Résultats par auteur "Winter Renshaw"

Dear Isaiah, eight months ago, you were just a soldier about to be deployed and I was just a waitress, sneaking you a free pancake and hoping you wouldn't notice that my gaze was lingering a little too long. But you did notice. We spent one life-changing week together before you left, and we said goodbye on day eight, exchanging addresses at the last minute. I saved every letter you wrote me, your words quickly becoming my religion. But you went radio silent on me months ago, and then you had the audacity to walk into my diner yesterday and act like you'd never seen me in your life.

He said it would only hurt a little... On her 16th birthday, Sleeping Beauty pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. On my 22nd, I pricked mine on the needle of a tattoo machine wielded by a beautifully complicated man who would go on to become my ruin.

Dear Melrose, The first time I met you, you were a stranger. The second time, you were my roommate. The third time, you made it clear you were about to become the biggest thorn my side had ever known. You sing way too loud in the shower and use all the hot water. You’re bossy as hell. You make my life all kinds of complicated. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop thinking about you. Truthfully...I can’t stop wanting you. I was going to tell you this. 

There's a name for girls like me: Sugar Baby. I’m used to being passed around the sexually depraved, middle-aged senators of Washington, DC, like candy, but when I meet him - the mysterious man who buys my exclusivity for three months for price that should frighten me more than his demands - everything changes. He's younger than the others. His touch is softer. His lips sweeter. His need fiercer. He has only one requirement.... A blindfold to protect his identity...and to protect me from the danger I'd face if our arrangement leaked to the world.

The name on the screen was "Absinthe". But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late-night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little...mutually satisfying exchanges...I'd ever experienced in my life. We'd never met. Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, "You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?"

Before this ridiculous little arrangement commences, I’d like to make myself indubitably clear: I know who you are, I know that my father hired you, I know why my father hired you, and last but not least: Your services aren’t needed. In fact, I want no part of my father’s billion-dollar empire, and him “gifting” me with one of the “best concierges in the county” won’t change that. However, seeing as my father has strong-armed me into taking this position, it appears as though we’re stuck together - at least until your contract is up next month.  

Reed York was never my boyfriend. He was the pen. I was the company ink. Though if you want to get technical, we were more like colleagues who hated each other...with benefits. Everything was fine until the charming jerk went behind my back, stole my promotion, and became my boss - literally overnight. Refusing to work beneath him, I transferred 2,014 miles away to our Chicago division. But he’s just announced a last-minute site visit the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and he’s audaciously designated me as his "right-hand gal" during his visit. 

His name is Royal, but he's no prince charming. He's not even a prince - though you could say I loved him once upon a time. He was my older brother's best friend. Growing up, he sat at our dinner table every Sunday, teased me mercilessly, and pretended I annoyed him. When I was old enough, he took me on my first date. Royal taught me how to drive. Escorted me to my junior prom. Gave me my first kiss...among other things. He was my first taste of toe-curling, all-consuming, can't-sleep love.

Derek Rosewood is never going to marry - ever again. Fresh off the heels of a bitter divorce, there are only three things he cares about: his daughter, his career, and his bachelorhood. An attorney by trade and happily married to his job, he saves the drama for the courtroom and keeps women at arm's length. Their fragile, sequined hearts are safer that way. And besides, he's not in any condition to offer them the love and attention they so foolishly seek from him.

The words “For Lila, forever” adorned the front of the envelope in blue ink, the handwriting all too familiar. But it didn’t matter what it said. I didn’t have the heart to open it. We couldn’t be together. Not after everything.... Leaving Rose Crossing, Maine was one of the most painful moments of my life - or at least it was until the day I came face-to-face with Thayer Ainsworth again. After a decade of searching, he’s found me, and he wants to know why I quit my housemaid job and left his family’s island estate without so much as a goodbye.

