Showing results by author "Jo Raven" in All Categories

Returning to Madison hurts. I thought I'd left my past behind, but the past goes on living. I carry it inside of me, it's a piece of me. People have marked me in indelible ways, and I drag the shreds of my soul behind me, trying to put my pieces back together. I'm not the Amber I used to be. I fly under the radar, try to be invisible. It doesn't always work. Drawing attention scares me. It always spells trouble. Returning to my hometown is a last-ditch effort to lay my demons to rest and start anew, for good this time.

There's me: Micah Owens. Tattoo artist at Damage Control. No parents or siblings. A past that still gives me nightmares. And then there's her: Evangeline, the girl who saved my life and haunts my more pleasant dreams. Only she doesn't know who I really am, and telling her might well send her fleeing for the hills. She deserves better than a loser like me. She's pretty. She's clever. She's goddamn sexy and has a heart of gold. Which is why I can't tell her.

Life is a b*tch. Keeps screwing me over, and I take blow after blow, sucking it up, giving her the finger. Don't get me wrong: I love women. Especially one woman - Madeline. She's gorgeous, she's sexy, she's goddamn perfect. Plus - minor detail - she has a boyfriend already. Not that she'd want anything to do with the likes of me. Apprentice tattoo artist, former homeless person, covered in ink, without a penny to my name. And sort of cursed.

Joel and Jethro. Roommates. Total hunks. Inseparable friends. Hot as hell. Meet my fantasy boyfriends. Aren't they just the sexiest, cutest thing? I know, right? They totally are. They are hot, too hot for a quiet - and obsessed with them - girl working in a bookshop. That'd be me, by the way. There's also the tiny problem of Joel wanting another girl. And as for Jethro, well...he doesn't do girls. Or maybe he doesn't do relationships.

Almost three years ago, a car crash took Audrey's dad and scarred her for life. Now 18, she returns to her hometown for the first time after the accident. She's here to start again. Go to college and have fun. Make new friends. Get over the past. But the past won't let go. Asher is here - her first kiss, her first heartbreak. More handsome and distant than ever, he's still the boy who used to be her best friend. That was before he changed into someone she hardly knows anymore - the boy who started getting into fights and gave her the cold shoulder for years.

They call me Zen-man, the cool-headed one, the protector. I keep an eye out for everyone, take them in, find them homes. They think I’m the calm and collected one, the self-assured one, the one who knows the way. They think they see me. They think they know me. But they’re all wrong, because inside I’m broken. I have a jagged hole in my soul I can’t fix, a festering blackness. I’ve been to the pits of hell, and nobody comes back unscathed. Life in foster care fucked me up, and now a thread is all that’s holding me together.

Jarett was our neighbors’ adopted son. Handsome, strong, and quiet, he was my protector and my friend. Now he’s back, and he’s still gorgeous. Tall, dark, and sexy. All man. But he’s a bad guy, moving with a dangerous crowd. So why do I keep winding up in his arms? On his lap. In his bed. I know better than this - I’m better than this. I should stop. Only my heart tells me there’s good inside Jarett. That I could save him. Then again, what happens to gullible girls who climb into bed with the big, bad wolf?

Matthew Hansen is the kind of handsome that has grown women whispering behind their hands and giggling like schoolgirls. Dark, tall and mysterious, he's a newcomer to our little town. He's a gritty, grease-covered mechanic, and a single daddy. Sweet, right? Plus, he's looking for a nanny - and I am desperately looking for a job. Sounds like the perfect deal. Only he's a jerk. An uncivilized, hulking brute. Zero manners. Zero interest in making me feel welcome in his home. Downright rude. But oh, so sexy. And I need the job. I can do this.

Once upon a time, there lived a princess called Brylee who had a cat and a steady job and her eye on a handsome prince. But Prince Ryan refused to put out. Then Riddick walked through the door and ate her cookie. Literally, okay? It was a good cookie, too, with chocolate chips. Riddick is drop-dead gorgeous but not a prince. Regardless, Brylee can't fight that burning attraction. Even when Ryan suddenly becomes interested in her.

