Kelly, a successful investment manager from Tel Aviv, is living it up. She is single, rich and happy to be with men just to scratch an itch. Embarking on a no strings attached relationship with the hot, much younger Slava feels like a great idea—and he’s totally up for it.
Ilan, an ambitious and charming investigator working for the Israeli Securities Authority, is trying to untangle a huge market manipulation scheme. He needs Kelly to crack the case, but whistleblowing might jeopardize everything she’s ever worked for. Ilan, however, can be very persuasive. Soon, and against their better judgment, they start mixing business with pleasure.
But, when Ilan asks her to stop seeing Slava, Kelly realizes that no-strings doesn’t mean it’s easy to let go. With her livelihood on the line and her love life a mess, can Kelly keep it together, or has she thrown one too many balls in the air?
Slava took off his T-shirt and used it to pat his armpits. He heard a few scattered catcalls and whistles, giggling girls elbowed each other and young moms pushing strollers stared. Slava took it in stride. He applied fresh deodorant, rummaged some more in his bag, pulled out a clean white T-shirt, and put it on. A slight sea breeze zigzagged its way past the seaside hotels to reach his bench and caress his flushed face.
The weather was warm, but the relentless Mediterranean sultriness hadn’t yet arrived in full. He thought about how unbearably hot the small Bat Yam apartment he shared with his mother would get in the summer. Slava chuckled—the Hebrew word for apartment, “dirra”, sounded like “dryannaya dyra”—Russian for “crappy hole”. Slava and Olga Korman both agreed that Bat Yam’s gray, crowded tenement blocks warranted the cheap rents. It had two redeeming qualities: its closeness to Tel Aviv, and the beautiful beaches. Slava would get up early every morning—even before his mother went out to clean houses—walk 1.5 km to the Bat Yam boardwalk, and practice Tai Chi for twenty minutes. It was the best time of his day, not counting the days when he treated Kelly. Somehow, some time ago, the ninety minutes he spent touching her had become the highlight of his week.
Slava checked his phone. It was twenty-five past six—Kelly was seriously late today. Fortunately, her appointment was always the last one. She truly needed his massages. At the beginning of every session, her shoulders were knotted, her neck was rigid, and her back stiff. It would take Slava nearly thirty minutes to de-stress Kelly—more than double the time it took his other clients.
Kelly was different in every other way too. She was the only one who lived in Tel Aviv proper, south of the Yarkon river. Slava knew she must make a lot of money to afford the two-bedroom apartment she rented. She never tried to flirt with him or make small talk. Slava wasn’t good at small talk and didn’t like it. Flirting made him acutely uncomfortable. Kelly would turn off her phone and stay quiet, and Slava could relax, put on music, and attune himself fully to her body.
He recognized her dark hair and light blue helmet. Standing up, he waved, and she braked right next to him. Her brown curls danced as she freed her head from the small, stylish helmet. Her wide mouth was curved into an apologetic smile.
“Hola, Slavito. Sorry I’m late—it got crazy at the office.”
Slava shrugged and smiled back without answering. How could he be angry with her when she called him “Slavito” and gazed at him with those liquid, caramel eyes of hers? Slava stole a glance at the slender, attractive woman striding confidently alongside him. She was totally out of his league.
Mia Sivan is an Israeli woman who lives, works and loves in Tel Aviv. The city is as much a part of her books as any other character.
Mia has worked as a senior investment manager for many years, and the books she writes draws much from her personal experience, as well as real-life scams that took place in the Israeli financial market.
When not writing or dreaming up steamy scenes, she lives with her handsome husband and even handsomer two sons, and enjoys long walks by the beach (it’s Tel Aviv, it’s never too cold).
An NFL quarterback turned small-town coach gets sacked by a Texas beauty queen in this swoony, passionate romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.
Gorgeous, talented, and brilliant, NFL quarterback Ronan Smith has the world in his hands. But after losing his career and his fiancée in a car accident, he falls into a pit of grief and bad choices. When a mysterious girl shows up to his party, he feels drawn to her and makes her his…for one night.
Former beauty queen Nova Morgan is on a mission. Scantily clad as a princess from a galaxy far, far away, she sneaks into a high-profile party to capture the attention of her favorite quarterback. But her hopes crash after an awful one-night stand.
Fast-forward two years. Broke and desperate, Nova returns home to Blue Belle, Texas, where, by a cosmic twist of fate, her broody neighbor is none other than Ronan, the shiny new football coach everyone adores. But he has no idea who she is.
The booster club keeps shoving women at Ronan to keep him in town. His solution? He proposes fake dating to Nova. But things heat up for real under these Friday-night lights when he realizes she’s the one who slipped away.
Has this jaded beauty found her forever baller, or will his past keep them apart?
Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.
Title: Alpha’s Fire Author: Renee Ross and Lee Savino Series: Shifter Ops #4 Genre: Paranormal Romance
I’ve waited 1000 years for my mate. If she rejects me, I’ll burn down the world.
She woke the dragon.
Every maiden dreams of being rescued by a handsome prince from a deadly dragon. But I am the prince and the dragon.
Ancient courtship rituals demand I steal my bride away. Imprison her in my high tower. Show her my treasures, my vast lands and armies.
I’ve done all that, and she still refuses me. She says she can’t see herself with a man who still thinks Istanbul is Constantinople.
