The last person on earth I want to be stranded with is Gianni Lupo.
But thanks to the blizzard of the century, I’m trapped in a roadside motel room with that cocky bastard for two straight days.
With one small bed.
Some women might thank Mother Nature for delivering a polar vortex that maroons them with six feet of solid muscle, those deep blue eyes, that sexy grin–but not me. I’ve known Gianni Lupo all my life, and he’s never brought me anything but bad luck and trouble.
So when the tension between us explodes with enough fiery heat to melt my icy defenses, I should have known what the disastrous end result would be–
A big fat plus sign.
After the snow melts, I’m left with more than just memories of the night we spent keeping each other warm. And he might be a rising star on the culinary scene, but he’s got no idea how to handle this bun in the oven.
He says he wants to do the right thing, but I’m not about to spend the rest of my life feeling like someone settled for me.
But just when I think I’ve got Gianni Lupo all figured out, he gives me a taste of the man he could be, of the family we could become, of the way he could love me if I let him.
I’m terrified of falling for him. But one taste might be all it takes.
USA Today bestselling author Melanie Harlow likes her martinis dry, her heels high, and her history with the naughty bits left in. When she’s not writing or reading, she gets her kicks from TV series like Ted Lasso, Schitt’s Creek, and Fleabag. She occasionally runs three miles, but only so she can have more gin and steak.
Melanie is the author of the BELLAMY CREEK series, the CLOVERLEIGH FARMS series, the ONE & ONLY series, AFTER WE FALL series, the HAPPY CRAZY LOVE series, and the FRENCHED series. She lifts her glass to romance readers and writers from her home near Detroit, MI, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and pet rabbit.
A missed opportunity five years ago makes for an unexpected encounter now between two people meant for each other – but who square off in a very public battle of wills in the small town of Love You, Maine, where every day is Valentine’s Day. Can love conquer all in a town steeped in it?
Kell Luview refuses to be a sucker at love again. Five years ago, he left D.C. with his tail between his legs and his heart broken. Fiercely protective of his small town in rural Maine, he’s determined to save the family tree business and avoid his feelings at all costs, no matter how much he longs to solve the mystery of what happened in D.C.
L.A. native Rachel Hart hates being underestimated almost as much as she hates this small town. She has two goals on this trip: get out of the cheesy tourist trap of Love You, Maine with a completed business deal, and avoid running into Kell, her old friend from D.C. who never became an old flame because of a huge misunderstanding.
One that still aches.
When her rental car breaks down on a logging road and Kell comes to her rescue, it’s clear he’s a changed man – and not for the good. Grumpy and reserved, he pushes all her buttons, still stubbornly convinced she betrayed him all those years ago. He’s never forgiven her, and she’s never forgiven herself for carrying a torch for him.
An embarrassing incident gets the town gossip mill going when residents wrongly assume Kell and Rachel are the newest couple to find love in the most romantic place on Earth. But the townsfolk aren’t wrong for long…
As Rachel breaks through his defenses and charms the town, he faces his biggest fear: all those pesky feelings he’s been avoiding.
Because they’re all about Rachel now.
And maybe they always were.
Can Kell and Rachel fight their growing attraction in the one place in the world where you can’t avoid love?
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men’s room toilet (and he isn’t a billionaire). She lives in New England with her husband and three sons in a household where the toilet seat is never, ever, down.
Laci V’s star is bright. The up-and-coming singer just released her new single and it’s climbing the country music charts. Her concerts are filling stadiums, and she’s soon to be nominated for a Grammy award. Laci’s quickly becoming a big-time celebrity. But after a storm rolls through one of her outdoor concerts, Laci wakes up in 1855.
Matthew finds a woman from the future in a field near his homestead. He helps her and takes her home with him, and she fascinates him with stories of inventions that haven’t happened yet. Her determination and grit eventually capture his heart. But this rugged, handsome frontiersman isn’t quite sure what to do with this beautiful time traveler.
As Laci gets to know Matthew, she falls in love with his kind and gentle ways, his fierce love for the land, and his indomitable pioneer spirit. While Matthew may be her perfect man, he doesn’t live in the century she wants to live in. Laci longs for the modern conveniences of the time period she came from, for the friends and family she left behind, and for her blossoming career. Matthew realizes that to show his love for Laci, he must let her go back to the time that she came from. Even though it will break his heart.
