"Relax," I murmured softly. My voice dropped without me even thinking about it, lower now, closer. "Is this okay?" Charlotte hesitated. I felt it in the way her shoulders shifted beneath the tension, the tiny pause before she answered. Her fingers tightened once more around the armrests. Then loosened slightly. "...Yes." The word came out quieter than before. Careful. Neither of us spoke. Then, after holding there for just a second too long, I leaned forward. Slowly-so slowly it almost felt deliberate enough to give her time to stop me, if she wanted to. The distance between us shrank inch by careful inch, my gaze flickering briefly to her lips before lifting again to her body posture, searching for any sign that I should pull back. But I didn't. And when the last trace of space between us finally disappeared, I kissed her. --- Audrey DuPont is used to the party life, smoking and drinking until the sun comes up, and throwing money without a second thought. But what happens when money can't save her? Charlotte Brown is the polar opposite of the head cheer captain. She's stoic, quiet, smart, and most of all, she isn't a trust fund kid like the rest. The only thing on her mind is graduating and making money. They both want something from each other, but as the thin line blurs between academics and attraction, they'll have to wonder: Is it really worth it?

This is a standalone, mature sapphic romance. Cara Laurent dislikes risks. She's always been the planner, the organizer, and the picky one of her friends. Naturally, she's been bent out of luck when it comes to romantic relationships. So, when her friends encourage her to jokingly put in an application for a new reality dating show - she definitely didn't like it when production called her weeks later to offer her the position. But, Cara was tired of shitty hinge dates and conversations that led to nowhere. She was already approaching her late-twenties and all her friends were settling down - so why not take this risk? Ready to put her love life on national television, all seems to go smoothly until she's introduced to the rest of the cast. To her dismay, she's met face to face with an almost ex-failed-hook-up-slash mutual friend of hers - Emily Sinclair. Notorious for being unserious, unfaithful, and irritating as hell - Cara is livid to find out she's going to have to spend six weeks attempting to find the love of her life while ignoring the only mistake she's ever encountered.

Maxine Crawford had always embraced life on her own terms-calm, reserved and unafraid of any chaos that came with it. But what she never expected was for her return to her local high-school to unravel everything she thought she knew. Annabelle Quinn had always been a quiet, kind hearted, high-school senior, someone Maxine had barely acknowledged growing up. Annabelle was nothing more than her brothers good friend, someone who had always been "off limits" to her. When Maxine begins volunteering at the school, she starts seeing the girl in a new light. Behind those soft eyes, and gentle smiles, there was also a darkness, a web of secrets Anna had kept hidden for years. As Maxine becomes more entangled in Annabelle's world, she finds herself drawn to her, despite every instinct telling her to stay away. Their connection is undeniable, but some bonds are more dangerous than they first appear. (editing in the process)

Harlow Nightingale is used to getting under people's skin-brilliant, reckless, and a little too mouthy for her own good. At twenty-one, she's studying psychology at Oxford, more interested in testing boundaries than respecting them. But when she crosses paths with Professor Ainsley Beaumont, everything changes. Dr. Beaumont is cold. Controlled. Dangerous. A woman who doesn't just teach the mind-she owns it. What starts as a disciplinary warning turns into something far more twisted. Harlow is curious. Ainsley is merciless. Every punishment is precise. Every word is calculated. And every time Harlow swears it's the last, she finds herself crawling back-hungry for the praise, the pain, the pull of being completely undone. Their connection is wrong. Toxic. Unforgivable. But Harlow's never felt more seen. Or more owned. And surrender never looked so sweet.

Manhattan belongs to 𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐢𝐥 𝐊𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞. At twenty-three, she is New York's most visible success story: a fashion prodigy with Vogue covers, private fittings, and a reputation polished to perfection. From the outside, everything about her reads as control. However, beneath the structure, Soleil is volatile. Petty. Bratty. Childish. Defiant in ways that don't belong in the world she dominates, and far less interested in discipline than she is in breaking it. Her world works because people adjust around her. Until someone doesn't. When her father remarries, Soleil gains a step-sister she neither asked for nor intends to tolerate. 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐲𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 is eighteen, newly arrived in Manhattan, and deeply rooted in one of the city's most visible religious circles. She moves through sanctuaries and society with quiet certainty, guided by devotion, restraint, and something far more rigid than faith. Willow does not bend. She observes. She corrects. She endures. And when she cannot control something, she destroys it. They do not understand each other. They do not want to. Because Soleil doesn't respect boundaries. And Willow doesn't forgive trespass. They were never meant to share a house. But in a city that thrives on performance, the difference between discipline and repression begins to blur...the line between temptation and control becomes dangerously easy to cross.

