Book picks similar to
Just a Kiss by Shantel Tessier


contemporary
novella
romance
standalone

Famed


Magan Vernon - 2017
     Chris Garcia has been working his way up from mailroom clerk to junior associate at Tate & Cane and now to get to the next rung of the corporate ladder he has to take on the firm's toughest client: Mary James. With a little help from a nosey Aunt Rosita and Mama Garcia, the two decide the best way to move forward is simple: a fake relationship. But what happens when something fake gets to be too real and FAME gets involved?

Mercenary Princess


Setta Jay - 2018
    The harmless obsession keeps her warm on the nights her double life starts to take its toll. She, unfortunately, gains his attention at the worst possible moment, when she’s in the middle of a dangerous job. Now, she’ll be forced to protect her heart along with her life of lies.Viktor has been tempted by the innocent princess’s lust-filled glances for far too long, and he has fought hard to resist her beauty. When her secrets finally draw him in, getting through her royal guard proves a minor inconvenience. But one sexually charged night isn’t enough. He wants more, including whatever she’s hiding beneath that demure façade.As much as Sophia wants Viktor, she can never fully allow him in because her secrets aren’t her own. Viktor is determined to have all of his princess. Will they find a way to be together, or will her dangerous secrets tear them apart?

Trailer Park Heart


Rachel Higginson - 2018
    It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out. Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape. Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here. Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow. Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago. He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from. I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.

We Were Once


S.L. Scott - 2020
    Scott, crafts her signature heartfelt style into a brand new emotional, second chance, standalone romance. I have three goals: graduate from an Ivy League university, get into medical school, and follow in my father’s well-established footsteps. Everything was going exactly as planned until the local bad boy was delivered to my doorstep. Literally.From the moment we meet, my old life becomes unrecognizable, but I have no regrets. I’m utterly captivated by him. His smirk. His heart. His sharp wit. He pushes me to live, to be wild, to pursue the dream I’ve always hidden inside.To the rest of the world, we make no sense.Me, the girl from the gilded New England coast.Joshua, from the small city of New Haven.To us, we’re destiny.Together, we had it all. Desperately. Madly. In love.Until we didn’t. One tragic night changed everything.

Cocky Jerk


Janine Infante Bosco - 2020
    The cop who pulled me over was good-looking, if you’re into clean cut guys with expressive eyes. He was also cocky and gave me three tickets.One for speeding.Another for blowing a light.And the third for not producing an insurance card.Jerk.When he finally let me go, I realized I was more than an hour late for my first day as an intern for the infamous advice column, Ask Ida. So much for trying to be the only one in my family with a legit job. Lucky for me, my new boss, Soraya, didn’t fire me on the spot. But that’s where my luck ran out.A couple of weeks later, in between fetching coffee and finding the missing paperclips, I received a text message from my dad, the president of the Corrupt Hellraisers MC, ordering me to the compound.Yeah, try explaining that to your new boss. Hey, I’ve gotta go. Everyone in my family is a criminal and we’re all on lockdown.You’re fired.Sure enough when I arrived at the clubhouse, everyone was in cuffs and the jerk who pulled me over was the one ushering my father out of the clubhouse.They say you never see the bad guys coming.Well, I didn’t see the cocky jerk coming either.

Loving My Neighbor


C.M. Steele - 2015
    He may have wealth, but what he doesn’t have is patience—for people who include the opposite sex. Loving his solitude, Trent was taken by surprise with his need to possess his new neighbor. Lily Mason’s life is in transition. Moving in with her father and his wife and kids, she’s regretting the decision immediately. Per her father’s bidding, she knocks on the rumored curmudgeon’s door. Knock. Knock. Expecting to be snarled at, she was surprised to see a beast of a different kind. The man answered the door with just a towel around his waist and a smirk across his chiseled face. Running scared, she leaves before she can be locked away. Trent loses the opportunity to trap her in his old mansion when she flees, but he’s not giving up. Because once he gets her in his home, he’s never letting her out. Their love is instant and explosive.

Signed


Marni Mann - 2018
    More ruthless and cutthroat than any arrogant bastard you’d ever met.The top actors in Hollywood came to me to get signed. When I saw James Ryne, America’s Sweetheart, standing across the bar, I wanted her body like I’d never wanted anything before. I broke rule number one.But, after all, I was a man. No one had ever mistaken me for a saint.Rule Number 1: Do Not Fall in Love Again I didn’t know his name. I didn’t who he was. All I knew was that he was deliciously handsome and he had to be someone to get into the most elite bar in LA. He was too old for me, too experienced—the kind of man everyone warned me about. It was only supposed to be a one-night stand. I could have walked away. I should have walked away.And then I was forced to walk away when my scandal hit the tabloids.I broke rule number one and now I had to make the biggest decision of my life.Risk my heart or get signed.