The moment Jude Warner walked into my life, he was just some handsome stranger in an expensive suit. A moment later I discovered he was my neighbor, both of us new to the building. Then he was the knight in shining armor who rescued my place from a late-night plumbing fiasco. The prince charming who offered me refuge and ice cream during a storm-fueled power outage. The bona-fide saint who volunteered to accompany me to my crazy sister’s wedding back in North Carolina. Falling for him was easy. Finding out exactly who he was? Earth-shattering.

When some pretty little thing shows up at my doorstep with a suitcase, claiming she rented my house for the summer, I waste no time informing her that my house isn't for rent. Some Internet jack*ss scammed her out of all her money, but that's not my problem. Only when I find her sleeping in her car a couple days later, I can't turn my back. I make her an offer: room and board in exchange for working on my ranch. She agrees, and I open my doors to a girl who sings too loud, sticks her nose where it doesn't belong, and distracts me with her tight jeans and those full lips.

The last time I saw Nevada Kane, I was 17, and he was loading his things into the back of his truck, about to embark on a 14-hour drive to the only college that offered him a full ride to play basketball. I told him I'd wait for him. He promised to do the same. But life happened. I broke my promise long before he ever broke his - and not because I wanted to. We never saw each other again.... Until 10 years later, when Nevada unexpectedly returned to our hometown after an abrupt retirement from his professional basketball career. Suddenly, he was everywhere.

Rhett Carson was as cold as the ice on which he skated. He was as calloused as the hands that shot the goals that won world championships. He was also damaged. And broken. And he didn't know it, but I knew all about him...and his unfortunate connection with my estranged older brother. I knew why he was so bitter and angry. I knew why he was so cold hearted. But I didn't know why I let myself fall in love with him. And I didn't know why I couldn't stop - even when he told me to.

I'm in the midst of scrawling "I quit!" onto his fancy cardstock letterhead when my boss corners me. He needs a favor, he says. And then he asks how well I can act. Hudson Rutherford needs a fiancée. With his old-moneyed parents forcing him to marry some bratty hotel heiress and his hedonistic, playboy lifestyle at stake, the only way to get them to back off is to make them think he's truly, madly, deeply in love...with me - his third personal assistant this year. But I can hardly stand working for him as it is.

It was just a party. A silly little celebration with champagne and my best friends. As I blew out the candles on my divorce cake, I said good-bye to my failed marriage and embraced my future with open arms. But I didn't know the future was going to come in the form of a mysterious stranger sitting at the end of the bar, stealing glances all night. And I didn't know it at the time, but my future even had a name: Dante Amato.

It was New Year's Eve, and I should've been ringing in the night with cheap champagne and bad decisions at home in New York. Instead I found myself holed up in some hotel room in Southern California. But I wasn't alone. I was in the company of a fellow stranded traveler by the name of Cristiano. We spent one night together - forced into the same hotel room by the snowstorm that canceled our flights and changed our lives.

Beckham King. Noun. Synonyms: None. Vanity wrapped in arrogance and tied with a wicked-intentioned bow. Obnoxiously attractive. Wildly talented in the sack. Everything a girl could want in a one-night stand. Don't ask him to commit. Don't expect a phone call. You only get one night. And God forbid you're the one girl deemed worthy of a reprise...Because you won't stand a chance. When an arrogant playboy's mind is set, there's abso-f--cking-lutely no changing it.

I believe in soul mates but I never wanted to fall in love with mine. Two men want my heart. One is everything I want. The other is everything I need. One makes me feel safe. The other makes me feel terrified and wonderful all at the same time. Both of them have secrets. But to be fair, so do I.

The last time my father beat me to a bloody pulp was the night he walked in on me with his woman in his bed. To be fair, she seduced me. And to be honest, I liked it. But to CPS, I was a victim. They shipped me to Utah, where my estranged mother lived with her husband and two sister-wives. And that's when I met her. My innocent, wholesome, perfect step-sister. Well, one of many. But Waverly stood out because just like me, we'd been fighting a losing battle our entire lives. Falling for her was a mistake, but shit, it's not like I ever made good decisions.