Will one man’s love span generations? Can love transcend the limits of time, of past and present—turning what seems impossible into something extraordinary?
Book 12 in the Connor Brothers series of small-town, clean, and wholesome romances. You’ll visit Connor’s Grove before it became a town and Minnesota before it became a state.
Matthew We head towards the creek where I found her. When we get there, she turns in the saddle, puts her hand to my cheek, and gazes at me with love in her eyes. Something takes over and I close the space left between us, pressing my mouth to hers. It’s a kiss that promises the beginning of forever. It takes my breath away. I’ve dreamed about kissing her for weeks—wondering if her lips are as soft as they look. They are. Her fingers thread through the hair at my nape and my arms wrap around her, drawing her even closer. She kisses me with a passion that she’s been hiding below the surface. I meet her passion with my full heart—our embrace leaves absolutely no doubt about how we feel about each other. This is my last chance to show her how much that I love her, and I don’t waste the opportunity. The wind swirling violently around us makes the kiss even more reckless and desperate. It’s as if the wind feels my heart shattering into a million pieces. After an eternity, she pulls back with a stunned look on her face. “Wow,” she murmurs as we gaze at each other, my arms still embracing her small body, never wanting to let go. “I wish you would have kissed me sooner.” Her voice wobbles and a lone tear tracks down her cheek. I wipe it off with my thumb. Would she have stayed if I kissed her sooner and let her know how I feel about her? I shake those thoughts from my head. Laci belongs in the twenty-first century, and no matter how much I love her, she won’t be happy here. Another clap of lightning makes us realize that if she’s going to do this, she needs to do it now. “You need to get to the spot where I found you!” The urgency in my voice is evident, but she rubs my cheek one last time as if she’s memorizing my face. I help her dismount near the place where I first saw her. When her feet hit the ground, she turns and looks up at me. “I love you!” she shouts. Her voice cracks and her lips tremble, raindrops roll down her face in a torrent and she tosses the wet hair out of her eyes. “Please come with me, Matthew,” she pleads, her voice rising with emotion. The wind howls and thunder reverberates around us. Rain pelts my skin as if it wants to inflict pain—mimicking the pain I’m going to feel when Laci’s gone. I yell to be heard over the roar, “I can’t go, Laci. My place is here.” She closes her eyes tightly for a few seconds and nods, then takes a few steps away from Sarge and me. My heart aches as I watch her—a tiny figure standing all alone in the vast field, just like when I found her. Laci’s long brown hair swirls around her, and tears stream down her face. She looks beautiful and fierce—a look of determination lights her eyes. My pioneer woman. A flash of lightning splits the sky. Sarge whinnies and takes a few nervous steps sideways. “Whoa, whoa,” I say as I pat his neck, calming him down. Laci is still standing in the field, that bolt of lightning not striking close enough yet to do any damage. She pulls something out of her pocket and tosses it to me. I lean over, stretching my arm out, and barely catch it between my fingertips. “That’s something to always remember me by,” she shouts. I turn over the delicate locket in my work-roughened hand, then tuck it into my pocket. “I’ll never forget you, Laci. Just like your song—I’ll love you forever.” Laci puts her hand over her heart. “I’ll love you forever too.” “Sing me your song, one more time.” A powerful urgency to listen to her beautiful voice and that haunting song one last time hits me. The need to hear her sing is as strong as the need to breathe. Though the winds still whirl furiously around us, the sound seems to dampen, as if even the storm itself wants to hear her song. Laci locks her eyes with mine, biting her lip, then starts singing. The words come out wobbly at first, but her voice gains strength as she lifts her voice above the storm and belts out the chorus. “Take me to Forever, With you . . .” The touching words of the refrain nearly get obliterated as thunder roars full force around us, I feel its vibration shake the ground. Suddenly, a bright flash overtakes my vision, accompanied by a deafening crack! I’m momentarily blinded and Sarge shifts nervously under me. I hold tightly to the reins so he doesn’t bolt. When my eyes adjust and I can make out the field again, Laci’s gone. . .
Leah Busboom wanted to become an author since the day she learned how to read! She specializes in the romance genre because she loves a great story with a happy ending. Her books are known for their heart warming stories, intriguing characters and hilarious real life situations that make you want to laugh out loud.
