In order to convince Sculpt to give me self-defense lessons, I had to follow his one rule: no complaining, or he'd walk. I didn't think it would be a problem. I could handle a few bruises. What I hadn't anticipated was landing on my back with Sculpt on top of me and my entire body burning up for him.

Macayla: My new landlord, ex-Special Forces Vic Gate, is intense, and even that's too domesticated a way to describe him. Extreme raw power seems more appropriate. Or maybe godlike, except there isn't anything forgiving or merciful in him. Then again, he gave me and my little boy Jackson a week to vacate his cabin instead of seven minutes. But the dangerously quiet, six-foot-four muscled wall does something to me. And it's way more than a sweet fluttering in my belly. This is an eagle-diving, bee-stinging, fire-breathing-dragon fluttering that causes all kinds of chaos inside me.

It was one night together. I wasn't supposed to see him again. I never thought I would. And then the six-foot-three cement graffiti wall of badass strode back into my life, and did it with full force. He's protecting me from his past, and I'm protecting myself against the heated chaos he erupts in my body. It doesn't help that he can do playful and sweet when he's not doing bossy. But the overly confident playboy Deaglan Kane is danger, has no boundaries, and is totally off-limits. And I know behind his walls there's a man with a dark and damaged past.

We were 16 the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched. I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering. Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma. Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact. Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets. She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her. I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains: She’s mine.

Of two things I'm certain: When something sounds too good to be true, it is; and when Alexius Del Rossa makes you a deal, you run far away and never look back. Me? I didn't run. I stayed. I opened that envelope, and I accepted his offer. Why? Because my life was a mess and on a downward spiral to a big, fat nothing. And he just offered me everything in exchange for six months of my life. It was supposed to be a simple arrangement, but I learned the hard way that nothing is simple when it comes to Alexius.

Holt Sebastian is royalty in our world. As CEO of the Sebastian News Corp, he’s the man with all the power. The man who decides if I’ll always just be a local television anchor or if I’ll be the rising star of my own show.

It was supposed to be a harmless kiss at a lavish debutante ball. A clandestine moment with a handsome stranger. But unlike his namesake, my Romeo isn’t driven by love. He’s fueled by revenge. To him, I’m a chess piece. Leverage. His rival’s betrothed. To me, he is a man deserving of poison. A dark prince I refuse to marry. He thinks I’ll accept my fate. Well, I plan to rewrite it. And in my story, Juliet doesn’t die. But Romeo? He perishes.

Remi Tanner wasn’t part of the plan. But when I see my uncle doting on her, I know she’s going to help me destroy him. I’ll taunt her. Test her. In the end, I’ll break her. Ace Jagger wasn’t a good guy. But he swept into my life like a storm, and I’m caught up in the aftermath. He’s cruel. Calculating. In the end, I never stood a chance.

You’ll judge me. Hate me, and tell me I’m wrong. Refuse to see how my darkness is what she needs. While I don’t particularly care about your feelings in the matter, and while I pursue her - despite the wedding bells that rang for another - only I can see how she is drowning beneath mediocrity. He had his chance to make her happy. He failed. He didn't see how she was dying inside, because he couldn't know her. Not like I know her. I am her stalker. Her protector. And the only man that can bring her back to life.

I waited my whole life for Zee St. James to open his eyes and see me. But Port Clover's official bad boy would never view me as anything more than his best friend's little sister. He shattered my heart into thousands of pieces when he left. And I spent years trying to forget him. Trying to banish the memory of that one kiss. I thought I'd moved on. But when he comes crashing back into my life, or rather my apartment - the one he still owns - I'm defenseless against him. Just when I think I might finally get my happily ever after, a web of secrets and betrayal threaten to unravel the hope I finally found in his arms. And I'm faced with the soul-baring question: Is loving Zee worth the torment he inflicts?

In the dark underbelly of the mob, Tristan Caine has been an anomaly. As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all. His skills are unparalleled, his morality is questionable, and his motives are unknown. He is lethal and he knows it. As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year-old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together.

Stalking and restraining orders are a thing of Alayna Wither's past. With her MBA newly in hand, she has her future figured out - move up at the nightclub she works at and stay away from any guy who might trigger her obsessive love disorder. A perfect plan. But what Alayna didn't figure on is Hudson Pierce, the new owner of the nightclub. He's smart, rich, and gorgeous - the kind of guy Alayna knows to stay away from if she wants to keep her past tendencies in check. Except, Hudson's fixed his sights on her.

He came into my life like a raging storm. The man I despised. The killer with no conscience. I fell as hard as a woman like me can fall. When he bleeds, I feel his pain. When we kiss, I taste his tragedy. When he kills, my heart is stained with all the colors of his vengeance.

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.

My husband. My tormentor. The most notorious man in the city offers me a job. Act as his dead wife. Adrian Volkov isn’t the type of person who takes no for an answer. He commands with an iron fist and all his orders are met. When he approaches me with the offer, I have two options. Go to prison or put myself under his wrath. I choose to have a roof over my head. What’s so hard about acting, right? Wrong. The moment I step into his wife’s shoes, everything spirals out of control. My only way of survival is through Adrian. Or is it?

