Book picks similar to
Running Scared by Linda Ladd
mystery-thriller
romantic-suspense
do-have
contemporary-thriller
Back Roads
Susan Crandall - 2003
But Leigh is turning thirty and feeling restless. Something needs to change. She needs to change. So when a sexy stranger asks her to ride the Ferris wheel one moonlit night, she takes a leap of faith-and falls for Will Scott, dangerous secrets and all. By turns passionate and tender, Will reveals little about his past and less about his future, even when the town suspects him of committing a terrible crime. Now on the uncertain back roads of life, take-charge Leigh must learn to let go...and trust not only the cold dictates of the law but the hot-blooded demands of her heart.
Intrusion
Mary McCluskey - 2016
While Scott throws himself back into his law practice in Los Angeles, Kat is hesitant to rejoin the workplace and instead spends her days shell-shocked and confused, unable to focus.When an unwelcome face from Kat’s past in England emerges—the beautiful and imposing Sarah Cherrington—Kat’s marriage is thrown into a tailspin. Now wealthy beyond anything she could have imagined as a girl, Sarah appears to have everything she could need or want. But Sarah has an agenda and she wants one more thing. Soon Kat and Scott are caught up in her devious games and power plays.Against the backdrops of Southern California and Sussex, in spare and haunting prose, Mary McCluskey propels this domestic drama to its chilling conclusion.
Falconridge
Jennifer Wilde - 1969
When lovely, young Lauren Moore arrives at Falconridge, a mysterious mansion with many hidden secrets, to live with relatives, she becomes caught up in the house's dark mysteries and falls in love with a man who might be the evil force behind it all.
Against The Wind
Virginia Kelly - 2012
Weakened from an injury, stalked by a killer, with a fellow agent hot on his trail, Michael believes things can’t get any worse. Until he runs into a Category 3 hurricane…and the woman who thought he wasn’t good enough to marry.The society woman who rejected him…Blair Davenport has never forgotten the man she once loved. Larger than life, the sexy agent drew her with his energy and passion for justice, and frightened her with his appetite for danger. She’s never forgiven herself for leading him to believe their passionate week together meant nothing. When he appears at the beach house she’s boarding up, she can’t refuse his need for shelter, even though he’s hiding dangerous secrets that have her FBI brother pursuing him.Passion still blazes between them…Soon, Blair’s decision to help Michael plunges them into a risky race against time. Together again, they struggle against simmering desire. But when the killer closes in, the final confrontation could destroy any thoughts of a second chance—and their very lives.Second chances can be passionate…and and deadly.
Mr. Grinch's Secret Love (A Very Alpha Christmas Season 2, #2)
L. Loren - 2020
He had a year to prove to the Board that he can keep his hands to himself or he’ll find himself replaced as CEO. His safe bet is to hire a plus size woman. That should do the trick.When the curvy goddess named Rhys Reid greets him in his office and introduces herself as his new assistant, Mason knows he is in trouble. Instead of hitting on her, he forces himself to be mean, hoping it will make her hate him. What he didn’t count on was Rhys liking his gruff demeanor. Unable to resist their attraction, the lovers must hide their affair from the prying eyes of their co-workers.Things come to a head at the office Christmas Party when Mason sees Rhys dancing with another man. Will he be able to stifle his rage before exposing their secret or will he risk everything for the love he desires? Find out in this BWWM LoveRotica Christmas Tale.
Vendetta
Lisa Harris - 2015
The case of her own missing sister, still unsolved after ten years, is the driving force in her work. When a Polaroid photo of a missing girl shows up at a crime scene, Nikki quickly recognizes similarities to the past. The closer she gets to the abductor, the more she feels this case has become personal, and she is not the hunter . . . but the hunted.With this explosive first book in The Nikki Boyd Files, award-winning author Lisa Harris takes you on a fast-paced pursuit of justice that will have you holding your breath until the heart-stopping finish.
The Blackstone Key
Rose Melikan - 2008
Bunbury's school for young ladies. Eager for an adventure, she is soon embroiled in one of frightening proportions, for war is raging across Europe, England faces the threat of invasion, and some secrets are more valuable than gold.As she uncovers a complex and deadly plot involving ruthless smugglers, secret codes, and a dangerous network of spies and traitors, Mary must learn quickly whom she can trust. The apparently stalwart Captain Holland? The dangerous yet attractive Mr. Déprez? Perhaps the mysterious Hicks or even Mrs. Tipton, who knows what is best for everyone, especially Mary? The price of failure may be her life and the safety of all England.