Leah currently lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband, her “Blue Bomber” bicycle and a hundred bunny rabbits that roam free in the neighborhood.
Leah has published several full length romance novel series: Chance on Love series (3 books) and Unlikely Catches series (3 books), which also includes her two holiday novellas – Unwrapping Sam’s Heart and Melting Nick’s Heart. She just published The Connor Brother series – a new Clean & Wholesome small town romance series. Books 1-12 are now available.
Everyone thinks I’m a good daughter. For eighteen years, I’ve played the part, swallowed my anger, and kept silent. My parents believe I’m crazy enough to marry that madman, Divo Talerico. They’re mistaken.
Behind the scenes, I’ve made plans, saved every penny, and prayed everything will fall into place. The night before my wedding, I make my escape and finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Then he appears. My father’s greatest rival, the wolf of Manhattan, Enzo Lupo, comes out of the shadows and kidnaps me.
He says he loves me but keeps me a captive in his gilded cage. He’s beautiful, ruthless and his kisses make me feel things I’ve never felt before. But I won’t run from one prison into another. I’ll bide my time, make him trust me, and run again.
No cage can hold me.
Enzo
Manhattan is mine. In this city’s underworld, everyone kneels to me. I’ve worked hard to build my reputation with bullets and blood, and yet, it’s never enough. Everywhere I look, people want to take what’s mine. I’ve devoted my life to building what my father started and keeping the power we’ve rightfully won. I spend so much time protecting my territory, I’ve given up the things we Sicilians cherish most, family.
My life is too dangerous to drag a good woman into my world, and I vowed long ago I wouldn’t show weakness to anyone.
Or so I thought.
No one is more off-limits than Gala Lombardo. She’s too young and meant for another man. But I can’t help myself. Those big blue eyes, sharp curves, and full cherry lips were placed in this world for me, and I’ll be damned if I let another man take what belongs to me.
In a moment of love and lunacy, I steal her away in the night and trigger a war that could ruin me for good. Bring it on. I’ll destroy my enemies and make Gala the Queen of Manhattan. With her by my side, I’ll rule the world.
She humiliated my kid brother, and that’s not allowed. Doesn’t matter that she’s just a college girl, or that half the time he’s such a little punk he probably deserved it. He is an Aslanov, as am I. This city, and everything of value within it, belongs to our family. To me.
I am Marat Antonovich Aslanov, firstborn of Anton Aslanov. Nothing has ever mattered more than showing the world I am even stronger than the man who fathered me and twice as ruthless in protecting what is ours. At least, that was what matters before Sage Peterson.
Finding her is easy. Taking her is simple. Allowing her to leave isn’t going to happen.
Sofia Romano has just been flown to Las Vegas via her father’s orders. She protested and demanded to stay in New York City; however, as always, her father won. Now, she’s stuck living with her grimy, sleazeball of an uncle– Uncle Tino. The man she despises most but just like everything else in her life, she doesn’t have a say in the world.
Antonio Berlusconi owns Las Vegas. There isn’t a single thing that happens in his city that he doesn’t know about. That’s how he knows the rat, Tino Romano just had a special delivery. A niece. And she’s the perfect leverage to use against Tino by kidnapping her and making Tino sign over his rights to the biggest casino in Vegas. Simple enough. Right?
Just one problem, what do you do when the leverage is a green-eyed spitfire, who you crave like there’s no tomorrow and couldn’t harm a hair on her head even if you tried? You make her yours at any and all cost.
I took her because I had to have her. After meeting her by chance, I followed her until I could take her. It may have been wrong but I don’t care. She’s mine and she’ll love me, or else. When someone tries to take her away from me, I’ll burn the world down to get her back.
Lorielle Benefiel
I don’t know where I am, but I know this isn’t going to be good. I can hear things, things that scare me but I refuse to show my fear. Then he shows himself to me and I can’t help what I feel in my heart and between my thighs. I didn’t expect to fall for my captor but I did. Some say it’s Stockholm Syndrome, but they don’t know us. Then it happens again, I must be a magnet or something, but I know Sean will find me no matter what.
Captivated by their captives, these made men only answer to the women they love.
Dangerous bad boys, thrilling suspense, and passion worth dying for.
These possessive men will break all the rules to claim the women who have stolen their hearts.
If you love boundary-pushing men who are sexy, scintillating, and seriously dangerous, this is the series for you.