Stephanie Walker is eighteen, moving across the country from Los Angeles to New York to begin her dream: law school at NYU. A new city, a new home, new friends, new everything. She's excited, but sleepless nights, old wounds, and quiet struggles follow her everywhere. She wants to live like any other college student, to blend in, to feel normal, but life hasn't been simple, and surviving on her own is harder than she expected. Every late night, every study session, every solitary drive home reminds her that life doesn't come with easy answers. Some nights, she leans on quiet habits she'd never tell anyone about, just to make it to morning. Elena Shay is thirty-two, NYU's Dean and a respected law professor. Her life is built on control, precision, and endless responsibility. At work, she's commanding, elegant, untouchable. Outside it, she's soft, warm, and human, but never careless. Elena doesn't date casually; she doesn't waste time or energy on anything that isn't worth it. She's deliberate, certain, and careful... Until Stephanie. Stephanie isn't just another student. She's sharp, captivating, and unafraid to be herself in a way that draws Elena in deeper than it should. Suddenly, the carefully maintained line between professional and personal life begins to blur. The rules, the expectations, the life Elena's worked so hard to control all scream that nothing between them can ever happen. And yet, the pull becomes impossible to ignore. As their worlds collide, Stephanie discovers a side of life she's never dared to touch: warmth, comfort, attention, and desire from someone who sees her fully, not as a girl with a "rough" childhood, but as a woman. Together, Elena and Stephanie fall into chaos, vulnerability, and longing they didn't know they were missing. Every glance, every touch, and every moment carries risk. Risk of exposure, of judgment, of everything crashing down, all shaped by the choices resting in their hands.

Aurora Kensington has spent years trying to silence the voice in her head-the one that sounds too much like Briar Holloway. The girl who was once her best friend. The girl who came out to her. The girl she pushed away. Now eighteen, Aurora is desperate to prove she's everything she's supposed to be: a good daughter, a devoted Catholic, normal. But no matter how hard she prays, no matter how many rules she follows, she can't shake the feeling that something inside her is broken. And when she sees the lights on in the Holloway house for the first time in years, something deep in her chest stirs. She doesn't know Briar is back. Not until she turns around at a party and finds her standing there. Briar never planned to return to Chapelwood, but with her family drowning in debt and her grandmother's health failing, she had no choice. She tells herself she doesn't care about Aurora anymore-that she only came to this party because she thought it'd be funny. But the second their eyes meet, the past slams into her like a tremor. Old wounds. Old feelings. Ones that never truly faded. Because "love" (if you can call it that) like theirs doesn't disappear. It fractures. It festers. It trembles under the weight of everything unsaid. And if they're not careful, it might just swallow them whole. But none of it truly matters anyway. Not unless Aurora is willing to face the truth about herself. A story about love, sin, and the thin line between devotion and obsession.

They used to dance side by side - Ekaterina and Floralie, best friends, inseparable. Until one betrayal turned them into rivals. Floralie did the one thing Kate could never forgive: she stole her first boyfriend. Years later, Kate makes sure they meet again. Same stage, same dream, same role - the Spring Gala. This time, she's determined to win. To shine. To make Floralie regret everything. Maybe even to take back the boy she lost. But what begins as revenge slowly turns into something else. Every step, every touch, every look brings back what she tried to bury. And what if Kate isn't who she thought she was? What if envy was never the real story between these two rivals ?

Shay has learned how to disappear in plain sight. She moves through her days quietly-head down, emotions locked away, body trained to endure more than it should. Control is survival. Distance is safety. And no one ever looks close enough to see what she's learned to hide. Until someone does. Lilith Armstrong is everything Shay isn't allowed to want: composed, authoritative, untouchable. A woman who understands the body down to its smallest fracture-and sees far too much when she looks at Shay. What begins as instruction slowly becomes attention. What feels like guidance sharpens into something heavier, more dangerous, and impossible to ignore. Between the anatomy of the human body and the anatomy of restraint, lines blur. Power shifts. Desire festers in the quiet moments where it shouldn't exist. And Shay must decide whether being seen is worth the risk of being undone. Anatomy of Restraint is a dark, slow-burn psychological romance about control, obsession, and the intoxicating danger of crossing boundaries that were never meant to bend.