American Short Fiction

A Steamy BWWM, Close Proximity Instalove Romance Angela: I never expected to catch the eye of a man like him—a heartbreakin' male escort watching me from across the street like I was his next meal. But the more I tried to fight it, the harder it became to ignore the way he pulled me in—was I about to fall into temptation or should I keep my distance? Angel: She didn’t know I watched her—day after day, night after night—from my balcony, like she was made just for me. My own private little show. I was a paid lover with a cold heart, but the shy, beautiful woman across the street had...

Knight Miller and Exotic Wright aren’t strangers to one another. After being in LA for ten years Exotic decides to come home just in time for Christmas. What she didn’t expect was to run into the one and only, Knight Miller. He had grown into a sexy man who had her thinking of explicit Christmas Pleasures. ​When Knight lays eyes on Exotic after ten long years the night before Christmas at a crowded downtown bar, he knows he has to have her. After a few drinks and small talk the two embark on a world of pleasure that will leave them both yearning for more. Secrets and drama swarm ...

“CHILLING HISTORICAL HORROR” “Wildly imaginative” A delicious mix of history, horror, and love. Three early American gothic tales, including America’s last witch trial in 1730, the birth of the Jersey Devil in 1735, and the true origin of the Headless Horseman in 1776. In 1730 Ben Franklin published a story about a witch trial in Mount Holly, in The Pennsylvania Gazette. But did he tell the complete story, or was it a coverup of more sinister and frightening events? Emmet, an aspiring reporter, takes his first assignment for Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette and travels to New ...

On the outside looking in JayCee had what everyone would call the great life. She had a great career as head chef of a five-star restaurant until she met her now husband Sage. He filled her head up with broken promises making her believe that everything was going to be okay. The minute the ink dried on their wedding papers Sage turned into someone completely different. JayCee didn’t know what to expect. She gave her all to try and make her marriage work, but it seems as the years went by the harder it became to be his wife. Trauma after trauma life became hard for JayCee to bear, not even...

In his introduction, guest editor S. A. Cosby observes that writing short stories is “a special skill that combines brevity with wit and cleverness and the hint of the existential malaise that imbues crime fiction with its gravitas.” The stories in this collection overflow with gravitas in the most unexpected ways: a cryptic note left on a windshield, a murder for hire meets a game of Mouse Trap, a swipe right on a dating app goes horribly wrong.

"Dizzy & Gillespie" unfolds as an emotionally rich mystery, intertwining the lives of a devoted daughter and her aging mother. Within their once-grand, now-fading New York City apartment, they face the relentless challenges of poverty, the encroaching tides of gentrification, and the relentless passage of time. Their bond, tested by life's struggles and their community's transformation, finds a glimmer of hope with the arrival of two rescue kittens, Dizzy and Gillespie. However, the actions of a new neighbor soon set off a chain of events that will alter their lives forever. This story ...

A special Christmas Collection of delightful old West romance stories all in one binge-worthy collection. A Tin Star for Christmas - A temporarily blinded sheriff! A woman secretly in love! Both set to marry someone else. Can this Christmas get any worse? Candy Cane Christmas - A grieving sibling, a man without hope and two orphans that bring them together. Viola - Angel Creek Christmas Brides - A Southern Belle looking for peace after the war - An outlaw turned rancher, determined to start over - Can two people from opposite worlds find happiness together in Angel Creek this Christmas? ...

Milo is a free spirit that does what he wants and can have who he wants. But he wants to start a life with Bailey and she's not ready. He doesn't understand why he can't have her but he'll find out one way or another. Bailey is young and full of life. The twinkle of everyone's eye especially the love of her life, Milo. But she keeps many secrets that are slowly killing her. She needs to rid herself of her demons before it's too late. Kierra is Bailey's best friend and a single mother who just wants to come up by any means necessary. But all money isn't good money and she knows this. Will ...

In this mind blowing, cliff hanging trilogy of never ending drama; Melissa, August, Mike, Chantel and the rest of the crew are faced with some life threatening situation. There are going to be times where they will all have to even look each other to see who’s being loyal or not. The past is coming back for them and they don't know who’s behind all of the crazy incidents that's been happening. With the new birth of baby Autumn all Melissa wants to do is focus on creating a new beginning for her family. One call to August phone changed everything.Will they all start dropping like flies? ...

