Showing results by author "Lauren Blakely" in All Categories

My best friend is gorgeous, wildly successful, and loves to spoil me. He’s also sworn off love. Which is why Nate Harper is the perfect man to help me. I’ve spent my life being in control. Now I want to learn how to let go, and Nate decides he’s the only one who can teach me.

I was only trying to help a friend. I swear. I was legit asking for a friend who was finally ready to date again. So I did what any good friend would do. Posted it for her. It seemed like a good idea at the time - I’d weed through the candidates, and bring her my top picks. But then he responded. Is it wrong to date the guy I screened for my bestie? Not asking for a friend.

He's my business partner, my good friend, and the man I've craved for years. But I've resisted the sexy Brit, and I plan to keep up my walls because I've been there, done that, and I know how much it hurts when you let someone into your heart. Then an opportunity comes along for us to snag the business deal of a lifetime. The catch? We need to pretend we're married to pull off this high-stakes deal. So the clever, charming man with secrets a mile deep becomes my temporary husband, as we travel around Europe.

Fine, fine. Sharing an apartment with my buddy's smoking-hot and incredibly amazing little sister seems like a recipe for disaster. But I desperately need a place close to work, and I swear I’ll behave. How hard can it be to share 500 square feet with the brilliant, beautiful total firecracker who’s my good friend too? Please. It’s sooo easy to hang out with Josie every night, to test out her new brownie recipes after work, to shop for towels and banana hangers on weekends. Until one night when she asks if she can join me under the covers. Platonically, of course.

The woman I want is as off-limits as they come. I had an excuse two years ago when I met her on campus. She interviewed me for a story on major league baseball's rising stars, and we shared a hot, passionate night that ended far too soon, and without a mention of who her father was. Now I know the innocent but sexy woman I can’t stop thinking about is the coach's daughter. All the more reason to resist Reese. That ought to be easy enough, until she confesses she's still carrying her V card, and she’s been wanting me to cash it in since the day we met.

Every man knows there are lines you don't cross. Like this one - don't bang your boss' little sister. Too bad I didn't know sexy, clever, irresistible London is related to the guy who signs my paychecks. Would have been helpful to have that intel before I took her out on that first date, before I kissed her on the beach, before I made plans to take her home that night.

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.

My former apprentice is the last person I want to work with. Ever. She still hates me since I fired her once upon a time. So when I’m forced to pair up with the wildly sexy brunette every day on the most important custom car build of my career, we spend our days firing snark and sarcasm at each other in the garage. Too bad watching her work automotive wonders with a wrench is doing something to me.

Ever notice that sometimes a guy will do something really stupid, like let the love of his life slip through his fingers? Yeah. I'm that guy. But the instant I run into her again I've got one goal and one goal only—a second chance. The plan? Go big or go home. Fine, at first glance, stripping naked at my ex-girlfriend's place of work might not seem like the brightest way to win her heart again. But trust me on this count—she always liked me best without any clothes on. And sometimes you've got to play to your strengths when you're fighting an uphill battle.

Look, I had a rough week at work. So I put on a bikini and escape to the beach, where I wind up rescuing the city’s hot new quarterback from a rogue paddleboard, and then he rescues me that night from a s-e-x drought. Hello O-Town. Nice to see you! The charmer with the magic hands wants another date too, and I say yes so fast. But the thing is I’m the team lawyer for The Mercenaries. And the morning after the sexiest night of my life, I find out the guy I plan to see again was just traded to our team.

As the team’s publicist, I desperately need a football player to be the face of our charity calendar. Turns out our one-time party boy receiver Jones Beckett needs a savvy PR woman to manage his new good guy rep. Sounds like a simple give and take, even though I’ll be traveling around the country, snapping pictures of the sexy athlete holding rescue kittens and puppies. Still, I’m dedicated to my job, so I'll stick to my iron-clad rule—don't date a player. And never ever fall for one. No matter how charming, big-hearted and devilishly clever the man is.

I swear I’m a good girl. I didn’t go to the exclusive, after-hours masquerade to kiss my dad’s best friend. I didn’t even know who the masked man was when he touched me like I was his every fantasy. But when I learn exactly how off-limits my new lover is, I do my best to avoid him the next time. Except, he has his sinful sights set on me, even when he discovers who I am. Just one time, he whispers. Then we’ll pretend this never happened.

Look, it wasn’t even my idea. But that’s hardly an excuse for agreeing to teach my best friend’s little sister how to win a man. But like I was going to let some other guy in the city help the deliciously awkward and ridiculously sexy woman figure out the ways of men? My unquenchable (and very secret) desire for Harper aside, she’s my good friend too. What’s the big deal if I give her a fake (but it feels real) kiss on the street? Or if I help her learn how to dirty text?

I swear I’m changing. I’m trying so damn hard to step into the wild unknown of my future. At least Trey is on the other side waiting for me, and he’s the closest I’ve ever come to something real, something true, something like love instead of addiction. But when I learn what the man I love has been hiding from me, I fear our future will be riskier than I ever could have imagined. And I don’t know how the hell I’ll ever be ready for it.

To do list: Don't let the fetching American woman charm her way into my heart. Definitely don't give in to spending the night with her as we plot and plan a way into the event of the century. And absolutely don't fall in love. Trouble is - from her smarts to her sass to her wicked, witty mouth - Jess is everything I ought to avoid. But resisting my sexy rival is going to be oh so hard.

After the year I’ve had, the last thing I need is a hot, tattooed, rugged stranger distracting me from my job. But when the irresistible man I meet in a dive bar devastates me with a knee-weakening kiss, I throw caution to the wind and spend a scorching night in his arms on the beach.

After years of scraping by, Nolan and I just landed the big break of a lifetime for our scrappy online restaurant review show. We’re going to New York for a month. Just the two of us. Together all the time. But I’ve already lost my best friend once, so I’ll do whatever it takes to resist thoroughly delicious Nolan again. Until I learn whatever it takes might cost me everything.

There’s just something about bad boys. Tattoos and leather jackets, am I right? Trouble is, my last boyfriend was a teensy bit too bad and now he’s in prison. Yikes. When my friends challenge me to take a dip in the good guy side of the dating pool, I see their dating bet and I raise it, looking up the guy I crushed on growing up. With a winning grin and heart of gold, Gabe Clements is now the star receiver for a pro football team. Except, the supposed good guy turns out to be nothing like I imagined. He’s better. He’s growly, possessive, smoldering.

It was only supposed to be a marriage of convenience. Let me just say, this whole part-time lover thing was her idea. I’d have gone all in from the start, but hey, when a gorgeous, brilliant woman invites you into her bed, and only her bed...well, I said yes. But then, one hysterical phone call from my brother later, begging me to find myself a wife so grandfather’s business stays in the family, and I need a promotion with Elise. Turns out a full-time husband suits her needs too, and a temporary marriage of convenience ought to do the trick, until we can simply untie the knot....

I don’t trust love for a second. It’s a game, a lie, a battle. Until I meet Trey. He’s just like me—dangerous, scarred, and keeping secrets that might be darker than mine. Even though I could lose everything I’ve worked for, I can’t stay away from the broody tattoo artist. The closer we get, the more I let him see who I really am, secrets and all.