Book picks similar to
Down and Dirty by Kristine Mason


contemporary
romance
free
contemporary-romance

To Catch a Bad Guy


Marie Astor - 2012
    When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?

Deceived


Danielle Pays - 2019
    Their current demand? A prominent local winery-and the land it sits on. No doubt it would only take one visit for him to charm the owners into selling.But his plan hits a snag the second he lays eyes on the alluring woman, dead-set on maintaining her family legacy. For the first time, he can see a forever with a woman. A forever that’s threatened when she discovers who he really is.Then the unthinkable happens: Declan is arrested for a catastrophic attack, threatening both their livelihoods and futures. And even though he maintains he’s innocent, Brooke’s trust is stretched so thin she doesn’t know what to believe.Or who’s really to blame. Who do you trust when everyone lies?This is a steamy, stand-alone, HEA romantic suspense.

High Stakes


Vanessa Waltz - 2014
     This was supposed to be temporary. I was supposed to deal for his illegal card games and get some quick cash. That was it. I wasn’t supposed to fall for him. Little by little, I see the monster grinning at me through the cracks in his pretty suit. He won't tell me what he does, and I'm not sure I want to know. The darkness in his eyes terrifies me. He's seduced me into his web of lies with his charm, and now I'm trapped in his life. He's taken control over me without me even realizing...or resisting. I'm in way over my head. He promised that nothing would ever happen to me. The Vittorio family wants me dead and there's only one person I can turn to. But what scares me is what I'll have to do. I'll need to become his.Author's Note: This is a dark romance novel, it contains themes of violence and mature situations that could make readers uncomfortable.

Riversong


Tess Thompson - 2011
     In the wake of her husband's tragic death, Lee is pregnant and one million dollars in debt to a dangerous loan shark willing to do anything to collect. Out of money and options, Lee seeks refuge in the small Oregon town where her mother's dilapidated home sits vacant, as desperate for a fresh start as Lee herself.With a baby on the way and a living to make, Lee opens a restaurant and begins to rebuild her life. But just as she catches her breath, and the eye of a local musician offering a second chance at love, she finds herself right back in the clutches of the debt collector with more to lose than ever.

Meant for Her


Amy Gamet - 2012
    Ordered to the scene of a fiery homicide, Navy officer Hank Jared wants nothing more than to wrap it up and get to his sister's wedding. His sense of duty won't let him walk away from a case, even if he can't figure out why his boss insisted he handle this one personally.When the key to a safe deposit box is found among the ashes, Hank finds himself staring at two pieces of paper--on one is a coded message, on the other, a name that will change the course of his entire life.Julie Trueblood wouldn't trust a Navy man if he handed her a life jacket on board a sinking ship. Her father was a cryptologist for the Navy, who went into hiding a decade earlier to avoid charges of treason. In his absence, Julie was harassed and interrogated by Naval officers who believed she was a traitor, just like her father.Hank tracks Julie down and confronts her with the cipher. She can't stand what he represents and sends him away, insisting she knows nothing about the message. But when she realizes someone is after her, Hank is the only person she can ask for help. He finds the perfect place to hide Julie, right by his side, pretending to be his girlfriend at his sister's wedding. Now he just needs to remember their relationship is all an act.The coded message brings Hank and Julie together, but its secrets hold the power to tear them apart. Guided by her generous and quirky Aunt Gwen, Julie will gather the courage to unravel the cipher that was meant for her to decode, as she learns to trust the man she was meant to love.

Beautifully Broken Pieces


Catherine Cowles - 2019
    Taylor is looking for peace and quiet away from the memories of all she’s lost. A small mountain town where no one knows her seems like the perfect escape.A man battling the ghosts of his past. Walker loves his life just the way it is. His town, his family, his brothers in blue. Everything simple and easy—until a chance encounter changes it all. When Taylor’s solitude is interrupted by the rugged cop, they find that the very thing they were avoiding might be just what they both need. As their iron wills clash and passion flares…a killer lurks. And you never know who might be caught in the crosshairs.

Fighting for This: The Last Resort Motel


Gwyn McNamee - 2018
    The California surf boy has no business being up Spruce Mountain or anywhere near The Last Resort Motel. There can only be one reason he’s hanging around—to search one of the old mines in hopes of striking it rich. And as soon as he’s done, he’ll be gone fast enough to make my head spin. But Max brings more than just a danger to my heart. MAX Aurora Clayton is the last thing I expect to find at The Last Resort Motel. What in the world is a girl like this doing in the middle of nowhere, Nevada? Search the land I inherited and get back to California—that’s the plan. I never expected to find something here even more precious than silver. But someone else is after what’s down that mine shaft. And I’ll do everything in my power to protect what I’ve found, including Aurora. ***Fighting for This previously appeared in The Last Resort Motel shared world as Room One***

Dark Mafia Prince


Annika Martin - 2016
    So trusting.
Like you think I’m not a monster.
Like I won’t wrap your hair in my fist and bend you to my will.
Like I won’t sacrifice you, piece by piece, to save my brother.I’m the most dangerous enemy you’ll ever have because every time you look at me, you see somebody good. That friend who died.And when you look at me like that, I die again.MiraI spent years making myself invisible.A good girl, apart from the noise.
Then you came back, beautiful and deadly in your Armani suit.
Don’t look at me like you still know me, you say.
But I remember your smile and those sunny days.Before they lowered your small casket into the ground.
Before they told us the prince was dead.

