(adj.) not aware or concerned about what is happening around one To be loved is to be seen. Dual PoV Elora Daisy Owens Is a ray of sunshine or atleast she try's to be. Believing in silver linings and happy endings, she just wants someone to ramble to, spend time with. She just wants a friend. Elijah Killian Parker Is a total grump. bored stares and hard glares are all he has to offer. Being new to the school he plans to stay away from anyone and everything. Believing nobody really wants him for him. Of course Elijah's plan to be left alone goes down the drain when Elora is asked to give him a tour of the school.

a high school grumpy x sunshine book written to make you feel good ♡

She ran away from home with nothing but a broken heart and a car that barely made it. One fight, one night, one decision...and everything changed. Desperate for somewhere to stay, Avery answered an ad for a room and ended up moving in with Rhett...a tattooed, cold, pro hockey captain who thrives on control, discipline, and dominance both on and off the ice. Commitment isn't in his vocabulary. Neither are second chances. He's chaos in skates and trouble in leather jackets, sharp edges wrapped in muscle and attitude, and he makes it painfully clear that he doesn't want her in his space, in his routine, in his carefully controlled world. They clash from the start. Power against defiance. Fire against gasoline. Too similar. Too stubborn. Too damaged in different ways. She's soft, but not weak. A good girl who knows how to party, dance, and forget the world when the music gets loud enough. He's adrenaline and aggression, fueled by late-night games, bruised knuckles, and a hunger for control that doesn't turn off when the crowd goes home. Closed off. Possessive. Allergic to feelings. Living together becomes a dangerous game of boundaries, tension, and lingering looks that last a second too long. Every shared space feels like a challenge. Every accidental touch feels like a dare. Neither of them are willing to admit that the pull between them burns hotter than any fight on the ice...or that surrendering might be the one thing Rhett fears more than losing. But the past doesn't stay buried forever. Her mother returns to haunt her, reopening old wounds. And just when Avery starts to feel safe...just when it starts to feel real...Rhett does what he does best. He runs. Because falling is easy...but staying is the dangerous part. Warning: May contain profanity and sexual content.

She nodded solemnly. "With my girl charm and my pretty dress. But now I just feel like a hot pile of creamed corn." I dragged a hand over my face. "You need water. And sleep." "I need closure." "Sunshine..." "No," she said, standing straighter and stabbing a finger into my chest. "You don't get to look like that and make me feel feelings and then just go all mysterious and noble and disappear like a sexy hitman Batman." "Sexy hitman Batman?" "I had a lot of wine." "I noticed." ●・○・●・○・● She bakes cookies. He breaks bones. Everyone in the city fears mafia boss Dominic Moretti-everyone except Tessa Bloom, the relentlessly cheerful café owner next door to his front business. She calls him "Mr. Broody," brings him muffins he never asks for, and walks into his office like it's not occupied by a man who could have someone disappeared with a phone call. Dominic doesn't have time for distractions-especially not sweet, sunshine-eyed distractions with flour on their noses. But when Tessa finds herself tangled in the underworld he's spent a lifetime controlling, protecting her becomes more than a duty. It becomes personal. And suddenly, the most dangerous man in the city starts falling for the only woman who isn't afraid of him. ●・○・●・○・● Word count: 23,178 Top Rankings: 10.14.25 - #6 in Mafia

Scarlett Sovanna doesn't have time for nonsense-especially not the kind that wears a backwards cap and throws parties on Tuesday nights. As a dedicated ballerina at a top-tier arts college, her world revolves around perfect pirouettes, brutal rehearsals, and keeping her spot in the program. There's no room for distractions. Especially not him. Elliot Sinclair is college royalty-the star quarterback with a devil-may-care attitude and a line of admirers trailing behind him. He lives for the game, the thrill, and the spotlight. He and Scarlett couldn't be more different... except for one inconvenient truth: their families are practically intertwined. When Scarlett's dorm situation turns into a nightmare, the Sinclairs offer Elliot's guest room to her. Sharing a space with the person she finds most insufferable on campus? Not ideal. But as the walls come down, so do their assumptions about each other. What starts as chilly silence turns into heated banter. And somewhere between late-night talks and stolen glances, feelings develop. She's all discipline. He's all chaos. Together? They just might fall into something real.

