Book picks similar to
Bane by Kristin Mayer


romance
contemporary
romantic-suspence
contemporary-romance

Deviant


Natasha Knight - 2015
    A deviant by all accounts. I never pretended to be the good guy. She was the opposite.But the minute she pulled the curtains back and saw my face, watched me screwing the blonde who happened to be my next mark, she sealed her own fate. There could be no witnesses, ever. Imagine my surprise when I turned up to take care of her only to find two goons breaking down her door, weapons in hand. Turned out she had a price on her head. Her stepbrother wanted her and he wanted her alive. I'd never been one to pass up an opportunity to collect the kind of money he was offering, especially if I could have some fun while I was at it. It just never occurred to me she’d be anything more than my next mark.Mia“Curiosity killed the kitten.” I'll never forget the look in his eyes when he said those words. When I watched them from the window, I didn't suspect for a moment that he'd seen me, that he was watching me back. Not while he was doing what he was doing to the woman on her knees before him. But then she turned up dead, and he turned up in my hotel room, waiting for me in the dark. I didn't think for one second him being there that night would save my life. I'd been on the run for two years, but my stepbrother had finally caught up with me. Or his two thugs had. Finding out I had a quarter-of-a-million dollar bounty on my head convinced Julien I was more valuable alive than dead. But to collect it would mean returning me to my stepbrother, who had sworn to make me pay for what I'd done. Julien was cruel. He was merciless. He scared the crap out of me. But there was something else, something he never wanted me to see. Inside, he was broken, like me.My stepbrother was wrong if he thought I'd ever let him get his hands on me again. I had no intention of allowing that to happen, even if it meant I'd have to sleep with the devil to survive. And I had no doubt Julien was the devil.

Sweet Captivity


Julia Sykes
    I’m the hacker-geek-goddess of the FBI. When I’m hiding behind my screen, I’m a safe distance from everyone; isolated, powerful. No man has ever touched me, but when I’m captured by Colombian drug lord Andrés Moreno, I no longer have the right to refuse. He’s scarred and scary, and his cruel brother Cristian has tasked him with breaking me. I try to fight, but I can’t escape his strong arms and harsh discipline. He demands that I accept his touch, and my virgin body can’t help but respond to his masterful manipulations.The longer I remain trapped with him, the more I come to suspect that I’m not the only captive in his brother’s home. Andrés’ scars go deeper than the wicked furrows carved into his flesh, his pain reflected in the dark demands he imposes upon me. His obsession is twisted and wrong, but maybe I’m twisted, too.Do I want to be rescued from him? Or is he the one who truly needs saving?

Finding His Mark


Brittney Sahin - 2018
    But when a critical mission gets botched by a member of an iconic Hollywood family, he'll have to fight to protect his team's identity, as well as keep himself from falling for the woman who's turned his life upside down.Eva Sharp's the writer and co-producer for the hit TV series SEAL Security. While on break from filming, the last thing she expects is to end up in the middle of a real-life action scene--one that puts her life on the line. At first, she's not sure if she can trust this stranger in the mountains, even if he has military written all over him. But the more time she spends with him, the harder it is to fight the pull of attraction, without also jeopardizing his op.They'll soon realize not everything is as it seems, and Luke will be forced to discover how far he's willing to go to find his mark.A standalone novel in the new romantic suspense series, Stealth Ops.

Razing Kayne


Julieanne Reeves - 2012
    Memories haunt his days and lay siege to his nights, leaving him questioning his reasons for living.Jessica Hallstatt became a widow and single mother the night her firefighter husband died in a fiery explosion at an accident scene. While her husband may have died a hero, he left Jessica with deep emotional scars that haven't begun to heal. When Kayne accepted a transfer to the mountain town of Payson, Arizona, he never expected to meet anyone like Jessica. From the moment he pulled her over for speeding, he was drawn in by her whiskey colored eyes and sassy dimple. But she and her children are a forever type package, and he's vowed never to give anyone the power to destroy him again. Yet fate has other ideas, throwing Kayne and Jessica together in a fight against an unknown enemy to save the life of a child—and hopefully one another.Warning: Contains graphic language, explicit sex and one very hot man in uniform.

