Rescued from a blind date from hell, a career woman's one night stand with her would be savior has unforeseen consequences. **** Up and coming New York apartment manager, Vanessa Torres' life is going perfectly according to her five year plan. Well, everything except in the love department, but that will come later. On cloud nine from her recent promotion, she agrees to go on a blind date arranged by her friend. Little does she know her squeaky clean life is about to turn upside down, following a one night stand with a handsome stranger, who saves her from the disastrous set-up. Reputable, lease up closer, Gabriel Tate, loves to live life by the game of chance, with no long term plans in mind. Blessed with Adonis-like looks and a charming personality he's used to getting what he wants when he wants until one flip of a coin changes his life forever. Their lives become entangled in a heated competition to fulfill rental contracts for their respective employers, not to mention running in the same social circles within the apartment industry. They soon realize change and compromise are necessary not only within their careers but also life and neither expected to find love during the chaotic and dysfunctional rivalry. Open Novella Contest 2023 Prompts: #5 Flip a coin and make a life choice with it. Two choices, one coin, and no turning back. Do you dare? #25 "If he smiled at you, he'll break your heart. If she winked at you, she'll rip you apart. #39 On a blind date with a complete mismatch, you're increasingly uncomfortable , but too polite to leave. Then an attractive stranger comes over and gives you an out. © 2023 LJRae

Two weeks before Christmas, Clementine Popplewell finds a man in her bed! To think of it, a random stranger would be almost better than John Holyoake, whose guts she hates because he destroyed the life and the career of her former literary agent slash her ex. And now she's stuck in self-isolation with him for a fortnight because he had the audacity to invade her household having arrived straight from the airport!

[WATTYS 2025 HONORABLE MENTION] 🔥Rated R for mature sexual content and graphic language 📚For fans of You've Got Mail (and underwear kinks) OR as one reader put it: "A yuletide story of what happens when his package gets shoved in her box by mistake." *** Zoey Franklin's post-college life is a mess. She's jobless, newly single, stuck living with meddling parents, and forced to hang out with her parents' friends, the Londers (AKA complete strangers), for Christmas. The only thing maintaining her sanity? A flirty, banter-filled text exchange with a mystery man, sparked by a package mix-up. Tristan Londer is finally going home for Christmas for the first time in forever. While he hoped for some much-needed quality time with his family, instead he gets a house full of strangers taking over his space. Especially that one stranger--the one with the voice, and the eyes, and the sass, who's claimed his bedroom as hers for the trip. Even though Zoey Franklin is the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, he can't stand the entitled princess. Good thing he has his mystery woman to text with late at night. If there's anyone who can turn his mood around, it's her. *** Cover co-designed by @LNRoberts1 and myself

[18+] Ellis Sutton, the sweet and caring Instagram influencer, has never felt the need to be romantically involved with a man despite her online fame. Everything seems fine until a two-week fling one summer when a handsome cowboy shakes things up. Thoughts of him won't leave her mind, and the growing pressure from her massive Instagram following is starting to take a toll on her. Rhett Lawson, a true cowboy and part owner of the rugged Diamond Creek Ranch, a cattle ranch and lodging haven, is facing financial woes. In a desperate bid to rescue their family legacy, Rhett's sister hatches a plan - bring in the famed Instagram sensation, Ellis Sutton. The hope? That her massive following could breathe new life into the struggling ranch. However, the plan takes an unexpected twist when Rhett realizes that the same Instagram sensation his sister has invited is none other than Ellie - the two-week fling etched in his memory for over a year. He had no idea that the sweet and sexy woman he met at that bar that summer was actually a global phenomenon: social media influencer Ellis Sutton.

AMBY AWARDS TOP PICK 2024❤️ I can only see half of his face, reflected in the mirror at the front of the bus, and part of that is obscured by the peak of the black company-branded cap he's wearing. But I can see enough to glean that there's a strong jaw covered in scruff. A wide mouth that looks like it would be prone to smiling. He's wearing glasses with trendy light tortoiseshell frames, and I can't quite discern the colour of his eyes from my position . . . but some weird intuition is telling me that they'll be hazel, and I wonder when my brain is going to catch up. Because I *know* him, don't I? I'm almost certain of it. And he seems to know me, too. Or at least he thinks he does. The way he's glancing over at me lets me in on that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mirren Shepherd has *many* pet peeves. Top of the list, though? Staycations . . . And surprises. So when her girls' trip abroad is cancelled at the last minute and she finds herself roped into a minibus tour of Northern Scotland instead, she isn't remotely happy. And when she finds out who their guide is . . . It's yet another reason for her to dislike surprises. Because Owen Sullivan wasn't so much the one who got away . . . He was the one who just didn't return. And, after she finally got over him, she never expected to see him again. Mirren would prefer to leave the past in the past, but Owen is determined to try to right his wrongs. Can she trust him? Can she trust *herself*? Maybe, just maybe, this surprise - and staycation - won't be as bad as Mirren thinks . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

[2024 WATTYS SHORTLISTED] [18+] In the picturesque lakeside town, the calm waters mask the storm within Juniper Jenkins' heart. Betrayed and broken by her cheating boyfriend, she flees to the sanctuary of her friend's lakeside house, to work remotely for the summer. What she doesn't expect? Running into Wells Hansen-her rival from the Seattle Sun Times-of all people. And of all places, he's running the only coffee shop in town with decent Wi-Fi. She's sworn off men for the summer-pinky-promised no boys-with her two best friends. So there's no way she's breaking that pact. Not after what just happened. But fate doesn't care about pacts, and Juniper keeps bumping into Wells no matter how hard she tries not to. She resents him, and the feeling seems mutual. At least, that's what she believes.

Whitney Lowe is too comfortable. Nothing has changed from fifteen to twenty-five. Her boyfriend will never propose. The promotion she wants will never come. She doesn't know how she got here. So when her brother breaks his leg and offers her his non-refundable plane ticket and the apartment he already rented in Italy for a month, she blows up her life - only to have Alden Miller, her brother's best friend, blow up her vacation. Alden has always been a little out of reach for Whitney. He's two years older, a huge flirt, and lives life like a nomad. So there really isn't anyone better than him to show her how to find herself again.

Even though she's one year out of college, for once in her life, Reese Adler is going to have a summer for herself. Her little brother, who she practically raised, is finally graduating high school, so Reese has plans to spoil herself with the money she no longer has to send home - starting with seeing him walk across the stage to accept his diploma. But when a pilot strike shuts down airports across the country and Lucas Finn, the one person she absolutely hates, is proposing they road trip back home together - from Boston to Seattle - she can't believe she finds herself agreeing to get in his car. It's only one week - Luke will never change her mind about him, and the pilot strike will most likely be over by then.

[2024 WATTY WINNER][18+] When global pop sensation, Maisie Rhodes, accidentally reveals her love songs are about someone close to her, she agrees to fake-date her best friend, August, to keep the truth buried. But with six weeks of pretending and nine years of unspoken feelings between them, she's forced to choose between protecting their friendship or risking everything for the one person she's never stopped wanting.

Honours psychology student Layla Mitchell has above-average grades and a slightly-below-average sex life. When she enrolls in a senior course taught by the young, dark and mysterious Dr. Kayden Hall, she finds herself uncharacteristically intrigued by his research into sexual deviance. As Layla's academic fascination extends into the bedroom, her erotic discoveries begin to reveal more about the complex man she's experimenting with. Her inner psychologist is determined to figure him out but he isn't going to let her into his psyche that easily. A not-so-cliché BDSM Romance by Ami. Mature content and lots of steam.