A summer job. That's all it was supposed to be. It never crossed my mind that I was about to collide with a man who would obliterate every plan I ever made. My mother has always warned me that love is like a lightning bolt and it strikes without warning. But I had no intention of getting struck by either lightning or love anytime soon. I'd be too busy finishing my journalism degree and landing a job in a city far more sophisticated than Phoenix. There was certainly nothing in the cards about getting involved with an ex-ballplayer turned nightclub boss.

I thought I was lucky to have a fresh start. Those don’t come around often for a girl from the streets of this city. But a fortunate chain of events has delivered me to the center of wealth and power and into the midst of three very different, very formidable cousins with the world at their feet. Gage, Micah, and Conner were determined to be my enemies. So I braced for a war. But they underestimated me. I earned respect from one of them, friendship from another, and I found love with the third. Or so I thought.

A long time ago, in a small town I've tried to forget...I married the charismatic all-American king of high school. He was sexy and charming. I was shy and infatuated. We were both 18. Of course we did not live happily ever after. We did the opposite. You thought that was the end? So did I. Seven years later and without warning, Branson Hickey is back in my life. Many things have changed and a few things haven't. I still want him. I still can't stand him. I still think about him all the time, even after everything we did to each other.

It was supposed to be the best day of my life. But the second I got up, things started to fall apart. The kitchen just caught on fire. Flowers were from a funeral. My bride-to-be just had an allergic reaction, leaving by ambulance. Oh, and my ex-girlfriend just walked into the church. They say you have to see the signs when they are right in front of you. Maybe she was just mine to have.

This is not a simple story. This is not even just one story. There’s a boy, and there’s a girl. But there’s so much more than that. I was going home. Not forever; only long enough to watch my eternally irresponsible father marry a girl who happened to be my childhood enemy. There were no plans to embark on some crazy sex odyssey with a wild 19-year old baseball player. Easton Malone is insufferable, crude, and far too close. The hot, reckless days we shared should never have happened. I would forget him.

No one would say that our story is pretty. But we were in love before we hated each other. And we were friends long before that. Growing up, I saw Jace Zielinski every day. He lived next door. I cheered him on at football games. I gave him advice on girls. He was my brother’s best friend, and the three of us were inseparable. I didn’t realize I’d already fallen for Jace until we kissed for the first time. Our magical season felt like destiny. And then came the disaster that tore us all to shreds. I lost Jace. I lost my brother. In many ways I lost myself.

Pine River was supposed to be a new start for me. And it was, especially attending school with my three overprotective cousins, who were the triplets at the top of the social hierarchy. Except they weren’t alone there, and the first day when I came to school, I saw him. Scout Raiden. Tall. Lean. Tattooed. Mesmerizing. He was a golden god with dark and piercing eyes—looking like he wanted to eat me up. The feeling was mutual, and that was a problem.

I hate Dante Moretti. He is cold, calculating, and vicious. It’s no secret that he wiped out his former fiancée and her entire family on the eve of their wedding. He’s the kind of evil that makes even devils cry. But that’s not why I hate him.

Jamie is proud of everything he’s achieved. A consultant anesthetist and the medical education director - he’s a pretty big deal. So when one of his medical students falls asleep, right in the middle of a tutorial, he is furious. He’s a bloody good teacher, damn it! Maybe he could have been a little more understanding. Maybe he didn’t have to try to humiliate her. But the shock of how beautiful this particular student was when she finally opened her eyes, and his inappropriate reaction, only fueled his anger.

Life as I knew it ended with a bullet. It stole my brother from me and destroyed my family. From the ashes, I rose stronger and meaner, to exact the kind of revenge best served bloody and cold. I took out every single person I held responsible. Except one. He’s a phantom but his days are numbered. I won’t stop until I’m done. Then she shows up—the forbidden fruit, a light to my darkness. I should resist her because what I touch, I destroy. My feisty wildflower deserves more: more than this, more than me.

They say there are three things you should do at least once in your life: Dance like nobody’s watching. Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me.

Running away from home at 17 wasn't easy. Let's face it, though, nothing before or in the ten years since has ever been easy for me. And I'm doing okay—sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people's way, off people's minds. When a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home and my life, I should be scared, frightened, terrified. I must be more broken than I realized because I'm none of those things. I'm intrigued—and I'm wondering if the way to take control of my life is by giving in to him.

I was the girl no one looked at twice. Until they saw me. My whole life, no one has had my back. My parents are dead, my adoptive mother is a drug addict, and the mean girls on campus mock me for my scars. So when I end up desperate for money and out of options, I agree to sell the one thing I have left: my innocence. On the night I’m meant to give my body to a brutal Russian mobster, three men storm into the room like dark shadows and kill him before he can claim me. When they drag me from the blood-soaked bed, I’m certain they’re going to kill me too.

