Book picks similar to
The Duke and the Assassin by Heather Slade
contemporary
romance
free
dnf
Winters Heat
Cristin Harber - 2013
Uninterested in his white knight act, she’d rather take her chances without the ruggedly handsome, cold-blooded operative who boasts an alpha complex and too many guns.Colby Winters, former Navy SEAL and an elite member of The Titan Group, has a single objective on his black ops mission: recover a document important to national security. It was supposed to be an easy in-and-out operation. But now, by any means necessary becomes a survival mantra when he faces off with a stunning woman he can’t leave behind.When Titan’s safe houses are compromised, Colby stashes Mia at his home, exposing his secret—he’s the adoptive father of an orphaned baby girl. Too soon, danger arrives and Mia lands in the hands of a sadistic cartel king with a taste for torture. As hours bleed into fear-drenched days, Colby races across the globe and through a firestorm of bullets to save the woman he can’t live without.
This Is Fate
Zee Irwin - 2021
He’s once-bitten and twice-shy. Together, their passion is—complicated.Maddie McComber is driven to succeed. Working her way through Harvard by tending bar, the dual MBA and law student isn’t about to lose focus by letting any of her regulars take her to bed. But the flirty banter she shares with the well-dressed older man definitely makes her tingle in all the right places.Daniel Jones has no faith in love. The high-flying billionaire divorce attorney knows from both personal and professional experience that almost all perfect affairs end in expensive disasters. But the way the attractive grad student at the pub sees past his wealth and acknowledges his true self has him totally hooked.Moved when he rescues her from an attacker, Maddie starts to feel her anti-dating regulations may require serious review. But though Daniel recognizes she’s everything he wants, his heart remains mired in the pain of the past.Can these two legal eagles soar over their fears and into a happy future?This Is Fate is the standalone first book in the delicious Fated Loves contemporary romance series. If you like strong women, conflicted men, and steamy open doors, then you’ll adore Zee Irwin’s gorgeous tale.
A Billion Desires
Jessa York - 2021
I’ll do whatever it takes.Until I lay eyes on my billionaire client, Nick.The things he does to me—and the way he makes me feel, blows my mind and shakes my reality.When he asks for one month of exclusivity—I can’t say no.My head tells me I can keep it professional. My heart isn’t so sure.After all, it’s just another job.Right?
Hard Time
Hope Conrad - 2016
Her sweet little body against his. Under his. Her screaming his name until she admits she’s never had better.Now he’s found her again, working in a bookstore of all places, and she’s just as gorgeous as he remembers. Only Katie thinks he can be redeemed. That there’s a good man underneath his darkness.He’s not so sure.But then Katie becomes his. Katie and her daughter.And he’ll risk everything, including fighting the devil himself, to protect them.
Bad Billionaires 2
Elise Faber - 2020
Rachel knew that. She was a good girl—sigh—she’d always been a good girl. Except when it came to him. She’d met the him in question in a bar of all places and his lean strength, gorgeous face, and way-too-charming personality had combined to shatter her defenses. All of a sudden she’d been doing all of those “dangerous, bad girl” things her grandmother had once warned her of. And just like her grandma had predicted, he’d vanished come morning. No note. No exchanged numbers. She hadn’t even known his name. Fine. Whatever. Rachel had chalked it up to a horrible—albeit, wholly pleasurable—mistake and moved on. She was the assistant to Heather O’Keith, a kick ass, take-no-prisoners CEO of a billion dollar corporation, she didn’t have time to sit around and worry over a man. But then Heather had gotten her happily ever after by marrying equally successful business entrepreneur, Clay Steele, and Rachel discovered that she had to work in close, day-to-day contact with him. Sebastian Henley. The man from the bar. The sexy, gorgeous, irresistible disappearing man from the bar. And he still made her want to do bad, bad things. Bad Divorce Bec Darden was a high-powered attorney who had spent her entire adult life building a fearsome reputation both in the courtroom and the boardroom. But once upon a time, she was also a naïve and romantic—aka idiotic—soul who’d married her college sweetheart on a whim just before graduating. She and Luke were young and in love and— No surprise, her marriage had been short-lived. Explosive. Miserable. And incredibly, incredibly short-lived. But now Luke Pearson was back in her life and with the worst possible news. Her marriage, the one she’d almost immediately regretted, and the subsequent divorce she’d paid through the teeth for by working insane hours and basically not sleeping for several years hadn’t happened. As in she was still freaking married. Luke had been sexy in high school, gorgeous in college, but he was even hotter as a grown man and his reappearance in her life hadn’t done anything to dampen the attraction she felt for him. But Bec had already learned that sex wasn’t everything. One broken heart was enough, and she wasn’t in the market to give Luke another chance at shattering her all over again. He needed to sign the divorce papers she drafted and leave her to her life. Except . . . what did they say about best laid plans? Because Luke wouldn’t sign. Bad Fiancé Sera used to believe in happily ever afters. Well, she still believed in them. Just not for her. For Seraphina Delgado, finding a man who loved her for who she was inside, rather than simply appreciating her outward appearance, had proved to be impossible. She wasn’t trying to be cocky—cock, ha¬—but she was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that she’d spent her childhood and tween years modeling and shooting commercials and . . . well, only being appreciated for the way she looked. And that was more curse than advantage because looks faded. People aged, wrinkles formed, boobs sagged . . . Anyway, none of that mattered because no man ever saw who she truly was on the inside. Until Tate.