Veterinarian Neal Rodgers is in Wander Canyon seeking the truth about his past—not to rescue a litter of kittens under his next-door neighbor’s porch. But persistent single-mom Tessa Kennedy is impossible to ignore—especially when she uncovers a family secret of her own. Discovering the hidden facts of their histories could be the key to unlocking everything in this small town.
“Um…hello?” the man said with an irritated yawn, running a hand through his dark hair. It ought to be illegal that a man could look like that straight off the pillow. Tessa needed at least twenty minutes—and two cups of coffee—to look human. That meant she probably was a rather shocking sight, but emergencies were emergencies. “Can I help you?”
“I’m your neighbor. I live right here.” She tilted her head back toward the house, alarmed to find a tuft of grass fall out of her hair from her trek under the porch.
“Hello,” he said again, clearly trying to make sense of why Wander Canyon residents roused their new neighbors at unreasonable hours.
“I think I have a veterinary emergency under my deck, and Valerie mentioned you.” Suddenly she was embarrassed to know such facts about the man, but Valerie had given her a quick heads-up on the man who would be her neighbor for the next month. “Could you…um…? Do you think you could come take a look?”
“Was she really hearing desperate little mews behind her, or just imagining them? “Wander Canyon doesn’t have a vet who’s answering his phone at the moment, no.”
An avid knitter, coffee junkie and firm believer that “pie makes everything better,” Allie Pleiter writes both fiction and non-fiction working on as many as four novels at a time. The bestselling author of over fifty books, Allie has enjoyed a twenty-year career with over 1.5 million books sold. In addition to writing, Allie maintains an active writing productivity coaching practice and speaks regularly on the creative process, publishing, and her very favorite topic—The Chunky Method of time management for writers. Visit her website at www.alliepleiter.com to learn more.
One winner will receive a signed True Large Print copy of Secrets of Their Past by Allie Pleiter, a wool shawl hand-knit by the author, and a 3oz bottle of Apple Harvest body lotion (US only) One winner will receive an ebook of Secrets of Their Past by Allie Pleiter (International)
I was only three the first time I lost someone I loved. And I was thirteen when my world shattered beyond repair. Thrown into a nightmare—desperately trying to pick up the broken pieces of the girl I was before.
Escaping the demons of my past, I’m ready to disappear for good. But before I go, I want one
more glimpse of the man who unknowingly gave me the strength to live.
Except the pain I see hidden behind his cold eyes pulls me in so far I can’t leave.
I can’t stop watching—waiting for the obsession that binds me to him to be severed.
Until I get caught.
Sebastian Reed doesn’t know who I am.
But when he finds out I hold the answer to the question that’s been slowly destroying him, he
will do anything to get at the truth.
Even making a deal.
Except I didn’t expect him to keep me in his penthouse until he gets what he’s owed.
Sebastian has the power to cut me deeper than any of the scars marring my body.
But the more time we spend together, the deeper desire burns between us, and the harder it is to remember why I have to leave.
What should have been my downfall might be the only thing that can save me.
My chest aches, the pain leaking through the cracks that have already formed around my heart. I don’t know why she affects me so much or why I can see her dark blue eyes so clearly when mine are shut. Regardless of how long I’ve known her, I shouldn’t feel like this.
Shadow stands a few steps away, staring off at something. I follow his line of sight, but there’s nothing there. He looks at me again, then focuses back on the empty space with only the large windows and closed balcony door separating us from the cold night.
My gaze lingers on the sliding door, and that sensation of being pulled towards something, someone, reignites inside me. I glance at Shadow again and start to move towards the door. My steps are slow and measured, belying the pounding of my heart and the whiskey flowing through my veins. I stop in front of the glass door but make no move to open it while I strain my eyes through the darkness, lit dimly by the lights of the surrounding city.
There.
A small figure is curled up on one of the chairs, a blanket wrapped around their body. Grace’s head is titled back to the midnight sky. I can’t tell if her eyes are open, but I imagine they are.
It’s not a full moon tonight, but as the clouds shift, allowing it to shine brighter, my focus is torn. It’s been so long since I allowed myself to sit under the glow, letting my worries cower under her light.
There was a time, in the cold and dark when my only guardian was the moon in the sky. Without her, I’m sure the shadows would have consumed me long ago.
