Showing results by narrator "Joe Arden" in All Categories

Damaged. Broken. Destroyed. I’ve heard it all. A single moment of trusting the wrong person shattered my life into pieces, and my family has never looked at me the same. It’s impossible to convince them that I’m anything more than the broken girl they rescued all those years ago. Until I meet him. Ramsey’s grumpy demeanor and menacing scowl scare most of the world away. But not me. Not when I’ve seen his gentle hands soothe an abused colt or comfort a terrified mare.

Mission: Survive my best friend's wedding, where I must play nice with my ex and his perfect new girlfriend. Strategy: Bring the hottest fake boyfriend on the planet. Target: Grady Rock. Master baker. Dimples. Muscles. The unicorn of fake boyfriends. Complication: Wyatt Morgan. My brother's best friend. My sworn enemy. Military man. Sexy as hell single dad. The man I let into my panties for one night of hot hate sex after my ex dumped me.

Herein lies a raw exploration of duality, darkness, and desire. A collection of sonnets, haikus, and free verse that brings to the surface our fractured pieces and celebrates how the light and the dark blend to make us whole. An invitation to embrace the shadow and give it its rightful place as a part of the self.

When the Wilder brothers return home after leaving the military and the lives they fought to build, they’ll have to start from scratch and create roots when they had none before. They’re moving to a new state, a new town, and with a new set of problems they never expected. Falling in love along the way isn’t in the cards, but the Wilder brothers should know by now—you don’t choose your fate, fate chooses you.

Recovering from a pulled groin muscle isn’t exactly how I planned to spend my much-needed summer vacation. But being nursed back to health by my gorgeous friend, Bailey, who’s just graduated from medical school, doesn’t exactly sound like a hardship. She’s funny and kind, and after just being myself for the first time in a long time, I find my walls come tumbling down. But when Bailey says she’s not looking for a relationship, I’m bound and determined to be more than just the fun hookup who sprained his groin a second time - this time with her.

When she was young, Arya Roth became best friends with her housekeeper’s son. Soon, friendship turned to young love, and when Arya dared him to kiss her, a chain reaction of disastrous events led to the boy being sent away and out of Arya’s life. Now, two decades later, Arya is an on-the-rise publicist with her beloved father as one of her biggest clients. So when her father is sued by a former employee, Arya sets out to prove that her father is not the monster he is accused of being. The only problem is the attorney who is determined to destroy her father’s good name.

Six months into tattooing at Blue's and already I'm the most wanted and sought-out tattooist. My biggest clientele consists of women. They come into the shop, end up in my bed, and we both come out happy. It's been my release since I've stopped fighting. It's become part of the "new" me. But when Tripp reappears in my life, I can't deny the fact that I would do anything for that girl. I have worked so hard over the years to suppress my feelings for her but when I find out that her and Lucas have been having an open relationship, I have the urge to rip his heart out.

I always knew darkness crept through this city; like a shadow, it never really goes away, always watching, always waiting. People sin and people kill; it's a way of life. I just never expected to be thrown into the middle of a war I had no hope of surviving. Alexander Silver is as brutal as he is beautiful. A devil in disguise. The man destined to end me. I didn't go looking for trouble, and yet it found me, nonetheless. I could either join it or let it crush me.

Welp. It's official. The entire hockey team knows I'm a virgin. And who do I have to thank for telling them about my v-card? Theodore Taylor, a.k.a. my brother's best friend and the pain in my butt since third grade. Then again, I'm kind of sick of this thing. My virgin status, that is. It's probably time I get rid of it. Which would be a heck of a lot easier if Theo hadn't made it his mission to be my own personal chastity belt for the foreseeable future. Which leaves me screwed. In every way except the literal sense. Lovely.

Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Model train experts, mansplainers, guys weirdly obsessed with her tail—she hasn’t had a successful date in months. Only a year out of residency, her grandmother’s obsession with Mackenzie finding the perfect mate to settle down with threatens to drive Mackenzie barking mad. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever date: Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General.

Six years after entering the NHL, I still can't let go of my past that haunts me every day. But everything changes when I meet a feisty sports reporter who challenges me at every turn. I should leave Kennedy alone and spare her the drama that comes with my life outside the rink. But I can't keep my hands off her. So, we make a deal. She wants an exclusive interview that could expose my secrets to the world, secrets that are not just mine. When I'd agreed to the interview, I had every intention for it to end with her in my bed.

I've been to a million parties with my crush, but he's never acted on it til now. Ford Malone could have any woman in Chicago, so why fake a relationship with me? The world knows him as the heir to a real estate fortune, but to me he'll always be my best friend, the man who saved me from my bullies as a boy. I'm as surprised as anyone when he announces our engagement, but I'll play along. Nothing has to change except the way we behave—the way we touch—in public. But his private touches change everything. Soon the crush I've hidden for so long is threatening to swallow me whole.

Thirty years ago, my father became the other half of a broken love story. A relationship he’s kept hidden for decades. Upon unearthing his secret through a series of emails in our paper’s archives, I began my search for the truth. Haunted by my father’s love story, and in my quest for answers, I never imagined I would discover a love of my own. Or that my love for Easton Crowne would be key in discovering the reason behind what split our parents up.

Past indiscretion with life-altering effects. Macy Spencer hit rock bottom and clawed her way out of the hole her cheating, lying, gambling ex-husband left her in. Drowning in debt and penniless, the single mother of two worked hard to get her life back on track and protect her children from the fallout. But now her ex is in more debt, and his bookie’s knocking on her door for payment. The last thing she needs is the handsome, rough, sexy-as-all-get-out Alec Hall overhearing the threats.

Meet the Lancasters. Sexy. Arrogant. Filthy rich.

Victor "Skeet" Thompson lived his life according to the codes he bound himself to. As a navy SEAL, the vow to humbly serve as a guardian was embedded in his DNA. When he joined the FBI, he dedicated himself to fidelity, bravery, and integrity. He was a man in service; to the team, to the job, and to those who needed his help. But he mostly believed he was a man serving his family in the best way he knew how. But what happens to his code when the illusion of that idealistic dream crumbles around him?

We come from two different worlds. I’m from the streets. She might as well live in an ivory tower. I made my living with my fists. I doubt she could even throw a punch. Our paths never should have crossed. We never should have met. That doesn’t change the facts. I would sell my soul to taste those red lips. Fight the devil himself to hear her laugh. Burn in hell to have a single night. Scarlett Priest shouldn’t even know men like me exist, but sometimes temptation is stronger than will. If this is how I go down, it’ll be worth every second of the fall.

Sex comes with a price tag. One I’m quite willing to pay. In fact, I prefer it. It’s easier that way, and in my life, I prefer ease. Prefer for most things to be transactional.

Not every love story begins in the light...Sometimes, the prince isn't charming. The damsel causes more distress than she's in. Sometimes, the danger doesn't come from a magic spell. It comes from each other. Welcome to dark romance.

Jud Lawson found me stranded in the rain. Broken down on the side of the road in a deserted neighborhood with my piece-of-crap car. I wasn’t looking for a hero, and definitely not one who looks like him. An obscenely hot mountain of a man who screams danger. But I have little choice other than climbing onto the back of his bike.