In order to convince Sculpt to give me self-defense lessons, I had to follow his one rule: no complaining, or he'd walk. I didn't think it would be a problem. I could handle a few bruises. What I hadn't anticipated was landing on my back with Sculpt on top of me and my entire body burning up for him.

Devin and Ayden were my best friends. We were practically joined at the hip since age two. When we were kids, we thought we were invincible, inseparable, that nothing or no one could come between us. But we were wrong. Everything turned to crap our senior year of high school. Devin was turning into a clone of his deadbeat lowlife father - fighting, getting wasted, and screwing his way through every girl in town. I'd been hiding a secret crush on him for years.

It's been 12 years since Tru Bennett last saw Jake Wethers, her former best friend and boy she once loved. Jake Wethers, sexy, tattooed, and deliciously bad lead singer, and brains behind The Mighty Storm, one of biggest bands in the world, left Tru with a broken heart when he moved from England to America with his family when they were both 14. Sent to interview Jake for her music column by the magazine she works for, they are both unprepared for the sparks that fly the instant they reconnect.

Hayden Summers just landed the job of a lifetime taking pictures for Time magazine, but she's determined to leave with no regrets. The first thing on her list? Erase the memory of her cheating ex with a wild night of anonymous sex. The second? Figure out why her best friend, sexy bar owner Jace Jennings, stopped speaking to her the night she told him about the job.

Lucas Donahue is not ashamed of his criminal past, but after a brief stint in prison, he's ready to go legit and live a normal life. The problem is, no one leaves the gang without permission - even if he is one of the boss' top men. Plus, someone's placed a hit on him. And then there's that feisty little bartender who's going to cause him even more trouble. Heidi Greene knows to keep her distance from a ladies' man like Lucas - even if she can't keep her eyes off him.

Toni’s no stranger to making mistakes. She has experienced firsthand how walking down the wrong path can send life spiraling out of control. Fortunately, she had someone to drag her from the gutter and help set her on the right track. As penance for the poor choices of her past, she pledges to suppress her baser desires and focus on finding a steady, dependable man, even if that means embracing a boring lifestyle.

Men ruin women...especially men like Chase Davis. Good looking, intelligent, rich, and powerful - I never stood a chance. When he entered my life, I was finally healing after having barely survived the men of my past. My soul sisters told me to take a chance, to let someone in. I let him in, and he surrounded me with a light so bright that I was blinded by the truth. Men don't ruin women. They devour them in every way that counts.

Dante "Inferno" Jones is used to winning in the ring. But when the MMA fighter meets pretty Caitlyn Moore, he seems to be striking out left and right. The more Cait denies his advances, the more intrigued he becomes by the sharp-tongued beauty. She's a challenge he can't resist.

Regret, she's a snarky little bitch. I've tried several times to regret the events that took place on June 5, 2008, but for the life of me, I can't. I'd never regret the pain, the suffering, or the heartache because they ultimately led me to the place I am in now. And I can't regret the place I am in now. What I still can't figure out is this: How is it possible that the single worst day of my life inadvertently became the very best day? Five years ago my life was irrevocably changed. Seventeen minutes was all it took to lose my best friend, to lose the love of my life.

Dominic Valetti is only interested in two things: getting paid and getting laid. He's a bookie for the Valetti crime family, and he knows his shit. Dom's busy doing business, no time to dabble in social niceties. The women that chase after him wanting more than a dirty, hard f--k are only gonna get their hearts broken. That is, until Becca stumbles into his office to pay off her ex's debt. A hot brunette who's just as guarded as he is and has a body made for sin...and for him.

I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got worse as time wore on. I even went to Europe for a year, just to avoid him. But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way I'll allow him to ruin another year. He might not have changed, but I have. It's time to fight back.

Tattoo artist Ronnie Clark is counting the days until Valentine's Day is over. Ronnie doesn't do romance. She doesn't do flowers or dates, and she sure as hell doesn't do love - not anymore.... Love leads to heartbreak, and she's vowed never to let herself get hurt again. Sergeant First Class Kale Emerson is home on his mid-tour leave from Iraq, but he only has one thing on his mind - returning to his soldiers to finish leading their mission. He's dedicated to his men and to his country, and he's not interested in getting wrapped up in a distracting relationship - but casual sex, that's a different story.

Desperate to find a new mechanic, the last thing Reddington expects is a woman to show up, let alone one with a sinful body, sharp tongue, and the inability to just do her job and not give him lip. He can't deny he's hoping to catch a view of her bent over a hood, but there's not a chance in hell that's going to happen. As much as Red wants to take her for a test drive, he knows he needs to keep his priorities straight.

Grace is a bounty hunter who wants to be taken seriously, but her boss refuses to believe that a woman can bring down a dangerous criminal. She finally gets a chance to prove herself when she's given the case of a lifetime: capture Raide Knox and bring him to justice. Raide is a dangerous fugitive on the run...and the sexiest man Grace has ever met. Catching Raide won't be easy. He's not the kind of man to go down without a fight.

From over a thousand miles away, I watched on the screen of my phone as two men murdered my wife. And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories - until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine.