UNEDITED Between his semi-committed addiction to smoking and his role as CEO of Elemental Coffee, Cassian Russell has spent the majority of his life running one of the most popular coffee shops on the Island with his best friend, Jake Swift. After an initial decision to expand their business, Cassian and his fellow investment partner, Penelope Montgomery, stay in West Kelowna to promote their business to a new winery. While Cassian's aware the head of the management team of Utterly Uncorked is someone he was madly in love with when he was a kid, he's not prepared for the unfathomable relationship that follows their reunion. Penelope Montgomery has been working double time to expand the horizons of Elemental Coffee since Jake and Cassian hired her, so when she's presented with the opportunity to help them open up shop in West Kelowna, with new responsibilities and additional incentives, she jumps on the job. Working with Cassian, the man she's been crushing on since they met during a business trip, is supposed to be easy, right? No. When Cassian reunites with an old friend and she sees the smouldering flame between them, things get harder for Penelope. How long can she watch the man she loves fall for another woman? After feeling out of place for decades, Penelope is more lost than ever. As time goes on, Cassian begins to realize the calamities of having a relationship with another big-corporation business person. Relationships come with a price, and he doesn't know if he's ready for the one he has to pay. And when a shocking new revelation comes to light, he's forced to make a choice between his company and the broody, cynical attributes of love.

UNEDITED *You have to read The Truth About Faking before reading this novella!* This is a novella about Jake and Gemma's wedding and the events leading up to it.

| published! under the new title MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE | Eden knows she can't love Truman, the boy with the angelic smile and devilish eyes. Why? He's her best friend Katie's older brother, who she strictly promised she'd stay away from. But when a tragic accident strikes, Truman and Eden find their way back to one another. With the promise she made her friend stuck on her mind, Eden tries her hardest to push Truman away, even when life seems stuck on keeping them together. Alex Light © All Rights Reserved. 2018. Highest rank: #2 in Teen Fiction, #1 in YA

REMOVED FROM SAVING LEAH SERIES "Hush, Little Lamb." I cry into his shirt, not caring that I am in his lap. His large hands run down my back in comfort, making my sobs turn into quiet hiccups. "That's it," Aiden comforts. The hospital door swings open and the second I see my father, I jump out of Aiden's lap and run into his arms. "It's alright Lucy. Mommy is gonna be just fine." "Do they know what happened, Mr. Astor?" Aiden asks from behind me. My father takes a moment to answer, "Drunk driver. She just has a fractured wrist. She will be fine," he says, looking down at me with an expression I don't understand. "Mom is gonna be alright, right?" "Yes, Love. She's going to be just fine," Father says, petting my back. His gaze stays fixated on Aiden in a way I don't understand. Wasn't father happy that Aiden, his favorite student, had followed his request to bring me here? ---- Lucy has grown up sheltered her whole life. With her loving father and three dominant brothers, she has had little experience with boys. Being completely oblivious to her beauty and desirable submissive qualities, she is shocked that she ever caught the eye of Aiden, who has been her father's friend and former student for years.

|| a featured story || After the tragic death of her boyfriend, Rose flees to a cabin in the wild to mend her broken heart. It's there she meets Sebastian, her new neighbour with eyes like a black hole: vast enough to hold thousands of secrets. Rose spends their short time together trying to unravel him, and learns that the only way to heal a broken heart is to fall in love with someone new. Featured on: November 13, 2017. Completed on: May 10, 2018. Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved RANKS: #1 in Short Story (Feb 6, 2019)

A boy who likes to party and have fun at all times is exactly what Katie doesn't want in her life at the moment. Not when she's a sophomore, trying to get a 4.0 and be a fashion designer. But there's something about Adam Decker that she can't stay away from, maybe it's the good looks or maybe it's because he won't leave her alone. Whatever it is, Katie seems to find herself tangled in him even when she doesn't want to be. Sometimes you need someone else in your life to see how strong YOU are. **Trigger Warning** This story deals with bulimia and self image. Please at your own risk and don't read if it puts you at risk.

When Rocio's boyfriend invites his best friend on their trip to Ibiza, she thinks nothing of it--until his smoking hot body makes her think again. ***** The summer before her last year of university, Rocio plans a romantic, drama-free vacation to Ibiza with her boyfriend Axel. But nothing goes according to plan when their party of two becomes a party of six, and when Axel invites his best friend Levi--who Rocio has never met--on the trip. Because Levi is everything that Axel isn't: he's charming, flirtatious, and rocks a sexy Australian accent just as easily as a six pack. But as Rocio continues to deny their instant, irresistible connection, she can't help but wonder...what's the worst that could happen if she gave in to temptation? All she has to do is kiss Levi to find out . . . Content/Trigger Warning: contains references to sexual assault. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

I look down at the frail frame of the girl. I unlatched her cage and nudged her with my foot. It seems cruel, but the other trainers would have done much worse to see her ignoring their commands to rise. "Wake up, you're being moved," I say to her, crouching down and shaking her. She lies unmoving and a heaviness settles in my chest. I move her hair from her face and press my fingers to her neck, trying to find a pulse. I purse my lips, feeling the faint beating of her weak heart. I look at the girl, watching her struggle to push air in and out of her lungs. I can tell she is sick. Do I put her in the truck with the others, or take her to the doctor? The truth is, nothing good awaits her in the truck. The only question is if it is crueler to go put her with the others, unconscious and barely holding on, or to take her to the doctor. I feel sick just thinking about it. She either dies here, or will wish she would have. I can't turn a blind eye to her though, I can't stand and watch as the life leaves her. Perhaps she will be thankful for me saving her life. ---- Hazel. She's a pretty little thing, far too precious and fragile for the life she was born into. Having lived most of her life in a training facility, she knows little of the beauty of the world or the people in it. A punishment gone bad, forever mares her, leaving her crippled, undesirable. Axel. He's an average man with an abnormal size. Being a Trainer, he is expected to be cold and cruel, someone he is not. It pays him money though, so perhaps living up to that expectation isn't that bad? When confronted with a choice he finally has to choose who he wants to be. Will he live up to others expectations? Or will he choose what may not be easiest, but what is right?