💔 Hurting You, Loving You (Avery LaCroix & Roman St. James - Book Three in The Hurt series) Roman St. James doesn't lose control. Not in court. Not in life. And definitely not over her. Avery LaCroix. Nineteen. Sharp-tongued, reckless, and way too comfortable walking around his apartment like she doesn't set everything on fire. She's also his stepsister. He met her when she was still a teenager. Now she's grown - and staying in his space for the summer. Which is a problem. Because Roman's twenty-five . All clean lines and self-control. And Avery? She's chaos in eyeliner. The temptation he swore he'd never touch. They pretend the tension doesn't exist. That they're not circling something dangerous. But one spark... and it's over. This isn't the kind of love that waits its turn. It's the kind that breaks rules - and hearts - just to feel alive. 🔞 Mature Content Warning 🔞 This story is 18+ and intended for mature readers only. It includes: ✨ Explicit sexual content ✨ Strong language & adult themes ✨ Underage alcohol and drug use ✨ Forbidden, age-gap romance ✨ High emotional tension & family conflict A steamy, slow-burn, off-limits romance between a rule-following law student and the one girl he should never touch.

💥 Grumpy sunshine. Age-gap. 💔 The Hurt Between Us Book Two in The Hurt Series (Rowan & Nate's world) He was never hers to want. Too old. Too broken. Too buried in a past he never crawled out of. Dean Callahan lost the love of his life in Afghanistan. Now, he keeps his heart locked behind grief, guilt, and a garage door. Cassie Monroe? She's the storm he didn't see coming. Too young. Too reckless. Too good at getting under his skin. One night. One kiss. It should've meant nothing. But she tastes like a second chance- and Dean hasn't believed in those for a long, long time. He's the mistake she can't stop making. She's the fire he should've stayed away from. And this time? Walking away might just hurt more than falling ever did. ⚠️ Content Warning ⚠️ The Hurt Between Us is a New Adult romance intended for mature audiences 18+ This story contains explicit sexual content, coarse language, and themes of emotional trauma and grief. It also includes depictions of drinking, smoking, and complex emotional relationships involving past military loss and guarded intimacy. Reader discretion is strongly advised. All rights reserved. This work is the intellectual property of the author. No part of this story may be copied, reposted, or reproduced without permission.

💔 Where It Hurts the Most - Part One: The Hurt Series He's her brother's best friend. A cop. Too old. Too off-limits. Rowan Hayes stopped caring the day her brother died. At seventeen, she's reckless, wild, and halfway to self-destruction-drinking too much, feeling too little, doing everything she can to forget. And Nate Delaney? He's the one picking up the pieces. Writing her up. Dragging her out. Dropping her off. The cop who's supposed to follow the rules- But breaks every single one when it comes to her. He promised he'd take care of her. But every time he sees her like this- Drunk. High. With the wrong guy. Something inside him cracks. She's the girl who doesn't want to be saved. He's the man who's breaking himself trying. He touches when he shouldn't. Stays when he should walk away. And looks at her like she's already his. The more he protects her, the harder it is to pretend he doesn't want her. And the closer they get, the more impossible it becomes to walk away. She's too young. He's sworn to stay away. But some lines don't just get crossed. They get shattered. A slow-burn, forbidden, age-gap new adult romance about grief, guilt, and the one person you should never want-but can't walk away from. ⚠️ Trigger Warning ⚠️ This story contains mature and sensitive content that may be distressing to some readers. Please proceed with care. Topics include: ✨ Explicit sexual content ✨ Substance use (alcohol, weed)Infidelity themes✨ Emotional trauma, grief, and self-destruction ✨ Strong language & adult themes ✨ Age-gap romance (all characters are 17+ and the story abides by the legal age of consent in Colorado) 💔 This is a New Adult / Mature Romance 🔞 Reader discretion is strongly advised.

Addison May and Jack Carter share a past that neither of them talks about anymore, the kind of past that still aches if you touch it too closely. Years ago, they were inseparable-young, in love, and full of plans they thought were unbreakable. But everything changed when Jack's mother fell ill. The grief hit him like a tidal wave, dragging him under before anyone could reach him. He turned to drinking, to shutting people out, to numbing himself in any way he could. And Addison, who loved him more than she ever admitted out loud, tried to hold on. She tried until she had nothing left to give. But the lowest point came the night she found out he'd cheated. In that instant, every version of their future shattered. She walked away without letting him explain, without letting herself look back. She swore she'd never trust him again. Never speak to him again. Never, ever let him close enough to hurt her again. Over time, her heartbreak hardened into anger, and that anger turned into something she told herself was hate-sharp, cold, and permanent. Years passed. They built separate lives, avoided the same rooms, the same conversations, the same memories. Addison convinced herself she was over it. Over him. Until now. At their best friends' wedding-surrounded by soft lights, slow music, and too many glasses of champagne-fate throws them right back into each other's orbit. One look across the room unravels her, one awkward "hi" tempts him, and one moment of shared laughter feels dangerously familiar. The night blurs, their walls loosen, and every emotion they buried rises to the surface. And when one thing leads to another... Addison is forced to face a truth she's avoided for years: The past isn't done with them. Not even close.

