When the tattoo artist is hot and you aren't wearing a shirt... well Rory doesn't know what happens then but she's about to find out. *** It's almost a shame the tattoo artist is so handsome. It makes Rory more nervous, his hands on her waist, her hip--it's okay. She's okay. It'll be quick, nearly painless, she thinks. It's a small thing she wants. Still she has ample time throughout the process to look up at his serious face as he works. She asks him questions, there's music, maybe there is more than just ink to this. If only she didn't end up borrowing one of his t-shirts, she thinks she could get through this without thinking so much about his lips. Still she's determined to have it done, the tattoo and maybe something else that will leave a mark.

"Jack," she said, leaning forward, "do I make you uneasy?" He looked at her neutrally, almost coolly from his side of the table. She smiled again, untwisting it a bit. "No, I suppose you are not easily made uneasy." "I would say the same about you. And if you were, you'd hide it behind a laugh so no one would notice." She leaned further still. "But you might," she said. "Your inquisitive glare seems capable of spotting almost anything." "Glare?" he said, moving farther back in his chair. She wasn't sure whether his survey now was conscious or self-mocking. She fidgeted. He smiled. "Do I make you uneasy?" *** Maeve wants something uncomplicated, easy, and she thinks she's found it in Patrick. He is the person she occasionally shares a bed with, for a time, before returning to her own life. However, things get less uncomplicated when she starts to become friends with his, including the two guys across the hall. Including Jack. Jack, who has a way of looking at her such that she feels the burn of it on her cheek even when she's in one room and he's in the other. She wanted something uncomplicated, and then she didn't... so how long can she say they're all just friends?

"Baby," I put a hand across my chest and raise the other in surrender. "It was a sincere accident. I never meant for them to die. I promise." She shakes her head and I can't help but let my gaze move up the length of her bare legs to her waist cinching armour- and gold-plated arm guards that fit around her biceps. Gorgeous. Son of Loki, daughter of Vidar. Born enemies sworn to kill one another. But no one counted on love being involved. Cover by @ashley_mariex Short, one shot story. I have never written mythology before. But I gave it a go. It's sort of a modern/marvel inspired story. ©️

When Emily applies for a position as a caregiver for Daniel, a boy with a permanent spinal cord injury, she never thought she'd also be dealing with his brash fighter of a brother, Lucas. Emily soon becomes involved in the world of fighting that seems to constantly surround Lucas as he attempts to find retribution for his brother. Can Emily help heal the relationship between the two brothers while also caring for the seemingly brute professional fighter? Will Lucas lower his barriers enough for Emily to do so?

Aurelia, a Noble Roman woman, had heard of the savage British tribes, their mystic Celtic ways, and the battles the Roman army was fighting against them on their shores. The battles her soon-to-be Husband, Quintus Acquilla, was fighting in the name of the Eagle. But she could not have predicted that, when she crossed the ocean to be with him and fulfil the marriage contract between their families, she would be captured by a Barbarian War Lord and made to be his War Prize...

In a freak accident, Kira, a NASA scientist, is teleported to a planet that has no women. When she's saved by an alien that thinks she's a boy, she fights to keep herself alive and her gender a secret. - • - Vrox's life has always been tranqil, until a troublesome boy with endless secrets crashes onto his lap.

💫✨COMPLETED✨💫 NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON MY KO-FI! See link in bio🔗 Doctor Nina Ma'atanoa has just achieved her lifelong dream: to be the first human woman to set foot on the lush alien world of Dreenai. Surrounded by its incredible natural beauty and eight-foot-tall, semiaquatic humanoid inhabitants, Nina participates in a first-of-its-kind exchange program overseen by the tall, dark, vaguely frightening Doctor Ardus. From the start Doctor Ardus seems none too happy to have Nina around, but after Nina proposes that they become friends the strained atmosphere turns steamy, like a hurricane about to make landfall. Since discovering that the Dreen are not alone in the universe, Doctor Ardus hoped to meet and work with the inhabitants of a world struggling to recover from climate disaster. But the tiny woman he brought on board with his research team is just so distracting! She is so strange-looking, with her long hair and exaggerated curves and startling grey eyes that remind him of a storm at sea. Not only this, but she is a true scientist and a witty, curious woman with a talent for getting the stoic, serious Dreen completely flustered. When a frightening illness strikes Nina and Ardus must find the source and come up with a solution before the Federation shuts down the program and pulls the two biologists apart, possibly forever.

BOOK 1 || an Arthonian novel || Zoey Adams is a head-strong, veracious mechanic at a local car shop, who just wants to listen to her metal bands and work in peace--before a sexy new client walks into her office, that is. Little does she know, he's from another planet. Rowan didn't come to Earth by choice. He has no interest in the human race, except for how quickly they could help his crew leave this rock. Until he meets a petite pilot, who is also a mechanic, and wants to see the stars. Now he'll fight to defend humanity from the same alien race that has threatened his people for centuries. Highest Rankings: #4 in Interspecies! #1 in alienplanet!! #1 in Spacetravel! #7 in aliens!!! # 3 in Space!! #1 in Science-fantasy! #21 in Romance

A younger sister cannot wed before an older sister. It's a law of their society, a rule vehemently obeyed by prominent families in the nobility, and it's always been Ella Harrington's buffer. Ella has never been interested in marrying for anything short of love itself. Unfortunately for her, love is a rarity in the marriages of the aristocracy. Fortunately for her, her sister Emily is precisely one year older than her and is the most unpleasant, disagreeable, sulking woman to ever debut in all of England. So Ella may never have to marry at all. A free woman, she enjoys her time on the sidelines and wishes for nothing more. That is, until a tall, dark, and brooding Duke comes to town alongside an old friend of her brother's. Suddenly, Ella finds herself questioning the antiquated marriage order rule as her buffer begins to feel more like a barrier. Not that it matters. The Duke isn't interested in her anyway. Right?

*Now published as a full ebook and paperback novel. Buy now on www.authoranhorton.com* How far would you go to keep a promise? When twelve-year-old Oliver Ainsworth promised his life to Avery Hastings, she never believed him. After years apart, through war and tragedy, it seems even more likely that he's forgotten her entirely. And she's moved on as well. Haunted by their parents' gruesome murder and the overbearing debt they'd left behind, Avery and her sister both sell themselves into different trades to make their livings, to pay back the murderer before he comes for them too. As for Oliver? The war came for him just like it came for every other young boy in their village. Or so Avery thinks. Until her employment with a wealthy family in France forces their two worlds to collide once more and she learns there's far more to the boy she knew than she could have ever imagined. Bound by a contract neither of them ever signed, they must come together again after years apart, after being worlds away, after becoming different people. A contract which states that they are overdue for their own wedding. But, after a lengthy engagement, when Oliver gives Avery the chance to opt out... will she even want to?