Grace tilts her head towards the opening in the clouds, and the shift allows the glow to illuminate part of her face. I suck in a breath at the raw emotion in her expression. She looks so young and lost.
This is what I wanted. To see underneath. Except now, I feel like an intruder—someone not worthy of something so significant, but I can’t make myself leave.
I raise my palm to the cool glass, but even though every fibre of my being wants to open this door and pull her into my arms, I don’t.
I can’t.
She opened up to me, and I took advantage. I took what I wanted, then left her there because I couldn’t deal with my own messed-up head. But as the moon shines down on her, revealing her bare truths, I consider that maybe now the night sky isn’t the only place I can find light in the darkness.
Pitted against one another, with the people and country they love in jeopardy, the daughter of a deserter and the son of the king have a chance to fulfill their forebears’ legacy—or destroy it entirely.
Twisted monsters called saja lurk in the shadows of the mountains. Rumors say the Fidelis, human wielders of an ancient elemental magic, again walk the plains. Not all in Avaron believe, and not all welcome the return of legend.
Kura’s a skeptic. But, she’ll cross and befriend centaurs, talking animals, and worse to save her family after the rebellion mistakes her for the land’s prophesied savior. And, while he’d rather negotiate with rebels than fight them, Triston can’t ignore prophecy. That was the sham his father used to steal the crown in the first place.
Over a century ago, their ancestors sailed the oceans in search of peace and died as heroes fighting for it. But heroes—and villains—aren’t always what they seem to be.
Inspired by Brandon Sanderson’s grounded characters and JRR Tolkien’s sense of wonder, Fire of the Forebears is a fantasy for fans who think a dual perspective adventure about the fate of one nation might still be pretty epic.
The sunrise cast a sickly yellow glow over the city, bringing light to a scene of carnage better left in darkness. Triston stood in the center, droplets of rain cascading down his cloak, and grimaced as he surveyed the billowing tendrils of smoke and steam that emanated from the charred clearing. It was a bitter dawn—one he’d been dreading.
Twelve. There were twelve men unaccounted for after the last night’s battle.
So far they’d found seven, all of whom had died within the city after it’d been breached. Now, with the first of the morning light, Triston picked his way east of Tarr Fianin’s walls—or, more accurately, what remained of the walls. Several townsfolk were already attempting to replace the damaged logs, and they sent embittered glances in Triston’s direction. At the moment, he didn’t care.
Carcasses, stiff from death’s embrace, littered the clearing. A few were men—far fewer than Triston had first believed. During the battle he’d been unable to tell, but now he saw plainly the faces of his enemies: they were monsters, beasts that walked like men but wore the faces of animals. Perhaps this was clearest in death, their features twisted into unnerving snarls, their fur splattered in blood and matted by the rain.
He hadn’t believed it before, but he knew it now: the Wynshire was a dangerous place, and they never should have come.
Among the drab garb of the dead there shone a patch of bright red—a soldier’s cloak, the color undampened by the rain. Triston crossed the field to kneel at the dead man’s side. It was Mory, face pale, lifeless eyes staring up at the sunrise. Triston carefully pulled the man’s wet cloak over his body.
“Triston.” Seren’s voice broke the stillness. He maneuvered around the debris like a mother crossing a cluttered playroom to tell her child to pick up his toys. “I thought I would find you here.”
The anger that had been brewing in Triston’s chest threatened to boil over, and he clenched his teeth as he rose to his feet. He didn’t want a conversation, not now and not from him.
“Come on,” Seren said gently. “You can let the captains do this.”
Triston closed his fist around the sword hilt at his side. Of course Seren would say that; a strategist delegated the burden while a military man shouldered it. “How do you explain these?” He motioned toward one of the dead creatures as he looked Seren in the eye. “Is it saja? Not seen in Avaron for generations?”
“They’re not saja.” Seren’s apparent confidence set Triston’s teeth on edge. “They’re dangerous, though. And worse yet multiply in Lovaria even as we—”
“Stop. Just… stop.” Triston shook his head, and he couldn’t help but stare at the red cloak covering Mory’s body by his feet.
“It’s not your fault.”
Triston laughed bitterly. “Not my fault? What did I tell you yesterday? I said these towns were unpredictable. I said we needed more men.”
“And you were right.” Seren’s tone was somewhere between consoling and placating. “I should have listened. But I still outrank you: the siege was my decision.”
