He built a fortress around his heart. She brought a wrecking ball and a secret. Elias Thorne is a mystery in Oakhaven, A solitary figure and the owner of a successful tattoo franchise, his wealth is as carefully guarded as his silence. He is the quiet grump the whole town wants to decipher, but no one ever gets close. Elias likes his life neat, organized, and utterly empty of anything that could remind him of love and loss. Then June Hayes arrives. Burnt out from the new york art scene and pregnant via a donor, June is determined to create a peaceful, new life for herself and her baby. To the locals, she's just a sweet, new artist. They have no idea she's also viral sensation with over a million followers who sells her work to the A-list. June sees Elias's grumpy exterior and smiles. She needs a friend, and she has decided the broody, ball cap wearing man (no seriously I never see him without a hat on - June) across the street is it. She invades his quiet space showing up at the inkwell every Tuesday and spending the day, sharing her music, and poking at his meticulous order. Elias fights it all, clenching his jaw and pulling his cap low to hide the truth: he fell for the Wildflower the minute she crashed into his life. As June begins posting subtle, faceless photos of him, their reluctant friendship turns into an online viral romance that threatens to expose both of their secrets. How do you guard a heart that already belongs to a Wildflower, a baby, and a life you swore you'd never have? And what happens when the most careful grump in Oakhaven blurts out, "That's my wife," just to stay by her side? Tropes: - Grumpy x Sunshine - He Falls First - Protective - Pregnancy - Small Town - Forced Friends - Friends to lovers - Secret Identity CAN BE READ AS A STANDALONE AND NEEDS EDITING

Struggling to sell a single painting and drowning in student debt, Marisol Reyes, a fiercely independent but lonely artist in modern-day Chicago, is just about ready to give up on her dreams. When a mysterious storm crashes through her studio, she's pulled-brushes and all-into a world of primal beauty, where men can transform at will to different animals, cities are carved from stone and bone, and technology is nothing more than a fantasy. In this untamed realm centered around women and powered by instinct, Marisol finds herself at the center of the beastmen tribes. With no phone, no way home, and no clue how to survive in a matriarchal society where women must take multiple male consorts to stay protected, Marisol must quickly adapt-or risk becoming prey. Thrust into the spotlight, she must navigate between aggressive females, obsessive men, and unexpected desire. Armed with nothing but her creativity, courage, and the heart she wears on her sleeve, Marisol begins to uncover her place in this wild world. Maybe she doesn't need to return home after all... maybe she was meant to paint a new life here.

When 𝐊𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐢 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬, 22, drops out of college after her father is sentenced to prison for a crime he swears he didn't commit, her life collapses fast...eviction notices, unpaid tuition, a mother barely holding it together. Then 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐕𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐧 appears. Late 40s. Private wealth. No digital footprint. He offers her a monthly allowance for companionship only. No sex. No exclusivity clause. No explanations. What unsettles Kailani isn't the money. It's how little she needs to explain herself because he already knows.

"Will it kill you to back the fuck up?" I snapped. "Yes, princess," he whispered sweetly against my ear, voice full of that sick affection. "It would. I would drop dead right here if I couldn't be next to you." "My lucky day," I muttered sarcastically.

She didn't come to the United States to be noticed. Tara Khanna came with a scholarship, a past she doesn't talk about, and just enough money to survive. Between lectures, part-time work, and sleepless nights, her only goal is simple-stay invisible and make it through. And for a while... she succeeds. Because by day, she's just another quiet student. The girl who sits at the back. The one no one remembers. But Tara has built a life no one sees. A life behind glowing screens and silent code. A life where she earns in ways no one questions. A life where the night belongs to her. Because when the city sleeps... She doesn't. In the underground world of illegal street racing, Tara isn't invisible-she's untouchable. Known by a name no one at the university would ever connect to her, she lives for speed, risk, and the kind of freedom she's never had. Everything is under control. Until it isn't. Because some things can't stay hidden forever. Not from them. Luca Moretti. Ethan Carter. Sebastian Klein. Zane Walker. Four men. Best friends. Untouchable in their own ways. They don't chase. They don't lose. And they don't share. Until her. She was never meant to be seen. Never meant to be known. And she definitely wasn't meant to have all four of them watching her. But secrets have a way of surfacing. And when her worlds begin to collide- between late-night races, hidden codes, and dangerous attention- Tara realizes one thing: She doesn't have to choose. Because they've already decided. They all want her. They're used to winning... but she was never part of the game. This is my first book so please support and be kind 🤍 This is a completely fictional story; all characters and events are imaginary.

