Book picks similar to
The Luck Deciding Factor by Z. Stefani


virgin-heroine
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contemporary
contemporary-romance

Safe Word


Teresa Mummert - 2013
    His job is to find an easy target and take her back to his place for a few days. He is working his way up the crime ladder doing a job he never wanted.Lily Hilton has it all, but is hiding from a troublesome past. When she enters a bar downtown, and runs into her old high school crush, her entire world is turned upside down. She is determined to make him notice her, but that plan may work better than she expects. Colton does not hesitate to take Lily home and use her as his new pawn, but their past begins to catch up with them as their secrets unravel and he must decide what is more important to him, protecting Lily or himself.Excerpt:"Cole...""Answer the f**king question!" I took a deep breath, struggling not to lose control completely."I knew you didn't do it.""You don't f**king know me, Rose. Does this look innocent to you? Huh?" I pointed to the spare bedroom with the lock dangling from its metal closure."I'm Lily now," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself. I leaned in closer, knowing she was terrified."You're whoever the f**k I want you to be. For the next two weeks I f**king own you and, if you're lucky, you may still be alive when all of this is over." She had awakened an animal inside of me, and as I spat my hatred at her I could still taste her on my tongue. I hated myself for giving in to her. Tears welled in her eyes and her chin quivered as she struggled to keep from breaking down. I cupped her cheek, running the pad of my finger over her silky skin. "Don't cry, Rose. Things are just about to get fun." I placed a gentle kiss over her lower lip and ran my thumb over it, soothing her. "Can you taste that, Rose?" All traces of anger had left my voice, but something had snapped inside of me. "I can still taste your sweetness, still smell you all over me." I leaned down and ran my nose up the curve of her neck, inhaling. I grabbed her wrist as my mouth reached her ear."Look what you're doing to me, Rose." I placed her hand on my jeans so she could feel how stiff my c**k was from just thinking about her. She tried to pull back but I tightened my grip and held her against me. "Do you still think I'm the good guy?"Warning: This novel is intended for readers 18 yrs. older

A Beautiful Lie


T.E. Sivec - 2013
    They shared in each other's joy during graduations, promotions, and engagements. They consoled one another through heartache and loss.When one of the friend's life is tragically cut short, it's up to the two left behind to pick up the pieces and find out the truth - no matter the cost. As they slowly start to uncover the nature of his deception, and the very powerful people behind it, they begin to question everyone and everything, even themselves.Everyone has secrets - some do it for love while others do it for power. Those secrets can change perceptions, alter reality and sometimes destroy lives.What do you do when you find out your whole life has been a lie?

The Bastard


Lisa Renee Jones - 2018
    He sent me to Harvard. I left and became a Navy SEAL, but I'm back now, and I finished school on my own dime. I'm now the right hand man to Grayson Bennett, the billionaire who runs the Bennett Empire. I'm now a few months from being a billionaire myself. I don't need my father's company or his love. My "brother" can have it. I will never go back there. I will never be the mistake my father made, the way he was the mistake my mother made.And then she walks in the door, the princess I'd once wanted more than I'd wanted my father's love. She wants me to come back. She says my father needs to be saved. I don't want to save my father but I do want her. Deeply. Passionately. More than I want anything else.But she's The Princess and I'm The Bastard. We don't fit. We don't belong together and yet she says he needs me, that she needs me. We're like sugar and spice, we don't mix, but I really crave a taste. Just one. What harm can just one taste do?BOOK ONE IN THE FILTHY TRILOGY

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

Anarchy Found


J.A. Huss - 2015
    That’s what Detective Molly Masters tells me. “What we need,” she says, “what the whole world needs,” she pleads, “is a champion.” The only thing I want to talk about with Molly Masters is how I’d like to make her scream my name when I push her up against a wall, slide my hand up her thigh, and live out my wildest fantasies. “Someone who will fight against injustice,” she says. I’ll fight against anything you want, honey. Just come a little closer. “Someone who will stand tall in the face of adversity,” she says. I’ll do it standing, sitting, or lying down. See how easy I am? “Someone who believes in the value of a good deed,” she says. I believe in the value of me, sweetheart. Because I’m Lincoln Wade. Jaded genius, obscenely wealthy, capable of violence, and looking for revenge. Molly Masters might have delusions of grandeur. She might see me as some superman capable of cleaning up the scum, filth, and corruption in Cathedral City. But I’m not the hero she’s looking for. I’m the dark alley where all her good intentions hide. So be careful what you wish for, Molly Masters. Because you’re about to get it.

Pretty Dead Girls


Monica Murphy - 2018
    Perfect. Dead.In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she's next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—and to a boy from her physics class. The one she's never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.There's something he isn't telling her. But there's something she's not telling him, either.Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

Riot


Jamie Begley - 2014
    So why does a straitlaced teacher make me sit up and take notice when I see her for the first time? The brothers all think she makes me weak, and believe me, weak in their eyes isn’t where I want to be. She wants me to prove she means more to me than the club, and when I fail, she thinks she can just walk away. She’s wrong. I’m a Predator, and nothing escapes me. Grace As a teacher, I’m supposed to want to educate those who want to learn, right? That’s what I believed until I was told I’d have to teach a class at the prison. I didn’t move to a town labeled as one of the safest places in America only to be faced with a bunch of Predators. He expects me to trust him despite being the reason I’m trapped in the middle of a prison riot. His club means more to him than I ever will, and if I give him a chance, he will break the fragile peace I have managed to find. It’s not the first time I’ve had to escape a predator. Warning: This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only. All sexually active characters portrayed in this ebook are eighteen years of age or older. Please do not buy if strong sexual situations, multiple partners, extreme violence, drugs, and explicit language offends you.

