Showing titles in Contemporary

He's the star hockey player, my brother's best friend, and the boy I've been in love with since I was 7. The problem? He wants nothing to do with me. The problem? He wants nothing to do with me. Then why does he sneak into my room when I have a nightmare? Get jealous when I go on a date? And has a tattoo of my birthday on his ribs? Lucas Knight's a lot of things. He's possessive, jealous and overprotective. And he just might be in love with me. Angst-filled, heartbreaking, and kick-your-feet-in-the-air-giddy-inducing.

After thirty years as a firefighter and smokejumper, I’ve been forced into retirement by my injuries. Settling in Forestville was an easy decision, but what comes next? I have no clue who I am outside of my job. When I meet Calloway, I recognize a kindred spirit. He’s hurting too, though for very different reasons. I wanna hug him, help him, hold him…and kiss the living daylights out of him because, god, he’s gorgeous.

When my parents were murdered in cold blood, life became a shock in more ways than one. Obviously, my parents were sheltering me, and for good reason. Not only am I a dragoness, but there’s also a slightly insane-sounding prophecy. Something powerful has been asleep inside of me, lurking in the shadows. My spine is tingling, how about yours? I’m supposed to save the world. But first, I have a score to settle. Oh, and to fulfill the prophecy, I’m supposed to take on a mate. Or…more accurately, mates. As in, more than one. My inner beast is super-excited about it.

Postwar Paris is alive with optimism, but lavender keeper Luc Ravens and his love, Lisette, remain haunted by the horrors they have endured. Casting their fate to the winds, they set sail for Australia, hoping to rebuild their lives in a land that's full of promise. But trouble has a way of catching up with them.

Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie Walsh has always done the right thing - that is until the day she leaves her husband and takes refuge with her friend Emily, a screenwriter in Los Angeles - a city where even the palm trees are skinny.

I fell in love with the wrong man and learned the hard way to ask for help. I don’t plan on falling again and have no intention of trying. But when I get invited to a high-powered CEO retreat, I know I can’t say no. And I can’t go alone.

Josie Hayes is always on the run. From bad decisions. From heartbreak. From cowboys. Her latest escape was supposed to be a quiet reset at her family's cabin in Tennessee—not a reckless detour at a smoky backwoods bar and definitely not a collision with Lincoln Carter. Rugged and magnetic, he's temptation in a cowboy hat, and his slow smile makes forgetting her rules far too easy. Their connection is instant, electric, and impossible to ignore. What starts with teasing glances and lingering touches spirals into a series of nights that feel like more—too much more.

From the moment my twin sister set her eyes on Matteo, she decided he was the one. We were just kids, but that didn’t matter to her. In her heart, she believed they were destined to be together. So when their arranged engagement was announced, no one was surprised. At least, that’s what I thought. But lately, something had felt off. Wherever I went, Matteo was there. Lurking in the dark, concealed in the shadows, always watching.

Presley Mackenzie knows she’s not supposed to fall for her best friend. She really shouldn’t fall for him—especially since he is her ex’s brother. It doesn’t matter that her ex cheated. It doesn’t matter that she was the one to walk away. She’s not supposed to fall for her best friend. Even if Mason Sutton is the only one who can make her smile or laugh or feel like being herself again.

Being thirty-something, broke, divorced and in a cold war with her ten-year-old son is a lot, but Jo's handling it. Just. At least she is until her job at the Natural History Museum is put in jeopardy. An invitation to dig up dinosaur bones on a remote Queensland sheep station arrives at just the right time. It's not her first trip to Yindi Creek, but it's not as though anyone will remember her from fifteen years ago ... And by anyone, of course, she means the pilot she had that fling with. The fling that taught her she's far safer sticking to science.

The best way to get back at my horrible ex? Fake date Rory Miller--my ex's rival, the top scorer in pro hockey, and the arrogant, flirtatious hockey player I tutored in high school. Faking it is fun and addictive, though, and beneath the bad boy swagger, Rory’s sweet, funny, and protective. He teaches me to skate and spends way too much money on me. He sleeps in my bed and convinces me to break my just-one-time hookup rule. He kisses me like it’s real.