There are three of them. Three boys. We’re friends, neighbors, our lives linked through disaster, fear, and pain. I love them all. Not sure I can live without them. Can we just stay friends? Can we ignore the desire flaring when we’re around each other? Can I kiss one and not the other? I can’t choose. Don’t want to choose. And I’m not sure they can, either. This story will either end up in heartache, or as any story should - in a happy ending.

Unruly Jethro and cocky Joel are now officially my boyfriends. My Candy Boys. I moved in with them, and I expected things to be tense, awkward. I was wrong. This feels so right, and, well, hot. These boys are so hot. The boys and me, we're solid. However, doubt still lingers. I mean, Joel's parents hate each other. Jethro's dad killed his mom, for chrissakes. So I wonder if true love really exists. Love that doesn't fade over time. You know, the kind that withstands nightmares and bad jokes, unwashed dishes in the sink, and lack of lube. Yeah, that happened.

His name is Rafaele Vestri, Rafe to his friends. He’s tall, strong, handsome. Distant. He often comes to the coffee shop where I work, but we don’t talk much. He looks at me, though. Stares at me, his gaze heated, and I can’t help but stare back. I want him, I won’t deny it. I’ve never seen anyone that beautiful, anyone that powerful, in my life. But he’s growing more withdrawn by the day. Something’s up, and he won’t tell. I know about his past - the murder of his family when he was 15. I can imagine how much it must have cost him.

I don’t trust men. My ex cheated on me with my cousin. In our bed. And Kaden, my boyfriend, well, I think he cheated on me, too. Confidence is a fragile thing, and mine is already shattered. So I flew back to Chicago, putting distance between us before Kaden could hurt me more. I’ve sworn off men for good, focusing on my work and waiting for the pain to fade. I’m over Kaden. Really, I swear. I don’t love him anymore. It’s over. Only a miracle could throw us back together at this point. 

Tessa is close to giving up on her authoritative parents and their demands, on her studies, and on everything in her life, including Dylan. She can run away and leave it all behind or stay to fight against her controlling family and win back Dylan. She has a feeling he needs her, so how can she leave when he's the only man who’s ever made her feel alive?  

Five brothers in all but blood, five girls who love them, emerging from a past fraught with darkness and danger. There are wedding bells, and baby cries and laughter all around. They have found their happy ending. Only one cloud is marring these blue skies, and it has to do with Zane, the rock of the brotherhood. Nobody knows exactly what is wrong, but here’s the thing, folks: There are five of us, and we stand all for one and one for all. If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. We protect our own.

I don’t want Jason Vega. Not at all. It’s the worst idea ever. Ah, hell... Jason is handsome. Smart. Dangerous. Hot. He’s goddamn gorgeous - but he’s also sleeping on the street, hanging out with the local biker gang, and selling his body for a living. Our lives, our paths, couldn’t be further apart. I’m crawling toward the light while he’s falling into the dark. But it doesn’t matter how different we are or what logic dictates.

Four years have passed since I left home, my parents, and my brother Asher behind - since I shut out my past. And Erin. Four years since I last saw her, since I heard her voice and held her in my arms. I've spent my time forging a path from woman to woman, from bed to bed, trying to find an answer. But I think I've lost my way. There's no light at the end of the dark. No big surprise. I carry the dark inside me. I'm a bastard - branded as such from the start. I never give my phone number and address. I take my pleasure, and don't come back for seconds. No commitments, no promises.

I thought I was a normal kid once. Do normal kids have to beg door to door for food? Not sure. It wasn't always that bad, I guess - and then it was. Really f--king bad. I tried to protect my younger brother from the fallout. Lied to him about how bad things were. But it wasn't enough. And when the accident happened, he blamed me, like everyone else. I'm guilty of many things. He's right about that, at least. So damn guilty I'm sure everyone knows and will call me out on it. Except they don't. Nobody does, except my brother. Not even Kayla, sexy and sweet and coolest girl ever.

Once upon a time, my life was good. I had a family, I had a girlfriend, and hopes for the future. That was long ago, but I remember it. A hazy dream of what could have been.That's gone now. I lost it all. Life f--ked me over, and now I'm scared of my own damn shadow.