Twenty-two-year-old historical romance writer Nicole Blake, or N.S. Blake to her readers, hasn't taken an official poll, mind you, but she is convinced she may be the only romance author on the planet who is still a card-carrying member of the virgin club.Not that she hasn't tried to end her membership. Life just keeps finding pesky ways to interfere. With no prospects on the horizon, Nicole begins to feel like the closest she will ever get to experiencing a man is within her own stories.Opportunity presents itself in the form of hot-as-sin-on-a-lollipop-stick bartender/premed student Alec Petropoulos, who agrees to be the cover model for her upcoming book. Sparks fly instantly between them, and Nicole begins to entertain the possibility that she's finally found the right guy to hand over her tattered V-card. Alec has all the makings for a perfect one-night-stand candidate except, much to Nicole's surprise, he seems to be the only man in existence not interested in bagging a virgin.Stuck between a rock and a stubborn male, what's a virgin to do? Seduce him, of course. How hard could it be? If it works for the characters in her stories, why wouldn't it work for her? After all, what happens under the cover…stays under the cover.

    Cue the small town drama.One thing Carissa Brandt knows: spontaneity always gets her in trouble. But she’s gone and jumped head first into an impulsive summer renovation project anyway.When her contractor turns out to be a cheat, her only lifeline is the proffered hand of Josh Hudson—the sexy Marine who left her aching for more than their single night together three years ago.Josh has two hard and fast rules: never mix business with pleasure and never look twice at women his friends have dated, much less loved. It makes life in a small town simple. Or rather it would...If he weren’t keeping a secret that could ruin his good name and the reputation of the woman he can’t get out of his head…The woman who now needs his help.*Can't Shake You can be read as a standalone!

    Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail. When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter's den of vices, she's a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn't have, and she's come up with a foolproof way to get it.Follow Elizabeth - code-named Scarlett - to the lush Nevada brothel where she'll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that's not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil's mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.

    Eva moves to the Napa Valley where her culinary skills come to the attention of the owners of a start-up, All Things to All People, and Eva finds her niche as a personal chef. Now all she needs is a man as perfect as her cooking, but she has serious doubts that such a creature exists. When wealthy entrepreneur, winery owner, and noted Lothario, Gabriel Abbott, makes plans to seduce his flavor of the month, his assistant hires All Things to All People to cater a gourmet dinner. Eva expects to use her way with food to showcase the startup. What she unexpectedly discovers is that her culinary skills showcase far more. Once Gabriel finds himself seduced by Eva's voice, and the sensual flavors and textures of her food, his previous plans are quickly forgotten. He begins to obsess about meeting his little chef in person. But when Eva and Gabe finally come face to face, the question is, how hot will their fire burn?

    The man, the legend, the heartbreaker. As a self-proclaimed man-whore, Damian doesn’t believe in love or commitment. In fact, he can’t remember the last time he’s had feeling for a woman that went beyond hot, no-strings-attached sex. The only things he cares about are his bar, his appearance, and his needs.But then he meets Alexis.Meet Alexis Blythe. A small town girl that has lost a lot of love in her life. Wanting to leave her past behind her, she moves to San Francisco looking for a big change. Yet, despite everything she’s gone through, she still believes in true love.But then she meets Damian.When Alexis shows up at his bar, Damian’s caught by surprise. She’s different. She’s sweet, innocent, and feisty. But above all, this woman didn’t respond to his charm and piercing-blue eyes the way every other woman did. To Damian, she’s his ultimate challenge.Could Alexis be the girl that will break through Damian’s wall of perpetual bachelorhood without getting hurt? Or will Damian remain true his ways and break Alexis’s heart and her hopes of true love?

    Now he’s returned home to the sand and salty breeze of the North Carolina Outer Banks so he can open The Last Call, a beach bar nestled among the dunes of the Atlantic.Five years ago, Gabby Ward drunkenly threw herself at her best friend’s brother, only to have her young heart crushed. Hunter is back but Gabby is content to stay far away from him and his dangerously charming ways. Gabby’s well-schemed plans to ignore Hunter go up in flames when he presents her an offer she simply can’t refuse. Working together day in and day out proves problematic for two reasons—Gabby realizes her feelings for Hunter are still very much alive, while Hunter struggles to break through to Gabby’s cold heart. What starts out as a mutual business arrangement soon turns into a passion that neither can deny.But when the pro surfing tour comes knocking and Hunter has a chance to reclaim his former glory, hard choices lie ahead for both of them.Choices that could destroy what they have built or take them further than they could ever dare to hope in their second chance at romance.