Sweet Destruction


Paige Weaver - 2014
    Rundown trailers and crime-ridden streets were my home. Drugs and alcohol were the norm and happiness was the exception. I lived from day to day never knowing if I would have a roof over my head or food in my stomach. My life sucked. It took from me and gave nothing back.But there was one certainty in my life. A black smudge on my window of hell.Cole Walker.He was a criminal. A thief. He brought hell and damnation with him wherever he went. He hurt and destroyed. He took and gave nothing in return. He was heartache and despair wrapped up in a perfect gorgeous package. Fast cars and fast women were his hobbies. His vices. But he had many.I was one of them.I was his addiction and his craving. His enemy on this earth. I feared him. I hated him. I loved him even more.

Love's Taming


Maryann Jordan - 2014
    And boring. Between focusing on keeping her small, inner-city clinic running, paying off student loans, and living in the tiny apartment above the clinic she has no time for fun or dating and certainly not for anything adventurous. Then one night, danger and surprise show up in the alley behind her clinic. And Annie is in for the ride of her life. Stoney is a mystery. A man of few words but smoldering looks. She decides to take a risk and after a night of passion finds herself thrown into a world that she never knew existed. A world of drugs, danger and intrigue. Shane is a detective, who vows to keep Annie safe at all costs. Losing his heart to her is the easy part. Keeping her safe and earning her trust will prove to be his most difficult task. **DUE TO ADULT CONTENT, SEXUAL SCENES OF AN EXPLICIT NATURE, AND LANGUAGE THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER CRUDE, 18+ only, please. **NO cliffhanger, HEA, inter-connected stand alone stories in the series**

The Virgin Duet


Alexa Riley - 2015
    Please read responsibly.

Blackwood


Celia Aaron - 2017
    It’s what I do. I’ll literally use a shovel to answer a question. Some answers, though, have been buried too deep for too long. But I’ll find those, too. And I know where to dig—the Blackwood Estate on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. Garrett Blackwood is the only thing standing between me and the truth. A broken man—one with desires that dance in the darkest part of my soul—he’s either my savior or my enemy. I’ll dig until I find all his secrets. Then I’ll run so he never finds mine. The only problem? He likes it when I run.Author’s Note: This is a standalone mystery/suspense romance with violence and explicit/intense sex. If you need a trigger warning, then this isn't the book for you.If you purchased the book during the first week, Counsellor is included at the end as a bonus. Blackwood is a 67k-word FULL-LENGTH novel that ends at 54%.

Beautifully Insightful


K.C. Lynn - 2015
    I see the world differently than everyone else, I feel everything differently and I reflect on life differently. And being different in my world is not a good thing.I live in a place that’s divided between the rich and the poor, the beautiful and the unbeautiful, the prestigious and the mediocre. I have always belonged in the first category, because my father was the Governor of Georgia. Growing up around people I could never relate with, my life had always been lonely, that was until my senior year when I met the one boy who would change my life forever. A boy who my parents would never approve of because he didn’t come from money or the same social class. He rode a motorcycle, had tattoos and was considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks. Yet he was still envied by many.Ryder Jameson was someone who every guy feared, and one who every girl wanted to be touched by. He didn’t do attachments, or have friends… until me. And for the first time in my life I finally felt like I belonged. When I was with him, my different didn’t feel wrong or ugly. He made me feel beautiful- insightfully beautiful. Then one day my world came crashing down on me, and it would be six years before I'd once again see the boy I fell in love with.RYDER JAMESON ~ After working my ass off I am given the opportunity of a lifetime, and if I pull it off I will be the youngest FBI agent to run one of the biggest undercover operations in history. Only the case that gets thrown in front of me leads me back to the one place I swore I would never return to, and to the only girl who’s ever mattered to me. Except Emily Michaels is not the same girl I left behind. She still looks the same, she’s still beautiful inside and out, but there’s one thing that’s very different about her, one very big thing, and it’s something I didn’t think was possible.Ryder and I come from a world where politics separates us and wealth defines us, but even after all this time we will not let it divide us. Here is our story.

Indulge


Georgia Cates - 2015
    Those hazel eyes.That filthy mouth.That greedy, hard body.It all equates to one thing. Irresistible.One look and I know he’ll bruise my lips and scar my knees. He’ll give me the best nine days of my life while ruining me in the most beautiful way imaginable. And I’ll let him because he has the power to talk me into anything.Except one thing.Staying.I have no choice. The things I desire from him will destroy me in the end. I want more than he’s capable of giving––something true and beautiful.He can never know how much of me belongs to him. Too much is at stake.Shh … don’t tell him he’s my everything.My name is Anna James Bennett. And this is our story.