Stirred
Charity Ferrell - 2020
I can't do this. That's what my ex said after our son was born, leaving me a single dad. These days, my world consists of two things: Noah and my bar. Until her—the woman I want—but can never have. My ex’s sister wasn’t supposed to be stirred into the mix. Even though I try to push her away, my son falls in love with her. As much as I want to keep my distance, I can’t break his heart.Lines become blurred, and fighting our attraction becomes nearly impossible. Even though we know it’s wrong, desire doesn’t always fade away.As soon as we cross that line, nothing will be the same and everything will fall apart. And it does.
Twisted Fate
K.L. Bryce - 2020
I fell for her crooked smile and ocean blue eyes the first time I met her in the fifth grade. In high school, no one understood me the way she did. Paige is the only girl I've ever trusted enough to let into my world.But I buried those feelings the day she chose my brother nine years ago.Fate seems to have a sick sense of humor because my newest client decided to sponsor her vlog. I advised them to cut her loose.It’s not personal, it’s business.And besides, I have another proposition that could give us something we both want.But my plan to stay cool, calm, and in control vanishes the moment her lips touch mine.She should run fast in the other direction.My soul is damaged goods.I could never give her the love she deserves.Luke Mason. My gorgeous, loner friend from high school. The boy I almost fell for…until Fate led me into the arms of his twin brother, and eventually, a broken heart.If it wasn’t for the business proposition Luke makes—and one I desperately need—I’d run fast in the other direction.What wasn’t a part of our deal? The oh-so-hot kiss we shared during one of my infamous moments of spontaneity. A mistake neither one of us plans to make again.But when our stares get way more intense, his eyes linger too long on my mouth, and his touch ignites something deep inside I haven’t allowed myself to feel in years, our promise of “strictly platonic” goes up in flames.No matter what happens, I can’t let myself fall for him.But I’m scared I already have.A love story spanning over twelve years, TWISTED FATE is a deep, forbidden love romance with LOL moments, passion and angst, and all the feels. Can be read as a standalone.
Pick Me, Handsome
C. Morgan - 2020
I’d rather work with my hands than spend the billions my father left behind. The only thing that interests me is the apple orchard he left me. The old thing needs work, and I plan to make it beyond successful. What I didn’t expect to find between the rows of juicy red apples was a yearning for more. A beautiful single-mom teacher shows up to take her kiddos on a tour of the orchard and I feel things I haven’t felt in a long time. Mine. Every cell in my body wakes up with a desire for the strong, independent woman that I want to rock my world. She’s not into rich guys at all. Fine by me. I look like the gardener anyway. My secret is safe. For now.
Ruthless
Mallory Crowe - 2016
Now he has to find the lost heiress before anyone else and claim his stake in the Farrell family fortune... even if that means claiming her.