Saige: Renegade Vipers MC
Shannon McFadden - 2019
Her dad is the president, and her brother owns his own custom bike shop. She dreams of owning her own bakery and becoming the old lady to the man she has loved for years. Cotton Larsen is the VP of RVMC, best friends with the president’s son, and half owner of the Torque Wrench Custom Build and Bike Shop. He is in love with Saige but feels he isn’t worthy of her because of his past. Right when he decides to commit and see if she will give him a chance, she is kidnapped by a rival mc. Will the Renegade Vipers get her back? Will she give Cotton a chance or will she walk away? Authors notes: There is an attempted rape in this book, along with physical violence, foul language, and explicit sex scenes. Due to this, this book is recommended for readers 18 and up.
Kidnapped
Suzanne Ferrell - 2012
He’s been shot and if he can’t get help fast, two lives will be lost—his and that of the young witness whom he’s sworn to protect. Desperate, on the run from both the police and the Russian Mafia, he kidnaps a nurse from a hospital parking lot.ER nurse Samantha Edgars has been living in an emotional vacuum since the death of her daughter. Mentally and physically exhausted following a difficult shift, she’s suddenly jolted from her stupor when she’s bound and gagged, then tossed into the back of her car. Forced to tend a bleeding FBI agent and his injured witness, she’s terrified. But Samantha quickly learns the rogue agent and orphaned boy need more than just her professional skills. Danger is bearing down on them, and she must learn to trust Jake—and her heart— if they’re all going to survive.
Running Scared
Lisa Jackson - 1995
. .The newborn baby boy is beautiful, perfect, and hers for the asking. All Kate Summers has to do is agree to one condition--she must disappear from Boston and never breathe a word about the adoption to anyone.Or How Far You Go. . .Fifteen years later, Kate has built a good life for herself and her son, Jon, in Hopewell, Oregon. Still, she is haunted by the fear that he will somehow be taken away. Then Daegan O'Rourke arrives in town and strikes up a friendship with her and Jon. But Daegan has his own past to hide--one with shocking ties to hers.A Killer Will Always Find You. . .Someone is watching Kate, watching her son, and is willing to go to any lengths to claim him. And the one man Kate is tempted to trust has dangerous secrets that could change her world forever. Soon the past Kate thought she could outrun will explode, unearthing a legacy of lies and treachery, and a fury powerful enough to kill. . .
Vengeance
Vanessa Kier - 2013
Vengeance. She vows revenge on the men behind the attack, including her once beloved older brother, Kai. But Kai has disappeared with a microchip containing data on a top-secret government research program.Ten years ago, undercover agent Niko Andros sent a vicious Mexican crime lord to prison. Now the man has been released and he's kidnapped Niko's aunt. The price for his aunt's freedom is Kai and the microchip. Niko will do anything to save his aunt―including using Jenna as bait.As Niko dives back into the deadly criminal underground he'd barely escaped, Jenna discovers she's not as tough as she thinks. Teamed up to find her brother, Niko and Jenna fight to survive in a dangerous world of lies, betrayal, and hidden agendas. Only love can save them...if they'll let it.
Playing with Temptation
Erika Wilde - 2015
. . When Raina Beck is given an invitation to The Players Club, all she wants is a night of decadence with a gorgeous, sexy stranger. The seductive, mysterious man she meets fulfills her deepest desires and most erotic fantasies, giving her a night she’ll never forget. But forgetting him isn’t quite so easy. Logan Cruz prefers his women submissive and compliant in the bedroom... everything the independent Raina is not. Yet from the first moment he lays eyes on her, he’s determined to make Raina his. Despite her resistance. When Logan is assigned to protect Raina from a stalker, everything between them changes. Sex becomes more than just physical, and emotions run deep. Falling in love was never on Raina’s agenda, but can she let go of the past and surrender the one thing he wants the most... her heart? An alternate cover for this ASIN can be found here.