    Keeping her secrets guarded closely, she finds solace with a man who is caring, warm, and loving, the complete opposite of what she left behind. Zander can’t trust love. He has a string of bad relationships as proof, and it leaves him wondering if Isabella is just one more temptress who will break his heart. A troubled past threatens the budding relationship between Isabella and Zander. She can’t shake the eerie feeling of her ex lurking in the shadows ready to end her newly found happiness. Unfortunately, she’s right.e that she’s always searched for? Or will he ruin the love that is finally just in her grasp?

    She protects her heart by controlling everything around her and living her life according to a strict set of rules. For years, she has lived behind a wall, not allowing anyone into her heart. That is, until she meets Vincent, a man she can't get out of her head no matter what she tells herself. On the outside, Vincent Mileski appears to be a confident, no nonsense attorney. A prodigy in the field of law, he has just won the biggest case of his career. Needing out of the spotlight, Vincent moves back to his home state of Colorado to get some time alone to heal from a previous betrayal. He hasn’t had a woman turn his head in years, that is, until he meets Alexa. After only knowing her name and the sweet taste of her kiss, she is torn from his arms. Will fate bring these two back together, or will they spend an eternity searching?

    Sugar Rush Candy Company CEO Luke Stone is a devoted businessman who doesn't do relationships. He does short-term affairs with clearly defined rules. But when a sexy bohemian angel propositions him in a bar, Luke is tempted to want more. Polly Lockhart is horrified when she wakes the morning after her twenty-third birthday to realize she made a fool of herself with a sinfully delicious man. She tells herself she doesn't have time for romance anyway, as she's fighting to keep her mother's beloved bakery afloat and finish her culinary studies. That all changes when her class tours the famed Sugar Rush headquarters, and Polly collides with her dream man again. As she succumbs to their hot attraction, Polly soon realizes her bakery isn't the only thing that needs saving. Luke, driven and unyielding, will burn out unless someone convinces him to taste the sweetness of life. But can Polly remember this sugar rush is only temporary?

    . .Marcy Paget worked full time putting her husband through university. When he finally became a success, he dumped her for a trophy wife more than ten years younger than he was, leaving Marcy to raise their seven year old daughter by herself.Even though Marcy knows she is better off alone than with a cheating husband who doesn't love her, she is still struggling to make ends meet.When an ethical dilemma is presented to her however, she never realizes the karmic chain of events that will follow her decision....

    Your muse is back. The thing that gave you passion, tormented you, and haunted you is back. You're reeling in ecstasy and dread. It's something you want, but can't ever have. And the one that brings the pain is pure, white as snow... and standing in front of you."One kiss could have changed Abby's life, but when it didn't happen, she ran. Jack was everything to her and when he didn't respond, Abby couldn't bear it. Everything about that night--leaning in close to his face, feeling the night breeze teasing her hair, the way his scent filled her head--was burned vividly into her mind, including the moment when Jack pulled away. There was no kiss. Abby was wrong. She was wrong about him, wrong about them. Maybe she didn't have to go to college two thousand miles away, but she did. She had to forget about him. Abby threw herself off the grid, disappearing completely from the life she knew. After completing her undergraduate degree, she enrolled in seminary. All contact with her old life was severed and she never looked back, until she was forced to.When Abby puts idealism into practice, her congregation throws her out. If she can survive a year on her own, they'll take her back, and continue to pay off her student loans--but if she fails, Abby is on her own with enough debt to fund a small town. Seminary wasn't cheap. With no place left to go, Abby returns to New York and her best friend takes her in. Desperate to make it on her own and prove she was right, Abby follows a job lead to an art studio on Long Island. It isn't until she hears Jack's voice that she freezes. The hairs on the back of her neck prickle as she turns to see Jack, ten years later, looking even more tempting than before.Fate is cruel. Abby left this life behind, but she's thrown back into it, head first. It's like someone hit rewind on her life and its ten years earlier. She's the cotton-mouthed girl that she always was around Jack, and now her future relies on the man who rejected her.SCANDALOUS 2 WILL BE RELEASED SPRING 2013