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand. Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid.

Bastian Bishop. That’s his name. He’s rough, rugged, and utterly unpredictable. He’s not cautious or contemplative. He’s a volcano. Silent and steady one second, and a nightmare in the next. But that’s not the worst of it. This guy? He’s an outsider, and in my world outsiders don’t belong.

No one would say that our story is pretty. But we were in love before we hated each other. And we were friends long before that. Growing up, I saw Jace Zielinski every day. He lived next door. I cheered him on at football games. I gave him advice on girls. He was my brother’s best friend, and the three of us were inseparable. I didn’t realize I’d already fallen for Jace until we kissed for the first time. Our magical season felt like destiny. And then came the disaster that tore us all to shreds. I lost Jace. I lost my brother. In many ways I lost myself.

A summer job. That's all it was supposed to be. It never crossed my mind that I was about to collide with a man who would obliterate every plan I ever made. My mother has always warned me that love is like a lightning bolt and it strikes without warning. But I had no intention of getting struck by either lightning or love anytime soon. I'd be too busy finishing my journalism degree and landing a job in a city far more sophisticated than Phoenix. There was certainly nothing in the cards about getting involved with an ex-ballplayer turned nightclub boss.

Still reeling from a nasty divorce, Melanie Cruz's pride takes another beating when she loses her enviable job at an upscale resort. After a flurry of unsuccessful interviews, she finally - desperately - accepts a job managing a small chain of family-owned pizzerias in a quaint downtown Phoenix neighborhood. The job also comes with Dominic Esposito, her overbearing but ridiculously handsome boss. Falling for him might be the last thing she expects, but maybe it's the one thing she needs.

Sofia knows how it feels to be the consolation prize. Too young. Not blond. And definitely not an ice princess. Her sister is—was—all those things. Perfection. Until she wasn’t. Until she ran off to be with the enemy and left her fiancé behind. Now Sofia is given to Danilo in her sister’s stead, knowing she’ll never be more than second best. Yet, she can’t stop longing for the love of the man she’s been crushing on even when he was still her sister’s.

My name is Nova Stone and I was a ghost in my own life until a knock at the door changed my whole world. Applying for guardianship of my infant half-brother was a no brainer, even if I hadn't known he existed. But that was before I met his uncles; two pro ice hockey players, and a CEO. They wanted to take Huey home with them and they were willing to pay me millions of dollars for the privilege. When that didn't work, they managed to convince me that it would be better for my brother–and for me–if I moved into their Ann Arbor mansion.

I met Colt Malene when I was fourteen years old...and I never recovered. He became the headstrong star quarterback in a town that idolized high school football titles. Meanwhile, I was the coach’s dutiful perfectionist daughter, never daring to step out of line. We should have stayed far away from each other, but we didn’t, and the volatile fallout was unbearable. More than a decade has passed and my father is now dying. He wants to make amends. He wants to be forgiven for the role he played in Colt’s ruinous downfall. To give a dying man some peace, Colt and I agree to a plan.

I think I always knew I was going to die young. Like I had this… silent, invisible clock ticking down to my final moments plastered above my head. Maybe that’s why I was so reckless, crazy. Why I sought after adventure. Why nothing scared me… Except, there was always this… feeling I couldn’t shake that something was in the darkest parts of every corner, under every bed, closet, or room, like a ghost watching me. Waiting to take me. My own, personal reaper. But it was always only during a lightning storm that I could see the outline of my reaper. No scythe.

Riggs “Chappy” Chapman didn’t expect to be disrupted at his remote cabin in the woods. But when a stray dog arrives on his porch, he winds up finding a stray woman, too, trudging through the snowstorm in search of shelter. His military days may be behind him, but Chappy is hardwired to protect her from the storm and whatever it is she’s running from.

I thought I was lucky to have a fresh start. Those don’t come around often for a girl from the streets of this city. But a fortunate chain of events has delivered me to the center of wealth and power and into the midst of three very different, very formidable cousins with the world at their feet. Gage, Micah, and Conner were determined to be my enemies. So I braced for a war. But they underestimated me. I earned respect from one of them, friendship from another, and I found love with the third. Or so I thought.

After getting tangled up in Carnage business, it isn’t long before I'm tangled up in their sheets. They see is my blonde hair and sweet smile, and they want to dirty me up a little. I'm a splash of pink within the leather-clad army, standing out like a tampon in a condom factory. But it’s not my fault they underestimated me. I might like girly things, but I’m much more likely to spray you with bullets then sprinkle you with glitter. I could just tell them they have me labeled all wrong...but where’s the fun in that?