Reed


Madison Stevens - 2013
    All of that is threatened when her brother drags her back into the seedy world of greed, violence and corruption she’s tried desperately to flee.Private security contractor Reed Allen isn’t about to let a burning attraction rope him in again. He’s already felt the sting of letting his heart rather than his head lead him. He’s just there to do the job and get paid, even if a certain spunky beautiful librarian has him feeling things he thought long since buried.Keeping Olivia safe is the easy part. Resisting their passionate urges could prove to be much harder.They’ll have to mend their broken hearts and move on from their painful pasts for a chance at a future.

Midnight Man


Lisa Marie Rice - 2004
    Former navy SEAL John Huntington—aka the Midnight Man-- is anything but safe. The day they meet, Suzanne shocks herself by having no holds barred sex with John. But her panic goes into overdrive when danger strikes. John will protect her, but who’s going to protect her heart from him? John is a SEAL, and he never backs down. The Midnight Man is used to fighting for what he wants, but the fight turns deadly when unknown enemies attack. Suddenly, Suzanne's life is on the line. Once John's had a taste of her, there's no doubt that Suzanne belongs to him, and whoever is after her will have to go through him first . . .**Note: This book was originally published by Ellora's Cave and is an updated and lightly re-edited version.**

Lost


Jodi Kae - 2016
     Trying to keep her safe and help her regain her memory, takes him on a different life course than expected.Lost is an erotic suspense novel, an intense non-traditional love story that will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions.  Romance version also available. ISBN: 9781533743640

Targeted to Kill


Riley McKissack - 2013
    Sometimes redemption and second chances at love come with the worst circumstances. Guilt and grief were copartners in the death of Mick Hampton and Becca Jefferson's love. But, now, FBI agent Mick Hampton must stop a horrific attack on American soil as well as save the woman he has loved for most of his life. The undercover operation to stop an attack takes a dramatic left turn when Mick’s former fiancé is kidnapped by the terrorists. Is Becca Jefferson’s kidnapping a matter of simple revenge? Or do the terrorists know more than Mick thinks they do? The operation becomes a desperate attempt to survive for Becca and Mick, while still preventing the murder of countless innocent civilians. Love may be the prize, if they survive.

Killing Honor


S.M. Butler - 2014
    BUTLER**Navy SEAL Brody Battles’ last mission ended with him shot twice. He’s made enemies he’d like to forget ever existed all over the world. He’s more than ready to go home to the family he left behind, but when he returns, he faces sleepless nights, a possible security breach and the fear that his family has moved on without him.Marrying her childhood sweetheart sounds like a fairy tale dream come true, but not for Devyn. Thanks to his job, her husband has been off on a secret mission for so long, he’s never even seen his daughters in person. But now he’s back, and the fairy tale life is in sight, but Devyn’s not sure the man that returned is the same man who left.Stitching their broken family back together proves difficult when nightmares and secrets build a wall between them. And while they’re adjusting to being a family again, an enemy waits in the shadows, salivating for the sweet taste of revenge. This New Adult title includes adult situations and may not be suitable for readers under 18 years. Reading order of this series: • Killing Honor, #1 • Wounded Courage, #2 • Dying Commitment, #3

Countermeasure


Chris Almeida - 2012
    In an effort to prove to her father—also her boss—that she is a capable woman, she follows the digital trail—a trail that leads her directly into the arms of Trevor Bauer, an NSA analyst who appears to have more secrets than she has scars...Haunted by the mystery surrounding his parents' disappearance, Trevor Bauer's dreams for his own life have been put on hold. But being confronted by Cassandra James derails every one of his best laid plans to avoid a relationship until he can find the closure he desperately seeks. When he accepts her request for help in recovering the files she's hunting, they embark on an adventure that takes them across the ocean and into a world of intrigue and violence. As things between them begin to heat up, Trevor realizes that, if he is ever to win Cassandra's heart and the future he craves, he has no choice but to reveal all his secrets.

Healing Touch (A Place to Call Home, #1)


Laura Browning - 2017
    Luke knows he needs to be a better daddy for his troubled kids, but his work as a veterinarian made it difficult in the past. He’s vowed to change, but he needs help while he settles into his new position with the local animal hospital.Rachel Hastings is a woman with a healing touch. She takes in injured and orphaned animals, so helping out with two new-to-town children shouldn’t be tough. What she hasn’t counted on is their sexy father, her secret crush from back in their high school days.Their attraction is immediate, but so many obstacles stand in the way. Luke and his family still grapple with the shock of the accident that killed his wife. Rachel carries baggage from her own failed marriage. Worst of all, Luke’s children hide a secret that is tearing them apart and may destroy any chance Luke and Rachel have of building a future together.Don’t miss Healing Touch, book one of a sexy new contemporary series from author Laura Browning.