The Summer Tour
Mandy Melanson - 2020
It’s impossible to tell one face from the next when I’m up there. The mixture of fog, lights, flashing lasers, my astigmatism, and whatever else they put into the air to keep the crowd happy… It’s all just a mix for a big bunch of blurry fuzzy whatnots. She was not a whatnot. She stood out in her ripped black jeans and that adorable neon yellow thing holding her hair up out of her face. I don’t even know what it’s called, but it was perfect. She was perfect. The bright pink tank top that hugged her in all the right places. Those bright yellow heels that made her back curve in just the right way. Those were definitely factors that caught my eye, but it's not why I can't get her out of my head. Her dark brown eyes and that smile—her smile. That’s it. That smile had me hooked from the second I ran on stage. I even stopped short of my mark and totally threw off the spotlight tracker. Why?Because I was too busy watching her and how she just fell into the rhythm of the music. It’s a good thing Chuck didn’t plan any pyro for tonight, or I might have been screwed.I’m not even entirely sure I sang the right lyrics to the first couple of songs. It was more a series of barely audible grunts, caveman style. Nash probably turned his mic up to help with the background vocals. They’ve all gotten really good at covering my ass over the years. I’m grateful the crowd didn’t seem to notice. All I could think about was trying to figure out a way to find out who she is. I still have nothing. So I’m sitting here like a lost, lonely little puppy just hoping to catch another glimpse. What if she leaves and doesn’t come through the line? I can see both Exit doors from here. I’m watching those two doors like a pitbull watches the gate at a junkyard. Maybe I am a lost, lonely little puppy. No.I am a pitbull puppy. And just like that pitbull, I will jump this table and bulldoze whoever gets in the way if I have to.
I Crave You
C.C. Wood - 2020
If I had done that at fourteen, maybe I would have avoided the unfortunate nickname of "Flatty Cami." It all started when I met Brody Murphy. I was eight years old and it was love at first sight. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, he showed me his true colors six years later. We argued every time I saw him, which was a lot since he was my brother's best friend. The hostility became outright hate when he coined that nickname I mentioned—the one that I didn't leave behind until I graduated high school. The day he got married and moved away was probably the luckiest day of my life and since then, I graduated college, started a business, and grew boobs so the whole nickname thing shouldn't still bother me. Yes, I know it shouldn't, but some grudges are worth holding.Now, Brody's back in town, divorced, and with his adorable daughter in tow. But he's not the same boy I once knew. He's a hot single dad who makes me laugh and it's getting harder and harder to remember all the reasons I should hate him.And way too easy to fall in love.
Fighting for Foster
Bex Dane - 2020
She's forbidden. Unattainable. Out of my league.All these years, I've struggled to deny the relentless desire to make her mine.But not anymore.Her dysfunctional crime family is destroying her and breaking her soul.I can't let that happen.So I'm infiltrating her secret world to save her.But can I earn her trust and convince her to leave before we both get killed?If you like possessive alpha-males and edge-of-your-seat action, you'll love Fighting for Foster.
Slow Burn
E.B. Walters - 2011
She pretends to have moved on, is a successful artist and photographer, until the morning she opens her door to a stranger she assumes is a model and asks him to strip to his briefs .
He wants to expose the truth....
Wealthy businessman Ron Noble has the body, the jet, the fast cars and the women, but he hides a deadly secret. His father started the fire that killed Ashley’s parents. Now someone is leaving him clues that could exonerate his father and they lead to Ashley’s door. Blindsided by the blazing attraction between them and a merciless killer silencing anyone who was there the night of the fire, Ron dare not tell Ashley the truth. Yet the answer he seeks may very well tear them apart.
While a demented arsonist...SLOW BURN(s)...and plots his ultimate revenge.
The Perfect Man
Lynn Dare - 2021
Yes, definitely his jaw.But I, Ellie Amore, have a problem. It’s big, gigantic, and not in the good way.None of these men are real. And that version of me? More fake than an author calling herself classy while drinking boxed wine in her yoga pants.Me, that author is me.I dream of hot men. Perfect men. Fictional men. These men go into my books, and it’s all I need for my messy cat-lady-living-above-a-bookstore life. Really.I don’t need my brother’s best friend checking up on me. The man who brings me tacos. The one who is decidedly not perfect—as his enemy cat would tell you—but somehow might just be perfect for me.I’m not sure how it all started or when he decided I was more than a favor to his friend.All I know is Cruz is not a man from my dreams. This time, it’s different.This time, he’s real.The Perfect Man is book one in the Perfect Man romantic comedy series. Dive in for plenty of swoons, lots of laughs, and a guaranteed HFN ending.
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.