Mao's Kitchen

After I graduate from college, my uncle, Malcolm Caldwell, convinces my family to chip in and open a seafood restaurant. Dad and I wholeheartedly agree with his suggestion. Since then, we work as the restaurant's cooks. Five years later, our seafood restaurant becomes the top restaurant on the city's Must-Eat List. Our monthly profits hit more than 200 grand. On the day the earnings are to be split among us, Uncle Malcolm pockets 150 grand. Then, he passes 150 grand each to my cousins, Maxwell and Melanie Caldwell. The remaining sum, which is less than eight grand, is handed over to Dad and me. When faced with our questions, Uncle Malcolm adapts a matter-of-fact tone. "Max is in charge of dealing with the customers. He has suffered a lot just by having to deal with so many fussy customers every day. "Mel is the one in charge of the finances. She's worked so hard calculating every cent in the profits that we've earned." Then, Uncle Malcolm turns to look at us. "As for you two, all you do is hide in the kitchen all day. I bet you two have secretly taken many bites out of the customers' food all these years, right? "Since we're relatives and all, I shall not hold you accountable. How about this? If you two work hard, I'll make sure to reward you well if our profits double again next month." Dad is so furious that he's practically shaking. But I just hold his hand calmly and accept the money. "Fine. You can split up the shares however you want, Uncle Malcolm. I'm fine with it." Soon, they will realize that Dad and I are the actual profit generators, not them.

"This is a notice regarding proper use of the air conditioning. Please sign to acknowledge receipt." My six-year-old son stood there with a stern little frown, slapping a sheet of paper down in front of me. I glanced at the page. Written in colorful marker were several neatly listed "charges." The whole thing felt absurd. When I did not respond, he pointed at the paper like a tiny adult. "Mom, you didn't turn the air down in time yesterday. That could've affected my health. It was very irresponsible." I looked toward my husband, who had just gotten home from work, hoping he would say something, anything, in my defense. Instead, he snatched up the paper and slapped it down on the table, his voice sharp. "Can't you be more attentive? Our son's health comes first. If you can't even handle something this simple, what kind of mother are you?" With someone backing him up, our son's eyes immediately reddened. He burst into tears. "Mom doesn't love me!" The two of them, playing judge and jury, left me suddenly breathless. "Fine," I said at last. "If I'm such an unfit mother, I'll leave. Let your father find you a new one, someone who knows how to set the air conditioning properly."

After two years of marriage, Khloe Roswell went to reissue her marriage certificate—and discovered the document she'd cherished was a forgery. Determined to confront her husband, Trey Fox, she instead overheard the devastating truth: the man who had tenderly cared for her for six years had, in fact, been married for five—to their university’s advisor, who was six years older than him. She wasn't just his cover; he had branded her barren and forced her to raise his child with another woman. Disgusted, Khloe called the lawyer about her inheritance. Her declaration was simple and left no room for doubt. "I am unmarried. I have no children. The assets are mine, and mine alone." With that, she walked away without a backward glance. Trey, smug and convinced she had nowhere to go, waited for her to come crawling back. He never imagined the day he'd see Khloe again in a marriage alliance broadcast to the nation. Now, she stood in the spotlight, commanding unimaginable wealth, side-by-side with a man at the pinnacle of power—basking in the world's envy.

Accidentally killing her parents is what turned Neah’s life upside down. As punishment for her crimes, her wolf abilities are bound, and she is forced into a life of slavery by her brother. At the age of twenty-two, she saw no way of getting out and had given up on life, just trying to make it through each day. A contract between packs brings the arrival of the powerful, crimson-eyed Alpha Dane. A wolf that men feared, yet Neah couldn’t help but be fascinated by him. Adding Neah to the contract was never Alpha Dane's plan. Something about her strange scent lured him in, and he knew he couldn’t leave her behind, especially not when he heard the lies coming from her brother's mouth. But meeting Neah was just the beginning. If she isn’t challenging Alpha Dane, then it was her old pack that was trying to make life extremely difficult for him by keeping secrets buried. Please note, this book ends on a cliffhang

Ava: Nine years ago I did something terrible. it wasn't one of my best moments but I saw an opportunity to have the guy I've loved since I was a young girl and I took it. Fast forward to years later and I'm tired of living in a loveless marriage. I want to free both of us from a marriage that should never have taken place. They say if you love something.... It was time to let him go. I know he'll never love me and that I'll never be his choice. His heart will always belong to Her and despite my sins, I deserve to be loved.Rowan: Nine years ago, I was so in love I could barely see right. I ruined it when I made the worst mistake of my life and in the process I lost the love of my life. I knew I had to step up in my responsibility and so I did, with an unwanted wife. With the wrong woman. Now she has once again flipped my life by divorcing me. To make matters even more complicated, the love of my life is back in town. Now the only question is, who is the right woman? Is it the girl I fell head over heels in love with years ago? or is it my ex wife, the woman I never wanted but had to marry?

Sally Smith doesn’t know what to do with her life. She wants something, anything really. She applies to North Industries on a pure whim with the help of her roommate. And there she meets Celeste and Hunter North, the owners of one of the most influential business in Australia. The married duo make waves wherever they go. And Sally is all ready to be dragged under to a world she didn’t know existed... A Shifter Romance of the M/F/F variety with many steamy scenes