In Peace Lies Havoc


Amo Jones - 2019
    Like a trained possession, weak against their control.She has been conditioned with our blood for years. She just doesn’t know it yet...But Midnight Mayhem was the stained glass that concealed a very dark culture.A culture that she is about to become the center of.The Brothers of Kiznitch come in fours, and they’re not happy about me being hustled into their acts.Or are we? Careful, Little Bird. A warning is a warning for a reason…Mind-tricks.Stunts.Deceit.Power.But there’s something uglier that has been haunting me for years upon years. So ugly that I have never seen its face. I never had to. I’d hear his whispers through my internal screams, feel his shadow brush against my nightmares. He was my the monster that tormented me.And maybe lived under your bed…When I started Midnight Mayhem, his presence faded.His whispers were silenced.His shadow dissolving without a trace.I wondered why that was. She didn’t have to wonder for long…

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.

The Nature of Cruelty


L.H. Cosway - 2013
    She wasn’t dealt the easiest cards in life. She wasn’t dealt the hardest. She has an illness, but she doesn’t let it rule her. The first time she laid eyes on her best friend’s twin brother she fell in love at first sight. It didn’t last very long. He was a hateful boy who made her miserable. The happiest day of her life was when he moved away to London six years ago.His name is Robert. He breaks the ones who love him. He’s always liked to play games with Lana, see how far he could push her. He once thrived on her pain, but no more. Now she’s coming to London to live with his sister for the summer and this time he plans on being her friend instead of her tormentor. But Lana is scarred by his past bullying. She doesn’t trust him, nor does she have any reason to.When the two find themselves living under the same roof, they call a truce. This summer will change both of their lives, as they put their history aside and learn one another from scratch.When fear takes over, we use cruelty as a mask. Robert and Lana’s story will see their masks slip away as the love they felt on the inside shows its true face.**Not suitable for younger readers. Contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature.**

See Me


Nicholas Sparks - 2015
    . .Colin Hancock is giving his second chance his best shot. With a history of violence and bad decisions behind him and the threat of prison dogging his every step, he's determined to walk a straight line. To Colin, that means applying himself single-mindedly toward his teaching degree and avoiding everything that proved destructive in his earlier life. Reminding himself daily of his hard-earned lessons, the last thing he is looking for is a serious relationship.Maria Sanchez, the hardworking daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the picture of conventional success. With a degree from Duke Law School and a job at a prestigious firm in Wilmington, she is a dark-haired beauty with a seemingly flawless professional track record. And yet Maria has a traumatic history of her own, one that compelled her to return to her hometown and left her questioning so much of what she once believed.A chance encounter on a rain-swept road will alter the course of both Colin and Maria's lives, challenging deeply held assumptions about each other and ultimately, themselves. As love unexpectedly takes hold between them, they dare to envision what a future together could possibly look like . . . until menacing reminders of events in Maria's past begin to surface.Rich in emotion and fueled with suspense, SEE ME reminds us that love is sometimes forged in the crises that threaten to shatter us . . . and that those who see us for who we truly are may not always be the ones easiest to recognize.

Selling Scarlett


Ella James - 2013
    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.

Dark Russian Angel


Odette Stone - 2019
    I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,And I witnessed a crime.The police are failing to protect me.And my chance of survival isn't looking good.Andrusha, is the cold and dangerous leader of the Vancouver Russian mafia,He's also my best chance to make it to trial alive.The only thing we have in common,Is our shared enemy.This man is everything your mom warned you about.He's ruthless.He's cold.And he likes to be in control.I should be afraid of him.I should keep my distance.So why is he the only one who makes me feel safe?Who will protect me from my protector?

Ignite the Flame


Susan Griscom - 2011
    Plagued with nightmares of her father's sudden and brutal death, Addie struggles with her anguish and refuses to believe that his demise was accidental. But that's not the only thing Addie struggles with. Caught up in the horrors of her latest nightmare while driving to work one day, she's startled beyond comprehension when she almost runs down a man standing in the middle of the road. A gorgeous, stunning man she can't seem to take her mind or her eyes off of. All of a sudden, the impossible seems possible, and it's not clear whether that's a blessing or a curse.Cael Sheridan may be arrogant and mysterious, but he's also undeniably gorgeous. A member of a secret society, he is sworn to protect the woman he believes to be the daughter of his recently murdered mentor. In the process, he finds it impossible to resist her magnetic sensuality, complicating his efforts to shield and guide her as she learns to manage her newly acquired skills. He's faced with the tough decision of whether to let her in or sabotage their new relationship in order to keep her safe as well as his own heart.Fate has brought them together, but will it make them stronger or destroy them in the end?A supernatural, urban fantasy sure to get your blood running hot, Ignite the Flame is the first book in the Sectorium series set in a sleepy coastal town along the Oregon Coast. Previously published as Whisper Cape and has been re-titled an enhanced for a more enjoyable read.

Flame


Chelle Bliss - 2019
    Fresh out of college, she’s about to start working at her family’s tattoo studio — Inked. But when she shows up the first day, she never expects to run into someone tall, dark, and totally sexy from her not-so-innocent past.Pike Moore is a bossy biker with a cocky attitude and an even bigger ego. He came to Inked to start over. New town. New job. New roots. None of that included coming face-to-face with the hot chick who spent a week in his bed before she vanished without a trace.But when Pike’s dark family history catches up with him, can he stop Gigi from being caught in the crossfire?Flame is book one in the Men of Inked: Heatwave series by USA Today bestselling author Chelle Bliss. The Men of Inked: Heatwave series features steamy romance, hot heroes, and strong women.**City & Suzy's Daughter**