"It is your choice," he said, stepping so close to me that our lips were almost touching. "Either do what I say - or get another job." My heart stood still as I gazed up into his deep, dark, dangerous eyes... In a world where women's only role in life is to sit at home and look pretty, Lilly is determined to fight for her freedom. There's only one problem: a powerful man blocking her way.

"Go ahead," I said, backing up against the pink wall of the shop. "Do something other than glare at me." I waited. One, two, three seconds... and nothing. I raised my chin at him. "You're boring me, mute boy." He stepped closer. Leaned toward me as his gaze burned into mine. Then... ❀ ❀ ❀ After three months in juvenile detention, it's time for Romy Pereira to help out with her family's flower shop. And it's not all bad... until they hire Jack Michel to work beside her. He doesn't speak, communicating with glares and scowls instead of words, and seems to be more interested in literal rocks than other human beings. And with an ex-convict mother, her friends drifting away, and the flower shop falling apart, the last thing Romy wants to deal with is Jack's attitude. She'll forever praise the day he screws up big time and gets himself fired, but until that day comes, it's mostly one cold-hearted girl, her silent (but still infuriating) coworker, and a whole lot flowers. [word count: 100k] [originally written in 2014-2015; re-write completed 2020-2021] ❀ Rankings ❀ #1 in #badgirl #1 in #goodboy #1 in #flowershop #1 in #sociopath

The Wattys 2014 "Undiscovered Gem" Stella Henry is afraid of a lot of things. As a child, her simple, comfortable home life did not prepare her for the sort of people whom she would meet as a younger teenager. Now eighteen and a freshman at Clemson University, Stella meets Charlie, who, like her, has long been keeping others at bay. Though his disposition is kind and gentle, Charlie is a boxer, and his world only reminds Stella of elements of her past she would like to forget. When both realize that they have a safe place in one another, they start to overcome their fear of other people, and of letting them get close enough to matter. In many ways, this is a story about allowing people to matter to our lives, and about meaning something to them, in turn. At some point in your day, in your routine, in your life, you will matter to someone. That is a special kind of power, do be careful with it. "We love people not so much for the good they've done us, as for the good we've done them." Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Kate Morgan walked out on her boyfriend seven years ago, without so much as a backward glance. She had no idea he'd go on to become the notorious Aidan Sands, Hollywood 'It' Boy and frequent flier of the celebrity gossip columns. Now Aidan's back in the picture, trying to rekindle the past - and neither of them can shake the feeling that they're trapped inside some formulaic Hollywood chick flick. He's an LA heartthrob with impulse-control issues, who always gets caught with his pants down in the most embarrassing places. She's an uptight Manhattan workaholic who can't stand that he's already co-starred with every leading lady in town. Can these two produce a remake that's better than the original? Or are romantic comedies a lot less funny when you're living them in real life? Copyright © 2014 All Rights Reserved Note: This is an original novel. All characters and events are entirely the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real-life personalities or events is unintentional.