In a town struggling to survive, can love bring two people together? At the tender age of eight, Christmas Macy’s life takes a dramatic turn when her parents suddenly die. She’s forced to live in an orphanage near Denver, Colorado, with a woman who doesn’t take kindly to children, and most definitely not to Christmas. Now in her twenties, Christmas is heartbroken. The place she’s called home for over fourteen years is being stripped away, along with her best friend. She travels to the drought-ridden town, not knowing what her future holds. Being told over and over she’s unworthy ...

About Found All I’ve ever cared about was being the type of man that God has called me to be, and having a woman in my life who will love me unconditionally. Then I Found her. She’s the prettiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, and the fact that she has those two darling little girls is enough to make me stake claim on all three of them. Now, she thinks her full-figured body, and the nut she used to be married to is enough to run me away. What she doesn’t understand is I love me a woman who I have to use every ounce of my strength to hold onto and I’m trained and equipped for any ...

Velcro & Zippers originally appeared in the literary journal Raven Chronicles. It is also available on Kindle and in print as part of the collection Easy Money & Other Stories. True love is sweet, but it's not always meant to last. "He looked at her beautiful face and breasts, her firm abdomen, all striped by bands of light and shadow, wondering what she was doing with him, why she had stayed as long as she had. He reached across the table and touched her cheek with his fingertips, then leaned forward and kissed her lips. He sat back. She smiled." A short read with a subtle impact.

It is 1886, and the government has given the US Cavalry control of Yellowstone. For widowed hotelier Kate Tremaine, the change is a welcome one. She knows every inch of her wilderness home like the back of her hand and wants to see it protected from poachers and vandals.

Queen Amira has suffered her husband's neglect and disdain since she came to be his wife. His attitude only softening the slightest bit with the birth of the two princes and heirs. With that, she has retained some of her power and love at court. But, she is still lonely and dreams of a true love of her own. Though she dare not dream it will ever come. King Deron loves women. His wife that was sent for him was barren for years. He thought he made a mistake in marrying her. He even took her lady as his mistress and had a child with her. A child that he flaunted under the queen's nose as he ...

In these buoyant and inventive stories, Karen Tei Yamashita transfers classic tales across boundaries and questions what an inheritance - familial, cultural, emotional, artistic - really means. In a California of the '60s and '70s, characters examine the contents of deceased relatives' freezers, tape-record high school locker-room chatter, or collect a community's gossip while cleaning the teeth of its inhabitants.

A notorious drug dealer known by the name Blu Blaze to those in the street, but at home she's Aubury. Everything was going good and everyone was happy, well at least it seemed that way until she got shot three times by someone that she thought would never cross her. The one thing about having enemies in the street was that they never pretended to like you, they let their hatred for you be known The streets mourned the death of Blu Blaze, while others in secret celebrated it. Sometimes God has other plans for us and it seemed like he had other plans for Aubury, she lost her memory after ...

Since last Halloween, Kindle and Ebony have experienced the unexpected. Now, more than ever, both women need the men they only get to share their worlds with once a year. One evening, three beautiful, eerie young ladies appear at Kindle's door. They offer a solution to her and Ebony’s problems. Skeptically, Kindle finds it strange the three are already in the loop about what's going on with her and Ebony. As time spent with the love of their lives dwindles, Kindle and Ebony have a hard decision to make. Because this Halloween, neither can fathom another year to recur before seeing LP and ...

Minister Terrell Crutchfield of Tabernacle Baptist Church deals with life consequences when his past and present romances collide. In this African American / Black contemporary church suspense romance story, Megan Hightower, and Madeline Webster, two brazen church harlots will bring on the drama. Marital infidelity and adultery take center stage in this delightfully entertaining church tale. Sometimes in life when it rains unfortunately it pours out deceit and deception. Mixing Madeline Webster into the equation literally adds fuel to the fire. Megan Hightower and Minister's Crutchfield's ...

After gracefully enduring marriage to a king who never loved her for his mourning of his first wife, and providing him two heirs, Queen Serenity is now free. Her husband, King Timothy is dead. As are her two stepsons from his first marriage. Whom she loved as her own. Now her own son is king. And she is free to love and be loved for the first time by a man who has carried a flame for her for years, or is she?

The small town of Keatchie, Louisiana is growing and the town's folks are falling in love and learning to live by faith. In each of these books, you'll meet members of the Faltime Baptist Church and get a peek into their lives. About: INTENSE She’s been sidelined. And she’s wanting love just as much as me. I feel her… The pain of her past, The fear of letting another person in, And as much as I should be stuck, especially after what I witnessed, I find myself wondering about her story. I understand… The woman I wanted to love is too broken to let anyone in. She was bruised and bent ...