature. Her confession piques the interest of one man in particular, Noah; a handsome stranger with a darkly boyish charm.The resulting spiral of rapture and torture that follows is threatened by the demons of both their pasts. Piper's inability to give her heart to anyone, and Noah's guilt over the death of his former lover claw to the surface to tear Piper away from not only the one man who has ever made her feel like she does not have to be in control of her desires, but also the newly collected list of Nevers they both want to turn into reality.*Contains strong BDSM themes*
Unbeautifully Loved
Emma Grayson - 2013
Goes. On.These words comforted her though circumstances that weren’t always easy, but more importantly, it offered her the promise of something more... someday.Lexie knows what she needs to do after dealing with years of abuse at the hands of her son’s father. Enlisting the help of her best friend, they go on the run to escape the man who threatens to destroy her life.They finally find the perfect home in a safe town after months of transience; they decide to stay a while. Suspicious and guarded, always looking over her shoulder, the last thing Lexie wants is to become involved with someone new.Detective Lukas Gunn is Lexie’s bossy, persistent, and extremely hot neighbor.After an incident leaves her vulnerable, Lukas discovers that she’s haunted by her past. His goal is to protect her while making Lexie his, but she keeps Lukas at a distance. When history repeats itself, will Lexie be able to trust those around her to keep her safe? Will Lukas save her from her past in time? Or will the only love she ever knows be unbeautiful?********************************Warning**This book contains the following and is recommended for ages 18 and up. -Sexual content.-Abusive subject matter-Attempted rape-Language
Seek
Mia Sheridan - 2018
She's even more heartbroken and confused when a hired private investigator tracks him half a world away, to a seaside town in Colombia. But the country has recently been ravaged by a massive earthquake and deadly tsunami, shutting down outside communication and making travel all but impossible. Still, Olivia is determined to make it to Colombia to find the answers she so desperately seeks. What she needs is a guide—a mercenary.The man named Thomas arrives in shadows, an unmistakable air of danger about him, promising to help lead her through the ruined, crime-infested country. But when Thomas and Olivia find themselves fighting an undeniable attraction, danger takes on a whole new meaning. Then again, in the lush jungles of South America, all the rules are different and Thomas and Olivia are about to discover that sometimes the thing you seek, isn't necessarily the thing you find.Seek is a STANDALONE novel with a small, fun connection to the Sign of Love Collection
Cards of Love: Judgment
Jenika Snow - 2018
He might have done it to protect me, but he was still convicted and locked away for seven years.
And for that entire time, I waited for him, knowing that once he was released, things needed to be said, the truth needed to be spoken.
And that day was today.
I loved him, but the look he gave me, the possessiveness and pent-up arousal reflected in his eyes … had me realizing one thing.
Now more than ever, he wouldn’t let me go. Arsen I went to prison for Harper, and I’d do it all over again to make sure she was safe. She was all I thought about the entire time I was behind bars, and it was her weekly visits that got me through the years, even if I tried pushing her away.
But after seven years of being locked up, I was finally released … and I was going to make her mine. Warning: This is a short, dirty story about a hero who will go to any lengths to make sure the woman he loves is safe. With darker undertones and graphic scenes, there may be material some readers find offensive. Reader note: All of the books in the “Cards of Love” series are standalone. They are not connected in any way. The only thing they all have in common is a tarot card theme. That means you can read and enjoy any of them in any order! :)
Giving It Up
Amber Lin - 2012
Hey, it’s not rape if she wants it. Instead she finds Colin, who looks tough but treats her tenderly, despite her protests.He tempts her, but kindness and a few mindblowing orgasms aren’t enough to put her back together again. Two years ago her best friend betrayed her in the worst possible way; she’d be stupid to trust a man again. Especially one like Colin, whose criminal past threatens them both.When her rapist returns, Allie must fight for the man she loves—and her life—hoping her newfound power will be enough to save them all.