Showing results by author "Lani Lynn Vale" in All Categories

It wasn’t easy being considered the ugly friend. She’s known since she was young that life wouldn’t be easy, and that she would have to work hard for everything she got. Life was tough when you had a face that only a mother could love. For years, Sutton Sway goes through life knowing that she’s never going to have a happily ever after that she’s always dreamed of. So she settles. She marries not for love, but for companionship, choosing a man that she never should’ve looked twice at, all so she could have a family of her own.

The first day that she walked onto the surgical floor that Chevy Clayborne spent most of his time on, he knew that he’d do anything to make her his. For two years, he played the long game. He slowly insinuated himself into her life, and the moment that she needed him, he swooped in like the knight in shining armor that he only pretended to be but most assuredly wasn’t. He’s no real knight. In fact, he’s the villain in everyone’s story but his own.

Sometimes you need to crash a funeral to experience happiness. At least Kissimmee Singh, aerial artist for Singh Circus, the most sought-after traveling circus of all time, keeps telling herself that’s why she crashes funerals. In reality, she’s lost and confused. Sometimes it’s nice to experience other people’s grief and be reminded that life isn’t as bad as it could be.

Baker Ritter knew how to pick them. She met the man she thought she was going to marry in middle school, gave him some of the best years of her life, for him to leave her pregnant and alone hours before she’s due to have his baby. To make matters worse, he brings his side chick to the birth, and she’s left with a decision—fight for what she wants, or cut her losses. What she should’ve done was cut her losses. What she does instead is take him back and experiences what it’s like to live in hell.

From the moment Creole Williams met Audric Ingram, they were inseparable. But not the way one would think. They shared a best friend. What they did not do, however, was like each other. You could say that it was a war to win the best friend title. The only problem was, their best friend would never choose a clear winner. So they spent their teenage years fighting it out. What Audric didn’t know, though, was that Creole was desperately in love with him. The same went for Audric. He wanted Creole more than his next breath. But it was never the right time.

Nastya Semyonov first met Haze at a bar, but for Haze Hopkins, duty calls before either can act on their desires. He’s gone without a glance back, leaving her thinking that maybe all the hot looks were only one-sided. Fast forward to the next day, Nastya hitches a ride to her car that she left behind the night before, only to run into the same man from last night. Neither one truly thinks before they act, and they spend a hot fifteen minutes in a fast-food restaurant bathroom before parting ways again.

Luke Roberts came to the small, lazy town of Kilgore, Texas, with one thing on his mind: forgetting. He wanted to forget why he left. Forget those emerald green eyes that haunted his dreams. And forget how it felt to have his heart ripped out of his chest by a woman who didn't like the fact that he had a child. It was something he'd been doing a damn fine job of doing, too. Until Reese smashed through every one of his defenses and made him feel again.

Crockett Archer, better known as a doormat extraordinaire, didn’t walk away from the people she knew needed her. She’d never been able to do it with a father that didn’t love her, and she wouldn’t be able to do it with a man that didn’t think he deserved a chance at love. One look is all it takes for Zach Caruso to know that Crockett could be his. All he would have to do is snap his fingers, and she’d fall right into the palm of his hand. Which is why Zach turns around and walks far, far away.

Piers “Webber” Webb knew two things for certain. One, he needed to stay the hell away from Silver Donahue. Two, he didn’t think there was a chance in hell that he could. He tries, though. For a solid year, he does his best to be dismissive to the point where he appears cold and threatening. But when Silver finds herself in danger, he forgets why he was giving her the cold shoulder to begin with. The thing is, Silver didn’t forget.

After a horrible marriage, Haggard has zero plans of ever finding a woman again. One-night stands not counting, he adores his life as a single man. There are no expectations. No "where are yous" and "are you coming homes". The life he chooses to live is a simple one. Until he makes a huge mistake, and he steps over that line between "daughter’s best friend" and "a woman he desperately wants". Before long, he can’t stop thinking about her. Can’t stop wanting her. Can’t stop feeling things for her that a man 20 years her senior should never feel for a girl he watched grow up.