Diana Dixon has a lot going on this summer. She's rehearsing for a ballroom dance competition, juggling two jobs, and dealing with an ex-boyfriend who can't take the hint it's over. Yet despite all that, she still has plenty of time and energy to tell Shane Lindley to screw off. What Diana doesn't realize is that Shane's sick of hook-ups and tired of being on the rebound after his long-term girlfriend called it quits. He wants a relationship. And when his ex comes back into the picture, he pretends he has one to make her jealous . . . and who better to play the girlfriend role?

It was supposed to go like this: meet-cute at the dog park, have a hot and sexy hookup, and never see each other again. Things didn’t go quite like I was hoping. I met the fine Irishman in the park, but the rest of my plan was upended by an extremely inconvenient break-in. My record label isn’t thrilled that the lead singer of their biggest new band might have a crazed fan or angry ex out for revenge, so they hire a bodyguard to protect me. That sexy Irishman from the dog park? His name is Ronan Walsh, and he’s now my big, bossy bodyguard.

One letter changed my life. One night with him might change my forever. Inheriting a beach house in a small town you've never heard of is less than ideal. Falling for the broody bar owner who hates me because he wants the house? Even worse. I came to Carrington Cove for one reason: to renovate the home I knew nothing about, sell it, and get back to my life in D.C. and my multi-million dollar business. There was nothing on the agenda about falling for Dallas, the sexy former Marine who chastises me about my manners and withholds how to fend off the murderous geese on my property.

Author Catherine Cowles brings you an addictive small-town romance series full of protective heroes and suspenseful twists and turns. Wrecked Beginnings contains the first three stand-alone novels in the Wrecked series. Includes Reckless Memories, Perfect Wreckage, and Wrecked Place.

I live for the pain; it's what drives me to keep moving. I thought I was ready to finally live. Until...my brother, Alex; he throws me into the fire - right into the place I could never control myself, the one place I never want to be again. When I put my hands on people, they get hurt. Things happen that bring me back to that night. The one that will forever torment me. I'm doing fine, keeping to myself in order to ensure no one gets hurt by me. Then along comes Lyric, and all I want to do is touch her, to put my hands in places that I know will only lead to her being crushed by me.

I think I always knew I was going to die young. Like I had this… silent, invisible clock ticking down to my final moments plastered above my head. Maybe that’s why I was so reckless, crazy. Why I sought after adventure. Why nothing scared me… Except, there was always this… feeling I couldn’t shake that something was in the darkest parts of every corner, under every bed, closet, or room, like a ghost watching me. Waiting to take me. My own, personal reaper. But it was always only during a lightning storm that I could see the outline of my reaper. No scythe.

When Laurie is dumped by her partner of 18 years, she’s blindsided. Not only does she feel humiliated, they still have to work together. So when she gets stuck in the lift with handsome colleague Jamie, they hatch a plan to stage the perfect romance. Revenge will be sweet.... But this fauxmance is about to get complicated. You can’t break your heart in a fake relationship - can you?

Lulu Gallo doesn’t spend time daydreaming about romance, she's too busy becoming a self-made woman. But on the way to meeting with a new client, a pothole takes out her tire, sending her on a path she never saw coming. Oliver Weston has always been a loner. He prefers spending his days getting his hands dirty and helping strangers in need. But what started out as a normal call, has Oliver saving the life of a beautiful stranger and changing his destiny forever.

The last person I wanted to fix up my historic dream home with was the handsome older man with money to burn who bought it right out from under me. Thanks to my father, that's exactly what happened. Colton Crawford was making my house a home, and I was back in my childhood room, trying not to think of the towering, gorgeous Adonis with a killer smile… and how much I hated him. Or at least that's what I tried to tell myself. Because the more time we were forced to spend together in the dust and debris, the less our age gap mattered. And the more the sparks flew.