Twenty-year-old Chloe Miller lives a cozy, chaotic life. She runs Sweet Treats Bakery, lives alone in the apartment upstairs, and shares her space with her beloved fur-babies: four highly judgmental cats and a massive, goofy English Mastiff named Barnaby, whom she adopted from a local pet store when he was just a tiny, clumsy puppy. But Chloe's quiet routine is turned completely upside down when she goes to empty the bakery trash and finds a pair of beautiful baby twins tucked inside a garbage can. Naturally, her golden heart won't let her leave them, so she brings them inside. What Chloe has absolutely no idea about is that these twins belong to Luca Moretti-the city's most feared, ruthless mafia don. And when his search for his stolen children leads him straight to her bakery, Chloe is about to find out that "accidentally parenting" mob royalty is a recipe for absolute disaster.

Michelle only wanted a quiet life, work, friends, and a future she could build on her own. But everything changes the night she meets Christian. Christian is the kind of man people whisper about. Powerful, calm, and dangerously unreadable. He always gets what he wants, and he never chases anything twice. Until Michelle. What starts as unexpected attention quickly turns into something far more intense. Christian is always there; watching, protecting, stepping in whenever someone gets too close. At first, Michelle tells herself it's just coincidence. But coincidences don't feel like this. The way his hand tightens around her wrist when she tries to walk away. The way his voice drops when another man looks at her. The way he kisses her like he's claiming something that already belongs to him. Michelle knows she should stay away. Everyone warns her about Christian. But the more she tries to escape his world, the more she realizes one terrifying truth Christian doesn't chase. He claims. And once he decides someone is his... letting them go was never an option.

Alessandra has never believed in safety. Life never gave her a reason to. Pain carved her childhood, silence became her armor, and trust? That was a luxury she could never afford. So when she runs -- bloody, broken, and barely breathing, she doesn't expect saving. She certainly doesn't expect to be taken in by a family dripping in wealth and power and. . . warmth? A mother who refuses to give up on her. A father who watches like he's waiting for her to let him in. And six brothers. Rough. Protective. Complicated. Brothers, who don't know what to do with a sister who won't speak. She doesn't know how to trust. How to believe that maybe not everyone wants to hurt her. Every instinct tells her to run. To shut down. But they don't let her go. Not when she flinches. Not when she hides. Not even when she breaks. Happiness is for other people, or that's what she believes. But when love comes wrapped in gentle patience and fierce protection, when hands reach for her without demand, when hearts break themselves wide open just to hold her... she starts to wonder. Can a girl stitched together with silence and fear ever belong in a family built on love? Can she stand tall when the ghosts of her past refuse to let go? And when danger claws its way back into her life, threatening everything she's come to know... will she find her voice, or will she shatter all over again? Trigger Warnings: Child abuse. Violence. Addiction. Panic attacks. SA. Self-harm. Death, and more.

After fleeing her abusive ex in the middle of the night, Chloe Dawson arrives in a small coastal town with nothing but a duffel bag, a crying six-month-old baby, and the last of her savings. She rents a tiny apartment where the walls are paper-thin. Next door lives Sergeant Mason Kane, disciplined, exhausted, emotionally closed off, and currently on leave between military assignments. After years in the army, silence is the only thing that helps him sleep. Then the baby starts crying every night. At first, Mason is irritated. Chloe is terrified of him. Every knock on the door reminds her of the man she escaped.

She was supposed to be terrified. Instead, she treated the kidnapping like a vacation. After years of hiding behind fake smiles, oversized sweaters, and exhausting normalcy, Naomi no longer remembers what it feels like to truly relax. Her quiet office job is draining, people are unbearable, and pretending to be ordinary every single day is slowly suffocating her. Then she gets abducted by a massive Russian assassin with blood on his hands and winter in his eyes. Oddly enough? It's the most peace she's felt in years. But Viktor isn't just a killer. He's a survivor of a classified government experiment created by the one man Naomi spent her childhood admiring: her father. Once celebrated as a genius scientist specializing in chemical weapons and psychological conditioning, Naomi's father vanished after a catastrophic incident years ago, leaving behind destroyed lives, buried secrets, and men turned into weapons. Men like Viktor. Now powerful organizations believe Naomi unknowingly carries the final key to her father's research hidden somewhere inside her memories. Viktor was ordered to kidnap her. Interrogate her. Break her if necessary. He fully intended to. Until the quiet black woman he expected to fear him looked around his isolated cabin and calmly asked if there was food. The longer Naomi stays in captivity, the more dangerous their connection becomes. Behind her soft voice and exhausted smiles hides a mind trained from childhood to wear masks, conceal intelligence, and survive at all costs. And Viktor is beginning to realize something horrifying: The scientist who created him may have created Naomi, too. Just in a different way. 🕯️