On his planet, women don't choose, they're chosen. When a male claims a life partner, it is final. Permanent. Absolute. Belle, a university student, travels to this uncharted world for research. But she's unprepared for Thraxos, the towering, pale-blue warrior who rules with unchallenged strength and sees her as the one thing he's been missing. He's never chosen a life partner. Never needed one. Until her. But Thraxos doesn't love the way humans do. His affection is possession. His protection is control. And Belle's fire only draws him closer. Now, caught in a place where her voice means little and her body is his to claim, Belle must decide: resist the darkness, or surrender to the one male she was never meant to survive.

Julie Leong always does as she's told. Studies hard, works late shifts at the family restaurant, and carefully lays out a plan for a well paying career. But with an impossible-to-please dad and annoyingly perfect sister, Julie can't seem to ever catch a break. Everything changes one stormy night, when an awkward food delivery for Callen Sterling, mysterious and handsome CEO of Sterling Studios, leads to the offer of a lifetime, and her perfect plan goes out the window. What starts out as a harmless side gig quickly grows into so much more as they find themselves impossibly drawn to each other. She learns of anonymous threats Callen has been receiving - and they're only getting worse. But it takes a lot more than a few death threats to scare the determined (and stubborn) Julie away. Her life becomes more and more entangled with Callen's, until she ultimately finds herself torn between two paths. Misery in exchange for money and success, or risking it all for a chance at love and happiness.

She was invisible by choice. He was power incarnate. Their collision was inevitable-and ruinous. Lenora Williams has spent her life living in the quiet margins. Soft-spoken and self-contained, she finds solace in solitude, her small apartment a sanctuary from a world that once betrayed her. Haunted by a past she never speaks of, Lenora clings to routine like a lifeline-until the day she's offered a coveted position at the city's most powerful and enigmatic corporation. Ruthless, brilliant, and dangerously magnetic-Luca Maroni is the CEO of a billion-dollar empire, Luca controls everything he touches. He doesn't believe in love. He believes in ownership. Discipline. Obedience. But from the moment he meets Lenora-his new, quiet secretary with downcast eyes and secrets in her soul-his iron-clad world begins to crack. She's everything he isn't. Everything he doesn't understand. And everything he suddenly must possess. To Luca, Lenora is more than temptation-she's purity in a world of corruption. An obsession he can't shake. And as desire twists into obsession, his need to protect her begins to blur with his need to own her. But Lenora has demons of her own. And some shadows refuse to stay buried. As passion ignites and boundaries shatter, Lenora and Luca find themselves entangled in a dangerous dance of power, secrets, and surrender. But when the past returns with a vengeance and the darkness threatens to consume them both... Will love be their salvation-or their destruction?

Alessia has never spoken a single word in her life. Stolen as a child by a ruthless gang, she grew up in captivity, taught to believe that pain was a lesson and obedience was survival. Forced to work as a servant, she endured years of mistreatment, never questioning the twisted reality forced upon her. Despite the cruelty, she remains kind, her innocence untainted-but dangerously unaware of the true depths of evil in the world. Until the night she escaped. Lost in the dark streets of Naples, she collided into Matteo De Luca, the cold and merciless head of the most powerful mafia family. Matteo is a man feared by all, a king in the underworld where blood and loyalty rule. He has no patience for weakness. No room for softness in his life. But when he sees the mute, trembling girl looking up at him with wide, trusting eyes, completely unaware of who he is, something inside him snaps. She doesn't fear him. She doesn't know he's a monster. And for the first time in his life, Matteo feels the dangerous urge to protect instead of destruction.

BOOK 1 IN THE MORETTI SERIES A story about an oppressed young woman and a ruthless Mafia man arranged to be married in a world neither of them asked to be born in. *SLOWBURN ROMANCE* *Morally grey Male lead.* *Innocent Female lead.*