Novels by Golden Lashmi

Jace Steadman. My best friend’s father. Older. Controlled. Quiet in a way that makes my pulse stutter. A man who never looks twice at anyone… Except this time, he looked at me. One glance at my ruined makeup and shaking breath, and suddenly he felt too close. Too warm. Too dangerous. His voice was gentle when everyone else had been cruel. And when he sat beside me beneath the glow of the fire, I felt something I hadn’t felt in years: Wanted. Not sweetly. Not politely. But with a quiet, restrained hunger that made my heart slam against my ribs. To distract me from the pain—and to stop himself from touching me—we made a game of it: Twelve days. Twelve dares. No rules… except the ones we couldn’t stop breaking. A whispered challenge in the dark became a dare. A dare became a touch that lingered too long. A touch became a pull neither of us knew how to resist. He shouldn’t crave me. I shouldn’t crave him back. But the more we tried to stay respectable, the more our restraint fell apart. The lodge turned into a minefield of temptation—Christmas lights, stolen glances, near-kisses that burned hotter than the fire. Jace wasn’t just a man I wanted. He became the man I couldn’t stop fighting—and falling—for. If anyone finds out, my life falls apart. His reputation shatters. Everything explodes. But desire doesn’t care about consequences. And this Christmas, I’m done being careful. Done being quiet. Done pretending I don’t want the man who looks at me like I’m the first real taste of life he’s had in years. Twelve days. Twelve dares. One forbidden man I can’t walk away from… even if he ruins me.

I thought I knew who I was. I thought I knew what love felt like. Turns out, I didn’t know anything at all. Marvy was supposed to be my forever—until the night he went down on one knee and a stranger’s panties fell out of his pocket. In that moment, the illusion shattered. The man I loved, the life I dreamed of... it all turned to ash. I told myself I’d never fall again. I’d never let anyone close enough to hurt me. But then there was him—Darren Coldridge. Marvy’s older brother. The one they say has ice in his veins and no heart left to break. He scared me from the start. But when his eyes found mine, everything inside me changed. My pulse skipped. My breath caught. My body remembered something my mind refused to admit—I wanted him. I needed him. Now I’m caught between two brothers: one who betrayed me, and one who burns through every wall I’ve built. Marvy says he still loves me. Darren doesn’t say anything at all—but every glance, every touch feels like a promise he’s too proud to speak. And just when I think it’s only about love and lies, I learn the Coldridge family hides secrets far older—and darker—than either of them. Secrets that tie me to them in ways I never imagined. Because some bonds aren’t chosen. They’re written in blood, in moonlight… and in destiny.