PaytonRunning away from home at 17 wasn't easy. Let's face it, though, nothing before or in the ten years since has ever been easy for me. And I'm doing okay—sorta. I just need to keep scraping by, living under the radar. Staying out of people's way, off people's minds.When a man walks through my open patio door, stepping boldly into my home and my life, I should be scared, frightened, terrified.I must be more broken than I realized because I'm none...

CassieHow to make the handsome, brooding man across the street notice me?Step one: Deliver baked goods to his front porch, even though he never answers his door and always returns the containers when I'm not home.Step two: Slowly lose my mind as a whole year passes without ever running into him, no matter how hard I try.Step three: Have my boudoir photos accidentally delivered to his mailbox instead of mine. Have him open the package. Then h...

I should have run the other way.Paid my tab and gone back to my room. But he was there. And he was…everything. I figured, what's the harm in letting passion rule my decisions for one night? So what if he looks like the Devil in a suit? I'd be leaving in the morning, flying home to my pleasant but predictable life. I'd never see him again.Except I do. In the last place I expected. And now everything I've worked so hard for is in jeopardy.We can't sto...

Okay, so my bad for assuming the guy I was going on a date with wasn't married.And my bad for taking him to a friend's house for dinner, only to find out my friend is also friends with his wife. Because, in fact, he is married. And she happens to be at my friend's house because her husband was "busy working."Confused? So am I.Unsurprisingly, my date's wife is super angry about finding out that her husband is a cheating asshole. Gi...

I'm so sick of watching the world spin by, of letting people think I'm plain and boring, too afraid to just be myself.Then I see him *—*John.He's strength, and fury, and unapologetic. He's everything I want. And everything I wish I was.He won't want me, but that doesn't matter. The sight of him is all the inspiration I need to finally shatter this glass house I've built around myself.Only he does want me. And when our worlds collide, details...

ValWhen I was nine, I went to my first funeral. Along with accepting my father's death, I had to accept new and awful truths I wasn't prepared for.When I was nineteen, I went to my mother's funeral. We weren't close, but with her gone, I became more alone than ever before.Sure, I have a half-brother who runs The Alliance. And yeah, he's given me his protection—in the form of a bodyguard and chauffeur. But I don't have anyone that really knows me. No...

ElouiseI fell in love with Beckett when I was 7. He broke my heart when I was 15. When I was 18, I promised myself I'd forget about him. And I did. For a dozen years.But now he's back home. Here. In Darling Lake. And I don't know if I should give in to the temptation swirling between us or run the other way.BeckettShe had a crush on me when she was a kid. But she was my brother's best friend's little sister. I didn't see her...

There are a few things that life doesn't prepare you for.Like what to do when a super-hot guy catches you sneaking around in his basement, or what to do when a mysterious package shows up with tickets to a hockey game (because, apparently, he's a professional athlete). Nor how to handle it when you get to the game and realize he's freaking famous, since half of the 20,000 people in the stands are wearing his jersey.I thought I was a well-adjusted ...

Mother-freaking hockey players.My friends found their happily-ever-afters with a couple of sweet, doting, over-the-top, in-love athletes. They got nicknames like Kitten and Sugar. But me? I got stuck with a dickhead who riles me up on purpose and calls me Banshee.Yeah, he might have a voice made explicitly for wet dreams. And he might have a body and face carved by the gods. And he might have a level of Alpha-hole that gets me all hot and bothered....

BethIt started with tragedy. And secrets.Hidden truths that refused to stay buried have come out to chase me. Now I'm on the run, living under a blanket of constant fear, pretending to be someone I'm not. And if I'm not really me, how am I supposed to know what's real?AngeloWatch the girl.It was supposed to be a simple assignment. But, like everything else in this family, there's nothing simple about it. Not my task....

My trip to Mexico for my cousin's wedding was only supposed to be a few days of obligation and oceanside.I wasn't expecting Luke. Wasn't expecting the hot hockey player, with the smirks and the tattoos, who kept bumping into me. And I certainly wasn't expecting to spend a night on the beach, under the stars, underneath him.It was magical, but I thought it would end there. Instead, we exchanged numbers and stayed in touch.So when Luke invited me to w...

When a holiday baking competition goes incredibly wrong. Or right…MichaelI'm starting to think I've been doing this for too long. The screaming fans. The constant media attention. The fat paychecks. None of it brings me the happiness I yearn for.Yet here I am. Another year. Another holiday special. Another Christmas spent alone in a hotel room.But then the lights go up. And I see her.AliceIt'...