Game On


Wendy Smith - 2019
    He won’t make the same mistake again. After ten years apart, Brad and Molly are brought back together by the death of Lane.Brad’s mourning the loss of his former wife, and mother of his child. Molly never got to say goodbye to her childhood best friend.In the ten years since they last saw each other, Brad’s built a successful construction business. Molly’s the darling of Silicon Valley.All he wants are answers from her. She can’t find the strength to walk away again.Will Brad and Molly get their second chance at romance?Content warning on copyright page (see look inside)

The Pact


Karina Halle - 2014
    He’s also one of Stephanie Robson’s best friends and has fit into that box for as long as she’s known him.But some relationships can’t be boxed, can’t be classified, can’t be tamed.Back in their mid-twenties and tired of the competitive hit-or-miss dating scene of San Francisco, Steph and Linden made a pact to marry each other if neither one of them are in a serious relationship by the time they hit thirty.It sounds like fun and games but as the years to thirty tick past and lovers come and go out of their lives, the pact becomes larger than life.Sex is inevitable. Friendships are tested. Hearts are on the line.The pact is about to change everything.

On the Plus Side


Tabatha Vargo - 2013
    Both things she could do without. But even with her undesired millionaire status, she doesn’t hold on to false hopes of finding true love. So when a sexy stranger comes into her life dripping with seduction, she finds it hard to resist. The bigger they are the harder they fall and Lilly falls straight through the floor in love with Mr. Sexy. Too bad he’s there for all the wrong reasons. The chance of losing it all will make you do some crazy things and Devin’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep his life together. All seems lost when out of nowhere he’s approached by a Millionaire Momma with an offer he can’t refuse. But even a womanizer like Devin has a heart and when the short, chunky girl with the carefree attitude breaks through his icy façade, he finds that losing everything takes on a whole new meaning. ***Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young adult readers.***

Someone Else's Ocean


Kate Stewart - 2018
    Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.

It's a Wonderful Tangled Christmas Carol


Emma Chase - 2015
    There, three lovely holiday spirits magically visit him to teach him that every moment is precious and that he should never take his family for granted. But when he wakes up, will he just write it off as a dream? Originally published in the sizzling anthology Baby, It’s Cold Outside, this irresistible novella is the perfect holiday treat! And as special bonus material after the novella, Emma Chase has included a scene showing Drew’s marriage proposal to Kate!

The Mechanic


Ramona Gray - 2018
     Lily I grew up with everything I ever wanted. Wealth and privilege, and an attitude that practically screamed “I’m better than you”. Only, things went wrong and now I have nothing. The people in this town don’t give a damn that I live in a broken-down trailer and am one sandwich away from starving. They figure I got what I deserve. They’re not wrong. Now, I’m standing in front of the town’s sexy-as-sin mechanic, Jack Williams, and offering to let him… do things to me with those big, dirty hands of his, in exchange for car repairs. Things that the old me would be horrified by. I should be ashamed. Instead, all I can think about is how good it would feel to have Jack touch me. Jack I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks. Raised by a man who liked to talk to me with his fists and didn’t give a damn if I lived or died. Taking care of myself is my number one priority, and I’m not interested in other people’s troubles. Especially trouble in the form of a stuck-up, former rich girl like Lily Carson. It’s not my problem her money, family and friends are gone. Only, she’s standing in my repair shop offering me something I’ve wanted for a very long time. One touch of her soft skin and I’m lost. Lily belongs to me now, and I’ll make damn sure she and everyone else in this town knows it. Author’s Note: This is the first in a series of stand-alone, short and dirty (So.Very.Dirty.) novellas of 20k or less. If you’re looking for quick, one-handed (ahem) reads with insta-love, over-the-top alpha, blue-collar men, then the trope-alicious Working Men series is for you!

The Hunter


L.J. Shen - 2020
    Like Stonehenge, Police Academy 2, and morning glory clouds.It just happened.Now my ball-busting father is sentencing me to six months of celibacy, sobriety, and morbid boredom under the roof of Boston’s nerdiest girl alive, Sailor Brennan.The virginal archer is supposed to babysit my ass while I learn to take my place in Royal Pipelines, my family’s oil company.Little does she know, that’s not the only pipe I’ll be laying…SailorI didn’t want this gig, okay?But the deal was too sweet to walk away from.I needed the public endorsement; Hunter needed a nanny.Besides, what’s six months in the grand scheme of things?It’s not like I’m in danger of falling in love with the appallingly gorgeous, charismatic gazillionaire who happens to be one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors.No. I will remain immune to Hunter Fitzpatrick’s charm.Even at the cost of losing everything I have.Even at the cost of burning down his kingdom.

Mack Daddy


Penelope Ward - 2017
     They called him Mack Daddy. No, seriously, his name was Mack. Short for Mackenzie. Thus, the nickname. Perfect, right? So was he: perfect. The perfect physical male specimen. At the private school where I taught, Mack Morrison was the only man around in a sea of women. Everyone wanted a piece of the hot single father of the sweet little boy. I was riddled with jealousy, because they didn’t know that—to me—he was much more. They didn’t know about our past. He’d chosen my school for his son on purpose, because Mack and I, we had unfinished business. As my friend, Lorelai, so eloquently put it: “Unfinished business between two people who are clearly attracted to each other is like an eternal case of blue balls.” And I was suffering in pain from my case. I was still intensely attracted to Mack. I tried to resist him, immersing myself further into a relationship with another man just to protect my heart. Not to mention, getting involved with a parent was strictly against school rules. But seeing Mack day in and day out was breaking me down. And soon I might be breaking all the rules. Author's note – Told in alternating points of view, Mack Daddy is a full-length standalone novel.