    But the young, gorgeous, and sexy Daniel is more interested in fast cars, the family jet, and bedding women.When Francesco decides the best way to make his son grow up is to change his identity and move him away from his Manhattan penthouse, Daniel's world begins to rock.Sent to a little town in Tennessee, stripped of his family name and all access to money, Daniel finds himself on a mission to prove to his father that he can make it. If he doesn't, he risks losing the family business and billions of dollars. Country life isn't setting very well with the fast-paced New Yorker, until he meets the woman who stirs up every one of his senses. Katherine is beautiful, sassy, and has no intentions of hooking up with the new stranger in town. She leaves without a word. Will Daniel risk it all to find her?

    After moving his chocolate shop, and newly single life, to the quirky town of Cactus Creek, Luke wants nothing more than to devote all his energy into making his business a success—by taking the romance market by storm. But his grand plans get thrown for a loop when he locks horns with the feisty beer-brewing beauty next door who calls his ‘romantic idealism’ a load of fairytale bull. Soon, driving the woman sparking nuts becomes another wickedly fun priority he simply can’t get enough of.In his defense, she’s addictively easy to incite…and plain impossible to resist.Beloved local brewmaster Dani Dobson is beyond riled up. It’s bad enough the new shop owner in town comes locked and loaded with both a distractingly rugged charm and sexy flashing dimples, but the whole only-in-the-movies variety of romance he’s selling—the kind her world has been crushed by before—is really doing a number on her allergy to unrealistic clichés. What’s worse, he’s created an annoyingly clever ad campaign that dubs ‘beer joints’ like hers as the “cave where romance goes to hibernate.” The nerve of that man.Combustible chemistry or not, damn it, this means war. The stakes…very likely, her heart.

    It's addictive romance reading that gets more satisfying as you journey further into these characters experience. Book one of the LOVE in the USA series features Daisy Blanchard and Belmont (Jack) Lord. Don't be surprised by the hot and fast start, Daisy and Belmont have a lot to learn about love, and here is where their education begins. It was one intense week in late October. I probably should've slowed our pace but I wasn't thinking clearly. I had just learned my boyfriend and best friend were engaged via a Facebook post, which left me heartbroken and wrestling with ghosts from my past.But Belmont Lord was so convincing and uninhibited, unlike me. He also had demons of his own. We threw caution to the wind. Could fate had picked a more perfect time and place for two people to meet?Yes, it was one steamy and surprising week, but was it long enough to make us last forever?Find Her, Keep Her: A Martha's Vineyard Love Story is the first sexy, sensual and addictive contemporary romance in the LOVE in the USA series by author, Z.L. Arkadie.This manuscript has been updated as of 6/18/2017. Sex scenes are still frequent but they are no longer written in graphic detail. Also, some of the details that were hard to swallow have been made palatable. Although, do realize that I had chosen to write two imperfect human beings. In later books, as they choose to make their relationship work, they also choose to resolve their personal issues. After all that is the theme of the LOVE in the USA series--true love, real love is another catalyst in life which helps evolve two people for the better. So I write love stories more than romance, and from book one through twelve of this series, you will be able to read the difference. Visit zlarkadiebooks.com to learn more about the author.

    Eventually, she did.He felt like the kind of man who didn't just break the rules, but made new ones. He led and it was follow or get out of the way.Why did a billionaire with a voice like liquid silk and a face like a bad angel take a second look at a girl in no-name jeans, with a fifteen-dollar haircut and a beat up car she calls her "Eep" because the 'J' fell off long ago?I didn't want to know why and when I thought I knew I didn't want to admit it. By the time I found his secret, it was already too late. His passion had me hooked like a drug. It didn't hurt that he pulled the people I love the most out of harm's way. A girl can get used to a knight in shining armor even when the armor has some very large dents in it.This 33,000 word novella is part of a series, although this book can be enjoyed as stand alone work. This is adult fiction with explicit sexual content and is intended for mature readers only.