Showing results by narrator "Desireé Ketchum" in All Categories

I broke the cardinal rule and slept with my sister’s best friend. Granted, I’d just found out that I was now a single father to a three-year-old little girl and was low on willpower. It should also be noted that there’s been sexual tension between us for years. There’s no way it would be a surprise if anyone in our small town found out. That is if we were telling people, which we’re not.

This is my last chance to ditch my playboy reputation and finally fulfill my potential. So I’ve made three rules for our biggest season yet: no boozing, no women, and no scandals. Especially that last thing. So who do I befriend on the very first day back at the rink? An amazing female hockey player. I want Sylvie in a way that’s more than just friendly. I crave her. But I have a championship to win, and so does she.

Sara Hawthorne thought she had found the man of her dreams. He was caring, protective to a fault, and desired her in ways she had only dreamed of. Her life was finally falling into place until a secret tore her new world apart. Reeling from a devastating betrayal, she ran from the only man who had broken down her defenses, making her feel alive after years of simply existing. Alek Devera risked it all to keep her safe. But when Sara ended their relationship, the evidence of his betrayal strewn at her feet, he vowed to win her back, putting their delicate future into fate’s hands.

Move on with your life, they said. Forget her, they said. But how could Ben Edwards forget the woman who was supposed to be his forever? When Grace Stevens disappeared - without a word, without a trace - she took half his soul with her. Despite the heartbreak, Ben tried. He tried to take their advice by pursuing his career. He tried to find fulfillment in his work. He tried to find peace.

She was hell-bent on making her father disown her. Her rebellious attitude and the color that marred her snowflake skin was proof of that, so I used that knowledge to my benefit. I promised her hate and blood. Instead, she got my heart and a weak man on his knees in front of her. She was never supposed to be my bride. She was the daughter of a rival family, not even of Italian descent. She was from a different culture. Sasha Nikolayev was my vice. I was an addict for her. I would have said and done anything to chain her to me—so that’s what I did.

Things in Layla Fox's life were going great. She had a fantastic job, amazing friends, and a killer apartment. There was just one tiny glitch in all that perfect. Her upstairs neighbor was the very definition of tall, dark, and handsome...and she hated the man with every cell in her body. Jude Kingsley was the most arrogant jerk she had ever met, making the fact that she was attracted to him more than a little inconvenient. When the two of them are forced together by Jude's meddling grandmother, the bitter rivalry between the two suddenly turns into something very different.

It’s the instinct former-SEAL Jude Williams must fight every time someone touches him. His six months being tortured in an enemy prison camp may be long over, but he’s got scars—all over his body and mind—keeping that time at the forefront of his psyche.

Once, I had everything. Drummer for the biggest band in the world. Fame. Money. Happiness. All at my fingertips. Then, six years ago, my world stopped turning. My best friend. My best girl. A burning field in the pouring rain. I survived, but I left the biggest part of me with them. And now I sift through the rubble of my broken life. I didn't want a second chance. Redemption. Closure. Not for me.

Some love stories are a slow burn. Others are quick to ignite, scorching, and branding your very soul before you’ve taken that first breath. You’re never given a chance to run from it. That’s how I’d describe what happened to us. Everything around me blurred, and all that existed were his lips, his touch. The chase and the heat between us became addictive.

For Cooper Miles, life used to be an endless party. He worked hard and played harder - as often as possible. But things change - people change - and lately, the party life isn’t doing it for him. Enter Amelia Hale. Cooper doesn’t see her coming. But it isn’t every day you meet a girl in a wedding dress in a bar - a girl whose life just took a sharp left turn she wasn’t expecting. Kissing her is totally no big deal. She’s had one hell of a day, and a little kissing lesson by Cooper is bound to make her feel better. But he wasn't expecting the invitation back to her hotel....

This is Kade and Isabelle's story. This will be an enemies to lovers dark college romance.

I have one more year of baseball eligibility left. One more year to show the major league scouts that I’m worth it. That I’m good enough to play professional baseball for them. But honestly, I’m not sure that I am. So far, not a single scout has approached me.

Damiano De Luca: a curse with no cure. Before he ruled the De Luca family, before he became the man everyone feared, before he scoured an empire in search of me, he chose me to ruin. I was innocent. An untainted princess. The heiress to the Vitali mafia throne. And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I met the wrong boy. My name is Renata Vitali...and this is not a love story.

The world can be a scary place. At least, that's what Andi Lockley's anxiety wants her to believe. It doesn't help that she narrowly escaped a dangerous man years ago or that every relationship since has been colored with that lingering fear. But things are better now. She's channeling everything into her career as a horror novelist and true-crime podcaster, and her next book may be the breakthrough she needs - if only her grumpy new neighbor would stop stomping around at all hours of the night.

Who in the world would go on a dating show to find love? Turns out, I'm that person. Paige Holland, lifetime resident of Elk Lake, Wisconsin, and dedicated seventh-grade math teacher. I love my charming town, but there's seriously no single action here. Unless of course I want to date the painfully boring mailman or the kid at the Quick Mart. Hard pass to both. So, what's a girl to do? Apparently, apply to Midwestern Matchmaker and hope the reality show gods will smile on me.

I was the only daughter of the Italian American mafia boss on the East Coast. After my mother was murdered, he made sure the world forgot he had a daughter. I had to pretend to be the girl I’ve never been: meek. There is not one submissive bone in my body, but I had to look and act the part. Matteo De Salvo is the only person that has ever made me nervous. My skin itched around him and my throat closed up. I watched him from a distance, the defiant part of me hoping he’d catch me. He did.

I should have used my college degree to become a lawyer, politician, or heck, even a Time Lord—hey, it worked for Dr. Who. But no, I had to own a bridal boutique. Turns out that's a terrible idea for someone with my lousy dating history. Every day, I'm surrounded by the trappings of the perfect wedding, and I'm starting to resent all the smug almost-marrieds. I shouldn't want to throat punch the brides, right? Then Jamie Riordan moves to Elk Lake with his twelve-year-old daughter. He's everything I've ever wanted in a guy—tall, gorgeous, successful, and clearly devoted to his kid.

He’d never had something to himself, never even dared to dream about owning something so precious. He was the unwanted bastard son who’d always had to content himself with the leftovers of others. And now, they’d given him what only a few weeks ago had been out of his reach, someone he wasn’t even allowed to admire from afar and one of their most prized possessions.

The man who’s haunted my steps from the moment we met at the ball now controls my every move in his hideaway. His dark eyes miss nothing, and he seeks out all my weak spots. He uses his fingers, his wicked tongue, his sharp mind. Searching, testing, looking for the side of me I’ve hidden away for so long. He’s relentless in his pursuit of my secrets, but I manage to discover some of his own.

I’ve known all my life that the Constantines deserved to be wiped from the face of the earth, only a smoking crater left where their mansion once stood. That’s my plan until I see her, the woman in gold with the sinful curves and the blonde curls. My will to dominate her runs as deep as the hate I have for her last name. No matter how beautifully she bends beneath my hands, I'll leave her shattered, a broken toy for her cruel family.