“But it was the wrong decision, and I knew it. I shouldn’t have let my men follow you.”
Seren’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What do you mean to suggest?”
Triston sighed. Did I really just say that? He ran his fingers through his wet hair. Yes, he’d said it. And he didn’t want to take it back. “I don’t know what I mean.”
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men’s room toilet (and he isn’t a billionaire). She lives in New England with her husband and three sons in a household where the toilet seat is never, ever, down.
Title: Butterfly Sisters Author: Jenny Hale Genre: Contemporary Fiction
“When emerging from its cocoon, a butterfly needs the struggle to push the fluid from its body into its wings. So essentially, without the struggle, it never flies.”
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Beach House comes a story about family bonds, second chances, and finding out who we really are. Butterfly Sisters is the perfect escape for fans of Susan Wiggs, RaeAnne Thayne, and Susan Mallery.
About to land her biggest deal yet, Leigh Henderson is on her game. She’s prepared for this, and nothing can get in her way. Except Rebecca Mayer, who’d sashayed in a few weeks ago with a former client list that would fill the entire hallway to Leigh’s office if she laid it out end to end. When her boss unexpectedly offers the deal to Rebecca and tells Leigh he’s letting her go, Leigh finds herself without a job.
But that’s the least of her worries.
Her mother has some news that will change everything. She’s asked Leigh and her sister Meredith to meet her at the family cabin on Old Hickory Lake. Not only has Leigh been unable to pin her sister down in years, but going back to the cabin would mean dealing with the loss of her beloved grandmother and also chance running into her old flame Colton Harris, the one love she’s never been able to completely let go of.
Will confronting her grief, speaking to her estranged sister, and being forced to face the love she’d left behind help Leigh to learn who she really is?
A heartwarming story that will have you laughing, crying, and rushing to those you hold dear.If you loved the Christmas movies based on Jenny’s books and are looking for more feel-good, small-town romance, look no further!
There was only one what-if in Leigh Henderson’s life. She didn’t think about it often, because when she let it into her consciousness, it swarmed her: the lost opportunity for a totally different life.
It had been the spring of her senior year in high school. She was hardly old enough to make her own decisions then, let alone to know what was right in front of her. The weather had turned considerably warm that year, the springtime rushing in with summer flare, temperatures in the eighties sending all her friends running for the Gulf Coast beaches of Seaside and Watercolor for spring break, but Leigh had chosen to spend the week at her grandmother’s cabin on Old Hickory Lake—her favorite place in the world. She spent every summer and holiday at the lake house with her grandmother.
No matter how hard her schoolwork or whatever she might be going through with her sister Meredith (and they were always going through something), her nan could always help her to see a different perspective. That year, Leigh knew she would be saying goodbye to a side of herself that she wasn’t sure she was ready to give up, and she’d needed the comfort of Nan and the cabin to soften the blow.
Taking full advantage of the spike in temperature, Leigh’s bare feet hung off the edge of the dock, her pink toenails dipping under the cold lapping water below her. She leaned back and turned her freshly bronzed face to the sun, her locks of golden hair puddling on the dock at her back, her fingers spread out on the old wood, taking in the final moments of her youth.
A long, slow whistle caught her ear, sending her reaching for her towel to cover last year’s pink bikini that tied at her hips and behind her neck. She twisted around to find Colton Harris walking toward her—no shoes, no shirt, wide smile. She rolled her eyes to stifle the flutter in her stomach that she got whenever he was around. She twisted toward him, taking in the smooth gait of his walk, the olive bare chest, and the square of his jaw, a pang hitting her right in the gut.
“Whatcha doin’?” he asked, plopping down beside her, those dark-brown eyes with gold flecks sparkling as he took her in.
She set the towel back down beside her on the dock.
“It’s Sunday. Don’t you have to pack to go back home?”
Leigh sighed. “I don’t want to,” she replied honestly, turning her gaze to the broad lake in front of her. If she looked at Colton too long, she might change her mind about leaving.
Jenny Hale is a USA Today, Amazon, and international bestselling author of romantic contemporary fiction. Her books have sold worldwide, have been translated into multiple languages, and adapted for television. Her novels Coming Home for Christmas and Movie Guide Epiphany Award winner Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses are Hallmark Channel original movies.