After spending most of her life surrounded by the noise and chaos of the big city, Winnie Grant found herself yearning for something quieter-something real. When the restlessness became too loud to ignore, she did the unthinkable: she quit her job, packed away the pieces of her old life, and accepted a new position in Red Lodge, Montana-a small town where everyone knew everyone, and secrets traveled faster than the wind. As the city skyline disappeared in her rearview mirror, Winnie could only hope she was making the right choice. Her new home was everything she hadn't realized she needed-quiet, quaint, and surrounded by the kind of stillness that made her both uneasy and comforted. After a few days of settling in, curiosity (and perhaps a touch of loneliness) led her to the local bar-a warm, wood-paneled place that smelled faintly of pine and spilled whiskey. That was where she met him. Sheriff Ben Langley. The man everyone in town seemed to know, and more than a few wished would so much as glance their way. Steady, reserved, and impossibly grounded in this small-town life-he was the last kind of man Winnie expected to notice her. But that night, under the soft glow of the bar's lights, it was the newcomer-the woman with city eyes and a quiet kind of courage-who caught his attention.

A young woman and her baby traveling to start a new life meet a kind stranger at the perfect time. My entry for the SouthwestContest!

"ʏᴏᴜʀ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ɴᴇᴀʀ ʜᴇʀ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ, ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴅᴏ ɪʟʟ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ꜱᴜʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʟɪꜰᴇ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ʙᴜᴛ ᴍɪꜱᴇʀʏ." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lucian Black, a self-made billionaire, was cast out by his powerful family at sixteen. Cold, scarred, and ruthless, he built an empire from nothing-now owning half the city, including the company his family once controlled. To him, love is weakness... until her. Isadora Vale, polished and perfect on the outside, grew up in a world of wealth but never love. Behind her bright smile lies years of neglect and impossible expectations. Determined to prove herself, she built her own career, desperate to escape the hollow life her family designed. Two broken souls, raised in loveless homes, collide. He hides behind power. She hides behind light. But what happens when their walls start to crack?

𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘻 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯? 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵... 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥. 𝙁𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣

A girl who learned to hold herself together. A man who makes it feel safe to fall apart. Zara Lavigne was done with love after her last relationship left her quiet, careful, and convinced that softness was a weakness. Matteo Vale is steady in a way she's never known - patient, warm, and impossibly hard to hide from. He doesn't ask her to change. He just shows her what it feels like to be treated gently. But letting someone in is the one thing she promised she'd never do again. So what happens when she realises she wants to? ------------------------------------------------------------------ "She rested her cheek against his chest, feeling the quiet of him. "I didn't know love could feel like this," she whispered. Matteo pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Like what?" "Gentle."" ------------------------------------------------------------------

A sunshine girl. A serious man. Multiple chanced meetings that changed everything. Aurora Blaire wasn't looking for anything serious-especially not while on a girls' holiday. But fate had other plans, for both her and Lucian Thorne: a brutally composed CEO who didn't do random, had never been in a relationship, and was too focused on his businesses to find love. What started as chance run-ins turned into something they couldn't ignore. But how does a man built on control survive the kind of girl who blooms in chaos? ------------------------------------------------------------------ ""Her tipsy boldness kicked in hard, and walked for the armrest near him-planning to sit there casually. But the world tilted, and instead of gracefully settling next to him, she ended up tumbling right onto his lap. His hand shot to her waist, steadying her with surprising gentleness. "Careful, princess." he said, his voice low and smooth, just enough to make her blush harder. "Oops," she giggled, cheeks flaming. "I cant believe it's you Mr. Serious." "Still drunk, I see." And with that, Aurora's mind took off in full chatter mode."" ------------------------------------------------------------------ #1 SWEET #1 GRUMPY #1 CUTE #1 FUNNY #1 GRUMPYXSUNSHINE #1 RICHGUY #5 CEO