Damaged (The Vigilantes, #1)
Stoni Alexander - 2021
I’m a heartless savage hunting down the thug who murdered my mother. Watching her die in my arms has turned me into a killing machine. Revenge runs bone-deep for me. It’s burned into my soul, baby.When I become the one with a damn target on my back, my life turns into a raging dumpster fire. But not because my company gets breached or because some SOBs are trying to off me.There’s this woman…the one woman I can’t freakin’ stand. An impulsive cop who arrested me for a crime I didn’t commit. She gets too close to me, she’s gonna learn about all the ones I did pull off.The problem is, I’m crazy attracted to her. Insane, over the top, can’t-get-her-outta-my-head kind of attraction. She pushes all my buttons and makes me madder than hell. If anyone can bring me to my knees, it’s her.Turns out, I took a vow of celibacy. And I don’t break so easily.Except the hot cop is now a detective…and I gotta help her with a serial-killer case ‘cause I got wicked-good hacking skills. But that’s all I’m gonna help her with…__________DAMAGED is a steamy, enemies-to-lovers, romantic suspense with a vigilante anti-hero and a by-the-book detective heroine. Fans of The Touch Series will love seeing Sin & Dakota in this full-length novel. Stoni hates cheating, and she loves her HEAs!
The Fund
H.T. Narea - 2011
defense intelligence operative Kate Molares is investigating a suspicious international money trail. Her instincts place her at the center of a plot involving a terrifying new kind of terrorism—financial terrorism— perpetrated by a suave, handsome Middle Eastern hedge fund mogul. His goal is to wreck the West by bringing the global economy to its knees.Kate's mission takes her from the defense intelligence command center on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. to the oil-fueled economy of Caracas, Venezuela; from the Beaux-Arts buildings of Old Havana in Cuba to a hedge fund king’s magnificent back-country estate in Greenwich, Connecticut; from the United Nations to the site of a deadly Islamic conspiracy in the Iberian Peninsula.Kate is in a race against time to fit together the pieces of this global puzzle…or risk the catastrophic destruction of the world’s financial markets.
Eagle Security
Kenna Coulby - 2018
To this day, her brothers, Jason and Brandon, and two cousins, Zach and Tyler have never stopped looking. The Fierce Four, as the town’s residence have come to call them, went so far as to open their own private security firm—Eagle—in the name of figuring out what happened to Annabelle. It’s a good thing, too, because ever since the girl’s disappearance, Mystic Springs has been plagued with cases of kidnapping, missing persons, and stalking—it would seem this town is in high need of protection. JASON When a woman by the name of Rebecca Sauder spills into private security agent, Jason Braun’s office with grave concerns for her life—she’s being stalked but can’t prove it, the threats in the air feel like cold hands tightening around her throat, but the police won’t help—everything Jason thought he knew about Mystic Springs—and falling in love—is quickly turned on its head. Not only is Rebecca being stalked to a life-threatening extent, but her aggressor holds the key that will unlock the first clue as to what happened to Annabelle Braun all those years ago. BRANDON When a brand-new client, a quiet mysterious woman by the name of Molly Jaspers hires Eagle Security—and Brandon specifically—he soon realizes he might not want to be a loner forever. Molly is far too enchanting, and the reason she’s come to his private security firm, too intriguing. Her sister was killed in a car crash that Molly knows was no accident. And the twist that keeps her up at night? It was Molly’s own car that her sister was driving. ZACH Agent Zach Winter spent his senior year of high school in love with the girl next door—stunning, French transfer student, Sophia Rothschild. It was never more than that, admiration from afar, despite their mutual attraction. Sophia chose the captain of the football team instead and got married quickly after graduation, but she never left Zach’s thoughts. When Sophia shows up at his private security firm, having been framed for the murder of her late husband, Zach finds the old flame that used to burn in his heart for her is reignited. TYLER Brittany Masterson comes with a dark past, one she’s working hard to forget. Beautiful and slender, with an edge of sorrow radiating from her alluring blue eyes, she’s built her life around her precious daughter, Ella, and is determined to find happiness in Mystic Springs. The bedrock of her effort is a promise she made to herself to never again become involved with a man. But that promise is quickly shattered when she has no choice but to accept the help of the very sexy bodyguard Tyler after young Ella goes missing. JESSICA Adam Walsh has big dreams. Born and raised in the backwoods of Alaska, he’s held his long-term goal of opening a cabin building company in the forefront of his mind. But money has never been easy to come by. Scrimping and saving, for the past three years he’s been moonlighting as an exotic dancer in Anchorage’s premiere male strip club. He’s got the body and the moves, but does he have what it takes to win the heart of a woman like Jessica when he hires her for protection against a stalker who has been targeting a number of the Beefcake dancers?