She was included in Oprah Magazine’s “19 Dreamy Summer Romances to Whisk You Away” and Southern Living’s “30 Christmas Novels to Start Reading Now.” Her stories are chock-full of feel-good romance and overflowing with warm settings, great friends, and family. Jenny is at work on her next novel, delighted to be bringing even more heartwarming stories to her readers.
When she isn’t writing, or heading up her romantic fiction imprint Harpeth Road, she can be found running around her hometown of Nashville with her husband, two boys, and their labradoodle, taking pictures—her favorite pastime.
My whole life is one tangled lie. A horrible deception. All my past choices steered by the woman who hunts me without pause.
She’s powerful, vicious, and cruel, feared by the entire supernatural community. She’s also an immortal. Yeah, she can’t be killed—supposedly. Nothing like an insurmountable challenge, right?
I’ve trained for years to defeat any opponent, and this time, I have my mate Bruno, my sister, my pack, and a pair of strange mages at my side, ready to go down fighting with me.
My enemy might be invincible, but that won’t stop us from doing everything we can to take her down. Better to live in a world without her in it than to keep going when she’s controlled everything I’ve ever done. Either way, I’ll secure my freedom.
With nothing to lose, and everything to gain, I will find the way to kill her before she ends me. With magic, the impossible is never quite what it seems.
* The Rocky Mountain Pack series is gritty, sexy, and action-packed urban fantasy paranormal shifter romance.
* Wolf Destinies is a full-length novel recommended for mature readers due to language, sexual situations, and graphic fighting scenes.
Clove was rushing all her words together as if they’d been bottled up, desperate to break free: “Cassia is an immortal. A fucking immortal who can do all sorts of scary shit. Ni told me Cassia actually exploded a vamp. Blew him the fuck up. And that was a master vamp. And she can fly. I mean, what the hell’re Ni and Mei supposed to do about a crazy-ass bitch who has no heart and can fucking fly?”
Bruno’s cheek twitched; he didn’t think that had ever happened before. He trained his focus on Naya and Mei as they danced around the ring, so equal in skill that they had to work harder to find an opening for a strike that might actually make a difference.
For a few moments, he pretended Clove’s concerns didn’t pierce him straight in the heart.
Then he spun on her, jaw clenched tightly, until he whisper-shouted at her, “Don’t you think I know all that? I can’t sleep or eat, and whenever I manage to do either it’s only because I’m forcing myself to so I can be strong for her. Mierda, Clove. I know, I know, I know all that. I’ve been all but begging her not to do it.”
Lucía Ashta is the Amazon top 20 bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal women’s fiction filled with wild magic, spicy romance, and quirky characters that make you snort-laugh.
A former attorney and architect, she’s an Argentinian-American who lives in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains with her husband and daughters.
For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame.
Then, we died on their swords.
All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There’s no choice but to flee everything I’ve ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.
Now, they’ll claim what’s theirs.
But before they capture me, Caelum saves me from the Wild Hunt. Fae-marked and on the run, he is able to fight back in ways I only dream of. From tentative alliance to all-consuming passion, our bond strengthens as the fae close in and evil lurks ever nearer. With my life on the line, he is everything I shouldn’t dare to want and a distraction I can’t afford. I can’t seem to stay away, not even with something greater on the line.
My heart.
Author’s Note: This book is intended for readers who are 18 and older. It contains mature language, graphic violence, and explicit content with darker elements. This is book one in a series and ends in a cliffhanger.
He sighed, leaning in until his breath touched my cheek. True to his word, he didn’t touch me, keeping a thin layer of distance between us as I turned my head to look at him. My hair slipped out of his hands, my lips hovering so close to his, if I moved in the wrong way, they would touch.
Caelum’s stare drifted down to my mouth, lingering there before those piercing dark eyes lifted back to mine. “It was as bad as you can imagine.” His words hovered on the air between us as a wall cracked inside my heart.
Not all scars were visible.
“But it taught me one thing,” he said, reaching out to tuck my hair behind my ear and smooth the tangles on the side of my head. “No matter what my future looks like, nothing will keep me away from the woman I love. Not even death will keep me from her.”
I cleared my throat, suddenly overcome with the need to retreat from the intensity of his words. Even barely knowing him, the thought of him one day having that with someone else filled my chest with lead.
With heartache I hadn’t earned.