I must woo her, and I don’t know how. But beneath my beating human heart, a dragon sleeps. And when he wakes, no one can stop him from destroying the world.
The chilly air nips my skin, bared by my tank top. An hour into my hike, I’ve already shed my jacket—I’m a strange combination of cold and sweaty. Weird, but it feels good.
There’s snow on the peaks towering ahead of me. It’s spring here, but snow still lingers in the long shadows of the thickly clustered pines.
This early in the morning, my breath puffs as I trek across a frozen field where a few yellow wildflowers poke their heads up over the matted grass. I’m the only tourist crazy enough to be hiking so early in the season. I haven’t seen anyone on the trail. The mountains of northern Italy are technically the Alps, but the locals call them I Dolomiti. The hike I chose isn’t as challenging as the ones that would carry me up the tallest peak, but my thighs burn from the steady incline. It’s still better than swaying down a catwalk in five-inch heels and a weird poofy dress that left most of my back and butt uncovered. When I was a model, I’d do anything for fashion but no longer. This model has officially quit the circuit.
“I don’t understand,” my mother wailed when I called to tell her. “You were doing so well. You were making such great contacts.” In mom-speak, that meant I was meeting men. Rich men who’d love to have a model on their arm. The sort of man my mom hoped would sweep me off my feet and give me a diamond ring and marriage proposal or at least a diamond watch and an extended stay in his private penthouse. Maybe even a car and a few trips to the Riviera or Seychelles.
The type of man my mother always chased after.
I didn’t tell her that it was my date with exactly that kind of man that broke me. I was at another boring after-party on the arm of a short stock broker named Paul. Perfectly nice guy, but just because I’m a model and his head barely clears my shoulder doesn’t mean that he has the right to put his hand on my ass.
I’ve stomped across the meadow and up the trail that’s disappearing between the blue-gray pines before I realize I’m muttering under my breath. A bird trills on an evergreen branch above my head, and my rage disappears.
I take a moment to clear my lungs. The air is fresh and better than any expensive cologne. The water flowing from a mountain stream is pure snowmelt and probably tastes like heaven. Tiny purple flowers peek up from the cracks in the gray rocks, and the bird above my head warbles like his sex life depends on it.
I’m far from the fashion circuit in Milan. No more crowded events that overwhelm my senses. No more clashing auras or toxic energies leaving me with a headache, desperate to get away. No more handsy businessmen who treat me like a cigar–a possession, an indulgence, a prop.
No more sharing an apartment with six other half-starved young people whose daily food intake adds up to barely half a sandwich. The first thing I did after I told my agent I quit was eat a giant bowl of cheesy pasta.
Right now, my backpack is full of the best provisions: good cheese, a local red wine, and several packs of biscotti.
I may have disappointed my mother, but I feel better than I have in a year. Like a weight lifted off my chest.
It’s been almost three months since I quit and started wandering like a vagabond. I spent a little of my fashion week earnings on a pair of hiking boots and a backpack. The rest of my nest egg has gone to reserving the little mountain huts called rifugios and a nice rental near Lake Como where I stayed while waiting for the snow to melt.
The plan is to hike Alta Via 1 and beyond. Spend the summer in the mountains. And after that, who knows? I’m eighteen, and I can do anything. This spring is the start of my new life.
Fifteen minutes of climbing, and my thighs are shaking, but it’s all worth it when I round the corner and come across a magical mountain lake. The water is a brilliant teal, an ethereal color as bright and shocking as a Lilly Pullitzer jumper.
I can’t resist going to the edge and dipping my hand in, but instead of bracing cold, the water is warm as a freshly drawn bath. In the middle of the lake, steam’s rising off the surface.
Is this a hot spring? If so, my guidebook didn’t mention it.
I drop my jacket and my pack. Facing the clear pool, I feel extra grimy. I’m so tempted to strip everything off and jump in.
But I’m not alone.
There’s a man in the pool. His dark head is even with a rocky outcropping, which is why I didn’t see him before.
Once I see him, I can’t look away. He’s not swimming, but walking in the shallows. Water streams off his sculpted shoulders, lapping lovingly at his massive pectoral muscles. A few more steps towards the shore, and water flows away from his diamond-hard abs, cut and sculpted with the precision of a shower, not a grower. Except actually… He is a grower. Because the longer I stare at his cock, the bigger it gets. “Holy hell,” I mutter. This wild man in the wilderness with a beard like John the Baptist is making me hotter and wetter between my legs than I’ve ever been. Maybe I’m just in a dry spell.
USA Today Bestselling Author Renee Rose loves a dominant, dirty-talking alpha hero! She’s sold over a million copies of steamy romance with varying levels of kink. Her books have been featured in USA Today’s Happily Ever After and Popsugar. Named Eroticon USA’s Next Top Erotic Author in 2013, she has also won Spunky and Sassy’s Favorite Sci-Fi and Anthology author, and Romance Reviews Best Historical Romance. She’s hit the USA Today list ten times with her Chicago Bratva, Bad Boy Alpha, Wolf Ranch books, and various anthologies.
Lee Savino has grandiose goals but most days can’t find her wallet or her keys so she just stays at home and writes. While she was studying creative writing at Hollins University, her first manuscript won the Hollins Fiction Prize.
he lives in the USA with her awesome family You can find her on Facebook in the Goddess Group (which you totally should join).
