Showing results by narrator "And Arndt." in All Categories

No matter how cruel it's been to me in the past, I've never been able to flip fate the bird. I'm a romantic at heart. So when fate drops a leather-bound journal at my feet, I know I should walk away. I don't. I pick her up, bend her spine, spread her pages. From the first word, I'm a goner. The owner didn't give me access to her most intimate desires, but I devour them anyway. Her private darkness, her candid, sensual poetry - it all goes down like warm milk. And from that point forward, I drink, eat, and sleep her.

Landon Connor is a man of many talents - all business magazines agree on that. My family calls me a workaholic, but being driven and career-focused is what turned me into a hotshot CEO. I have good reasons for keeping my personal life on hold. Then Maddie Jennings walks into my life and makes me question all my choices. Maddie says she hasn't met anyone like me before, and hopes she never will again. Good. I can't stand the thought of anyone else getting the reactions I do out of her when I boss her around, when I stand just a little too close.

When the doddering patrons of the Wilkins Museum learned that dozens of their priceless masterworks had been stolen and replaced by forgeries, there was no one to turn to but Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn - the savviest art detectives of the Boston upper crust. Nabbing the crooks was easy, but finding the missing paintings has proven trickier. Years later, the collection's prized Titian is still lost, and the new director, loudmouthed cattle baron Elwyn Fleesom Turbot, is getting impatient.

One night only - that was the deal we made. But one fantastic night had us both changing our minds in the morning. And making plans for another. Until I walked into the office to learn he just bought my company.

Seth Rafferty knows Heather Wainwright's type. Demanding. Check. Self-important. Check. Leggy and blonde. Yeah, he knows the drill. He's been a Hollywood production designer far too long to have patience for A-listers with a superior attitude. Beautiful women with a chip on their shoulder are a dime a dozen. Which is why his obsession with Heather makes no sense. Nothing about her is attractive. Except the vulnerability under the sass. The honesty under the attitude.

From some of the biggest names in horror comes an Advent calendar of short holiday horror stories perfect for the darkest nights of the year.

The US Women’s National Soccer Team has won three World Cups and four Olympic gold medals, set record TV ratings, drawn massive crowds, earned huge revenues for FIFA and US Soccer, and helped to redefine the place of women in sports. But despite their dominance, and their rosters of superstar players, they’ve endured striking inequality: low pay, poor playing conditions, and limited opportunities to play in professional leagues.

It’s Ruth’s dream to be the world’s greatest female pilot. It’s Amelia—Lady Lindy herself—who achieves it. At first competitors, Ruth soon recognizes they share a passion for the skies and for supporting trailblazing female pilots everywhere. Together they form an all-women flying group, the Ninety-Nines, and over the years their achievements become more groundbreaking, their risks more personal, and their friendship closer than ever, until the day their best-laid plans come crashing down.

Reed freaking Rivers. I wouldn’t trust a word out of the arrogant music mogul’s mouth if his gold-plated tongue were notarized. The man with the Midas touch would say anything to get me into his bed, and I know it. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want him to succeed. Indeed, the moment I laid eyes on Reed while he was speaking at an on-campus event I’d crashed, my body physically ached to feel his golden fingers - and tongue - all over me.

Olivia Germaine has already found love. Devoted wife, loyal friend, determined career woman - she's created the life she always envisioned. But when Olivia locks eyes with a handsome stranger across a crowded room, he peers a little too closely and sees emotions she thought she'd buried long ago.

He's the powerful CEO. I'm the know-it-all intern. Things went further than they should have, but I don't have any regrets. Well, maybe just one.... I went and did the one thing he told me not to - fall in love with him. Now I have seven days to prove my trust and devotion. Turns out money is a powerful drug, but love is even more addictive. Seven Nights of Sin is the stunningly sexy and heart-tugging conclusion to The Two Week Arrangement.

Rex Gunner. As bitter as he is beautiful. The owner of the largest construction company in Gingham Lakes has been burned one too many times. His wife leaving him to raise their daughter was the last blow this single dad could take. The only woman he'll let into his heart is his little girl. When Rex meets his new neighbor, he knows he's in trouble. She's gorgeous and sweet and everything he can't trust. Until she becomes the one thing he can't resist.

Like many old New England families, the Kellings live to die. Although their family vault is spacious and comfortable, it will not do for Sarah Kelling's great-uncle Frederick. In his will, he demands to be buried inside the ancient family tomb at Boston Common, which hasn't admitted a new member in more than a century. But when the Kellings crack the old vault's door, they find a recently built brick wall - and behind it lays a surprisingly fresh corpse, a skeleton with rubies in its teeth.

Cassie Taylor was just another acting student with big dreams at her prestigious performing arts college…then she met Ethan Holt. She was the good girl actress. He was the bad boy on campus. But one fated casting choice for Romeo and Juliet changed it all. Like the characters they were playing on stage, Cassie and Ethan's epic romance seemed destined. Until it ended in tragedy when he shattered her heart. Now they've made it to Broadway where they're reunited as romantic leads once again.

Deacon was rough on the exterior, but apparently on the inside? Mr. Single-and-Ready-to-Mingle was a baby whisperer. After that night, we became friends. He’d go for coffee runs. Come over to chat. Normal friend stuff. But over time, our conversations ran deeper. We got closer. Until one night we crossed the line.

The only permanent thing in my life is the ink I put on my clients. I drift from city to city, in and out of beds, from one tattoo shop to the next. Every time I start to put down roots, I rip them up. Until New Orleans. Until her. She's everything I'm not. Full of fire and life. An innocent where I'm a sinner. I want to consume her. Protect her. Keep her. But first I have to escape from beneath these shadows.

I’m obsessed with Laila Fitzgerald. There, I finally admitted it. I’ve tried not to want her. I tried to step aside when my best friend said he wanted her. But it’s proved impossible. She’s too gorgeous and talented, too charismatic and badass, for me not to want her for myself. Unfortunately, though, karma’s a bitch. In trying to do the right thing by my best friend, I’ve done the wrong thing by myself. I’ve pushed her away every chance I’ve had. Dug way too deep a hole to crawl out of. And now, Laila downright hates my guts. And rightly so.

Sweet, nerdy, lovable Keaton. She's my best friend and has been for years. Sure she likes numbers and math, and thinks doing other people's taxes is fun. And I like...none of that stuff. She reads novels I'll never understand, and yet we just click. There's no one I'd rather share breakfast burritos with or binge watch hours of Netflix with. She's my person. And so when she takes off her glasses and asks me to help her improve her skills in the bedroom, I barely have to think about it. Of course I'll help her. There's no one better for the job. But what happens when she's ready to take her new-found confidence and move on?

That was all it took for me to know Elisabeth was my soul mate. Five years, countless infertility treatments, and the loss of our only son. That was what it took for me to lose her. One phone call, a mix-up at the lab, and a little girl neither of us knew existed. That was the hell it took to bring her back to me.

C. J. Box, #1 New York Times best-selling author of the hugely popular Joe Pickett series, selects the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year in this annual “treat for crime-fiction fans” (Library Journal).