Nico met the love of his life when he was 17. Immediately, he realizes that the gap in their ages is too significant to make a move on her until she's legal in the eyes of the law. So he joins the United States Navy, killing time until he can come home to her again. But a tragedy strikes while Georgia is alone and vulnerable, and with no other recourse, Georgia leaves, disappearing without a trace. He finds her, but quickly realizes that she needs the time to herself to work out her problems. He leaves her be, knowing that if she ever felt anything for him, she'd come back home to him.

Oakley Spurlock is dying. She only has weeks to live thanks to a freak infection that totally and completely destroyed her kidneys. Despite her family’s desperation, not a single one of them is a match. In a last-ditch attempt, Oakley’s father takes to social media to beg for help to save his daughter’s life. Pace Vineyard is lost. So lost, in fact, that he’s not sure he wants to be found. But then a beautiful woman’s face is splashed across social media, and Pace finds a spark in his soul for the first time since a bomb went off beside him. He’s already missing two legs.

Ares saw him for the first time at a Kilgore Police Department benefit dinner. She’d gone with her dad as his plus one. Hayes Greer had gone by himself and brooded silently across the same table as her, drinking whiskey and not saying a word. It only took that one time for her to become interested. The next time she saw him, he was doing another benefit - but this one requiring a whole lot fewer clothes. And that was when she knew. She wanted him. Badly. But the morose Hayes was too busy thinking about his sins to see what was right in front of his face - Ares.

Finnian “Apollo” Reins met Dru Noel Rossi at his lowest. She was a bright ray of sunshine in his darkest, cloudiest night. He had no clue that he needed her. He was just struggling to keep his head above water, going from day to day, waiting for it to be his time to go. But then she catches his eye in the swankiest restaurant in Washington DC. She’s wearing all black and sticks out like a sore thumb among the elitists’ otherwise dressiest affairs. She may have been severely underdressed, but that didn’t stop Finnian from following her every move and becoming obsessed.

There was right, there was wrong, and then there was the in-between. The place where normal people reside, understanding that there are two sides to every coin. People that do bad things for good reasons. People that do bad things for bad reasons. First, I knew that Shasha Semyonov was a bad man. One that did bad things for bad reasons. That didn’t mean that I was rational when it came to him.

Etienne LaFayette hits the ground running the moment he breathes free air after being paroled from a maximum-security prison in Texas. He claws his life back from his brother-in-law who’d taken over his business during the years he’d spent as an inmate at Huntsville Penitentiary. Though it is hard, he puts his life back together in Accident, Florida.

Miller Spurlock might seem like a laid back man on the outside, but piss him off, or violate his trust, and he'll show you the meaning of pain. He was a Navy SEAL. He could kill a man a hundred different ways and not break a sweat. He's also a police officer and member of the SWAT team, which means he has the knowledge and skills to get away with it. Rage boils in his gut when he witnesses what happens to the beautiful Mercy Shepherd during a SWAT op from hell. Miller becomes the one shining beacon of light at the bottom of Mercy's pit of despair.

Posy “Doc” Hicks has high blood pressure. All thanks to a certain hazel-eyed blonde who drives him absolutely insane in her short shorts and cowboy boots. At first, Searcy Hodges is just a passing fancy. A look but don’t touch kind of girl. She has a bad attitude, an even worse bedside manner, and a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas. It would be wise to stay away, even if that attitude of hers really does great things for him. But how is a man supposed to stay away when her temper is just that spectacular to experience?

Cleo's a pararescueman for the US Air Force. When a PJ is called, it's because everyone else has said no. It's one of the most dangerous jobs in the entire military but also one of the most rewarding. It's the reason he doesn't form relationships. He's seen his teammates divorce one by one, and he doesn't want to do that to a woman. Especially one that he's supposed to love. However, nowhere in his grand scheme did he plan for the force that was Rue.

The problem with Wake was that he was understandable. He was the type of villain who literally scared the absolute shit out of you because you knew that under the right circumstances, you could end up exactly like him.