Watty's 2018 short list, #2 highest rank for Historical, 1st Place in the Profound Awards. Lord Grey has sailed the seas, fought pirates, and built a shipping fleet before turning thirty. Now he must marry and produce an heir. He believes his days of adventure are limited until he meets Gabriella Barrington. Her courageous nature and daring talent with a sword is astounding, however, it is her belief in equality that gives him pause. Her strength of character and ability to love convinces him she is the only woman for him. However, he fails to anticipate her fortitude to keep him safe and the lengths she goes to, including becoming a stowaway.

Half god and half wolf, I have spent my life training for the moment I will come face to face with my parent's killer. Meeting my mate is something that never crossed my mind when I moved again. But there is a new threat rising, something I never expected that will change everything. When I least expect it, I will lose everything, the ones I love, the people I have grown close to and I will lose myself.......

He needs a place to live, she needs a baby daddy. Pietro Santangelo and Marguerite White are students at prestigious Columbia University in New York City. She is a fun-loving, free spirit who finds herself in a bit of a familial bind, he is an exchange student with a chronic case of poverty. They concoct a plan that they think will work, not realizing how much changes with two simple words... Pete merely looked at her and opened a box of books. He took some out and began placing them on the shelves, bending and stretching at his task. He had a nice back, broad shoulders and muscles that could be seen clearly under his light blue T-shirt. Daisy watched for a minute, fascinated. "Like what you see?" he asked without turning around. She jumped at the sound of his voice. "Well, you're the only thing in the room that's moving, you know?" she said by way of explanation. He turned around to look at her, books in either hand, a small grin on his face. "Of course, what was I thinking?" he asked rhetorically. "And look. We're both adults here, hm?" He looked carefully at her. "The couch we just brought up here cost fifty dollars at the second-hand store, and has to be at least thirty years old. I don't want to sleep on it, and I don't think you're going to want to sleep on it, either." She shook her head. "So the bed is nice and big," he continued. "I think we can manage, don't you? We can share the bed." He watched her for her reaction. "I give you my word this is not going to be a problem for me. At all. Is this going to be a problem for you?" She looked at him. "Really? At all?" She recovered from the unintentional meaning of his words quickly. "No, it won't be a problem for me, either," she said firmly. "We can share the bed." Content warning: This story contains mature sexual content, and themes of premarital sex and sexual assault.