What difference did it make to me if he touched another woman with those gentle fingers that so often stroked my skin? If his breath washed over another woman’s cheek while he murmured in her ear? If he tore another woman in two with his monumental cock?
It didn’t. It couldn’t.
“She’ll be a lucky woman,” I said, running my hand through my hair as he finished with the tangles. My fingers were pruney, my toes tender as they scraped the bottom of the hot spring.
“I hope she sees it that way,” he said, shrugging his shoulders with a smile. As if he knew he was both impossible to deny and impossible to tolerate, all in the same breath.
“I should get out. Do you mind?” I asked, smiling sheepishly as he stepped away. He turned his back to me where he stood in the middle of the pool, leaving me to heave myself out of the water and onto the edge of the spring.
The sudden burst of cool breeze pebbled my skin, everything in my body going still in response. I turned to look over my shoulder, finding Caelum’s tense face staring back at me. His gaze wasn’t on mine, instead fixated on my naked flesh and the scars covering my back in thick white lines.
When his eyes raised to mine finally, the menace in them stole the breath from my lungs. His jaw clenched, his nostrils flaring, as he took that first step toward me. Water sloshed at his sides as he prowled through the hot spring with a look of pure rage etched into his handsome features. I scrambled, gathering my dress in my hands and covering my body with it as I spun to face him, tearing the sight of my scars away from him and hoping I could somehow defuse the situation and calm the monster that seemed to rattle at the cage of Caelum’s skin.
He placed his hands on the stone edge of the spring and, with an animalistic grace I would never hope to achieve lifted his nude body out of the water and unfolded to his full height. Through the steam, his dark eyes glimmered with the promise of violence and retribution. “What the fuck are those?” he growled, something darker echoing in his voice.
As if he was truly part beast, his rage made him vibrate as he stalked toward me. The Fae Mark on his neck glowed with his anger, the black and white swirls of ink pulsing in time with his steps.
I wondered if the Mark stole our humanity, if it made us more feral, like the Fae who claimed us.
“It’s nothing,” I said, swallowing and forcing a lame smile to my face. Shame heated my cheeks, leaving me wanting nothing more than to pretend the last few moments had never happened. That he’d never seen the consequences for my disobedience as a girl.
“That is not nothing.” He crossed the remaining distance between us, his eyes gleaming with a predatory light. All thoughts of his promise not to touch me until I begged for it forgotten, I backed away from him in a panic. Clutching my dress to my body, I shielded myself from his view when he was lost to the anger that danced in his face.
My back struck the rock carvings on the side of the mountain, the stone figures of the Old Gods digging into my spine as Caelum pressed his body flush against the front of mine. His forearm curved above my head, resting against the rock above me as he leaned down and surrounded me.
“Caelum,” I whispered, watching as the first snow of the season fell behind him as white flecks against the fading light of the evening sky.
“Who the fuck hurt you?” he growled, his chest rumbling in front of my face as I stared up into his obsidian eyes. Something shifted on his face, a rage like I’d never seen taking over as he gritted his teeth when I didn’t give him the answer he demanded. “Who?”
“I was a difficult child,” I said, shaking my head to try to justify what I knew now had been just another way of the lord grooming me to become what he wanted. “Always getting into trouble. Playing with the boys instead of sewing with the girls. Lord Byron thought it would force me to behave more appropriately for a young lady.”
“Is he still breathing?” Caelum asked, tilting his head to the side slightly as he stared down at me.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, swallowing against the dread threatening to close my airway. “I fled Mistfell when the Veil shattered. It was the only way to survive.”
Caelum grasped my chin between two fingers and tipped my head up, dropping his face lower until his mouth was only a breath away from mine when he spoke the vow I didn’t doubt he had every intention of keeping. “He won’t be for long.”
I swallowed, unable to come up with any kind of response in the face of his wrath. No one in their right mind would threaten to kill a Lord for disciplining a girl.
“He will suffer for every mark on your skin, every moment he frightened you, every tear you shed, before I finally put him out of his misery.” He leaned forward, brushing his lips against the corner of my mouth. Not quite a kiss, not quite not. Everything in me tightened, the fear of the moment dissipating as I shifted with sudden desire to feel that full mouth on mine.
He stared down, as if he knew exactly what pulsed through my mind, how the thought of him murdering my tormentor turned me on just as much of the feel of him hard against my belly.