Grayson


Lisa Eugene - 2014
    After all, she’s never even seen him. He remains sequestered upstairs in a house that looks like it should be the main feature in an episode of Hoarders. She had no idea the house was such a dump when she took the job. But she’s concerned about the safety and health of the old man living under such horrid conditions.What she got was a mystery…Despite warnings not to venture upstairs, she wanders up to the second floor. What she sees is shocking. The man she finds is a gorgeous, sexy, middle-aged man-- and he's stepping out of the shower. But something is definitely not right. Why would this wealthy, handsome man live in a house in such disrepair while his nine-teen year old son resides in a lavish penthouse? Why does he hide away from society? Why does he come to her rescue and then run away?What she discovered was heartbreaking…Angie learns that forty-four year old Grayson Whitmore suffers from schizophrenia. Paranoid, he retreats into his own world.What she ended up with was a treasure…Angie is determined to get through to Grayson. They form a friendship that blazes into an inconceivable love fired with raging passion. Angie must now come to Grayson’s rescue because the wicked that has been perpetrated on him is unconscionable. First, though, she must gain the trust of a man whose mind does not allow for such a thing.

Scars


Jaimie Roberts - 2016
    At least, that’s what I thought. But you changed all that. You are always there ... Always watching ... Always waiting in the shadows. You send me flowers and messages. You stalk me, trace my every movement... Until that one day, in a silly game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, when I finally get to feel you—have a taste of you ... It left me wanting more. One catastrophic day, my wish is granted. Just past my eighteenth birthday, tragedy strikes and I watch my family die before my eyes. You are there. You rescue me. You choose my life over my older sister’s, and I hate you for that. I hate you for taking me and imprisoning me. You say it’s for my sake, but I know it’s for your own. You make me see that my life could be much worse without you in it... You make me see true darkness. It is in that darkness you make me desperate for your presence, your touch, your caress. You make me need you... You make it impossible for me to live without you… And then, eventually… You make me fall in love with you. Secrets will always wound the ones twisted within their web of lies... But the ones I’m tangled in ... are deadly. WARNING: Although this book (overall) is not a dark read, one chapter is an exception, and contains the following triggers: childhood sexual/emotional abuse with some intensity in one particular scene.

Landon


S.M. Shade - 2016
    I’m not interested in his blue-green ocean colored eyes, his lean muscular body, or that crooked smile that can be so infuriating. I have more important things to worry about, like how to keep myself in college and my sixteen year old brother fed and sheltered. We all know life is hard, some of us just learn that lesson younger than others, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up. I intend to succeed and make sure my brother has the opportunities he deserves, and no privileged jerk is going to distract me. Landon I don’t date. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from celibate, but my condition makes carrying on any kind of normal relationship impossible. My life revolves around In Safe Hands or ISH, the underground hacker group I work with to track down and take care of predators and sex offenders who beat the system. I’m satisfied with my life until the day I meet the smart mouthed, compassionate, determined woman who opens my eyes to possibilities I never thought existed. This is book one in a series of standalone novels.

Prisoner


Annika Martin - 2014
    He’s dangerous. He’s wild. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.So I hide behind my prim glasses and my book like I always do, because I have secrets too. Then he shows up in the prison writing class I have to teach, and he blows me away with his honesty. He tells me secrets in his stories, and it’s getting harder to hide mine. I shiver when he gets too close, with only the cuffs and the bars and the guards holding him back. At night I can’t stop thinking about him in his cell.But that’s the thing about an animal in a cage—you never know when he’ll bite. He might use you to escape. He might even pull you into a forest and hold a hand over your mouth so you can’t call for the cops. He might make you come so hard, you can’t think.And you might crave him more than your next breath.

Psychopath's Prey


V.F. Mason - 2018
    Mine to hunt. A criminal psychologist and a serial killer.The love between them shouldn’t exist.Or so the world thinks.Her mission is to find him.His single obsession is to catch her.The hunter and the prey.Let the games begin, and may the stronger one win.Warning: Dark Romance. 18+ due to sexual content, profanity, abuse, graphic violence, and adult subject matter.