Black Water Joyce Carol Oates

Rafe Santos was trained for two years to infiltrate the Crimson Devils MC and take them down. But Dante Moretti, the club's dangerous and magnetic president, was never supposed to make him want more. Rafe successfully gets in and ready to gather evidence, he keeps his distance...until every glance, every touch, every heated moment with Dante threatens Rafe's control. And when he discovers the truth... that the Devils money laundering was to protect the innocent... his mission collapses, leaving him with a desire and betrayal impossible to ignore. And now he must choose: protect his career... or surrender to the man whose touch burns hotter than any law could justify. A forbidden love now ready to set everything ablaze.

Olivia held out a glass of water, "Nothing to worry." She took it from her and nodded. She gulped the water hard from her throat. Liam would be furious. She was aware. His anger still scared her. They all left the room. Her heart began to thud thud in her ears. She didn't lift her head to watch him. She felt him. They left the room and did not say a word. He towered over her. She kept looking at her hands, looking at the circles over the tips of her fingers. "You'll take care of yourself or abortion," She heard him.

On my wedding night, I joyfully lift the veil, only to discover that my bride has been replaced with the dim-witted daughter of my girlfriend's helper. The laughter surrounding me grows louder. My girlfriend's male best friend gloatingly says, "According to tradition, you must spend a night with her, Mr. Leeds! "I'll take one for the team and keep Carol company tonight instead." Just then, my girlfriend strolls in leisurely. "It's just a joke. Don't be a sore loser. Besides, she's a complete ignoramus. Spending the night with her won't hurt you." Seeing her sarcastic expression, I laugh. "Now that I've lifted the veil, how can one night be enough? Since I did it, I'll take responsibility for life."

BLURB Zeva Stone, the warrior queen who built an empire with blood and grit was traded by her own husband for a pair of working legs and a new mate. At twenty eight, her reign as the Luna Queen of the Darkmoon pack ended in a silver shackled nightmare. Sold to the four Malvaine brothers- the very monsters she ran away from thirteen years ago. Zeva is thrust into a dark, ancient protocol. They don't just want her strength; they want her womb to resurrect the Aethel Vrykol, a forbidden hyrbid vampire-werewolf race wiped out by the gods. But when the brothers drag her secret- a ten year old hybrid son, Zeva us forced to kneel. Caught in a gilded hell, she realizes the eldest brother, Valerius, wasn't just her captor- but her destined mate. Between a Lycan King who hunts her and her son, an ex husband who sold her and now wants her back, and a forbidden bond between a vampire mate who owns her. Zeva has only one goal: protect her son and burn the whole world to the ground- but when love gets in the way. What would she do?

After reuniting with my birth family, my wealthy biological father tossed me a black card and laid down one rule: I could spend as much as I wanted, but I was never to call him Dad—that title belonged only to his adoptive daughter. Clutching the black card, I cautiously bought myself a two-dollar-fifty ice cream cone. Just as I was happily licking the sweet ice cream, the adoptive daughter dropped to her knees before me. "Alice, are you mocking me because I can't even afford something that costs two-fifty in the future?" My brother immediately slapped me twice. "You have money now, but you can't split love. Natalie is my one and only sister!" Then my father splashed boiling water onto my face. "No disgraceful wretch deserves to be a Gervais." To punish me, they sent me off to Rimala, forced to work as a child laborer in the mines. Ten years later, I walked into a grand banquet hall with an ice cream in hand and came face-to-face with my brother, Ansel Gervais, dressed in a hand-tailored suit. "All these years and you're still a disgrace," he sneered, but I couldn't be bothered to argue. "Let go. My dad's waiting for me—and if I'm any later, the ice cream's going to melt." He looked down at me with contempt. "Dad? Who gave you permission to call him that? Natalie will forever be the only Gervais girl—no one can take that away from her!" I rolled my eyes. Who said I was talking about that cheap excuse for a father? I was talking about my adoptive father—the oil tycoon with an incurable sweet tooth. I was in a hurry to let him taste some ice cream.

Kai Tanaka is Seattle’s best rescue swimmer, the man they send into black water when the storm decides to take a life. He’s built for cold, built for chaos, built to bring people back. Until one rescue goes wrong. A body disappears. The footage goes missing. And Kai becomes the quiet scapegoat the Coast Guard can sacrifice to keep the institution clean. Suspended and watched, he’s barely holding on when Luca Reyes drags his name into the light. Luca is a true-crime podcaster chasing the truth behind that same night, because his younger brother was on the boat that never came home. Luca thinks Kai is hiding something. Kai thinks Luca is feeding off tragedy. Their first meeting is sharp and ugly. Then Luca is nearly killed for asking the right questions. Kai pulls him from the wreckage and realizes this isn’t internet noise. Someone is laundering bodies through the sea, and they’re using Kai as the fall guy. The only way to keep Luca alive is to disappear with him to an off-grid cabin on the San Juan Islands, where the wind never stops and secrets sound louder. Forced proximity turns into hunger. Suspicion turns into heat. And the closer they get to the truth, the more they realize the storm isn’t the worst thing chasing them.

After the murder of her father and brother. The Naga princess Nazima ran and took refuge on land to escape the merpeople who killed her family. She has lived among humans for years training and preparing to go back to the water and take revenge on the merpeople for what they did to her family. She didn’t stay in one place for long on land as she knew she was being hunted. But when she went back to the water and met the person who has been hunting her. She falls in love and is now faced with a difficult decision. To kill the man who killed her family or to forgive and be happy with the same man murdered her entire family.

“I'd do it,”   a voice interrupted. “I'd kiss her.”   Laughter cut short like a needle across a vinyl. Heads turned. Eyes widened. There he was— leaning against the auditorium doorway, dressed in all leather black, clutching a helmet, exuding that dangerous calm was— Killian Lancaster— The school bad boy— The school rebel. The dream boy of every female. Boys wanted to be like him, girls wanted him as a boyfriend, teachers saw him as a nuisance who's hardly in school or attended classes but somehow aced all his classes. He's freaking hot with his tall lean intimidating height, coupled with his pretty face and his long jet black hair hanging on his shoulders to round off the ensemble. His water glass eyes that melted both boys and girls fixated on me. —- Brielle Everly has spent her life in the shadows—overweight, shy, and constantly mocked for her body. She’s invisible to the world, an outcast in her own school. But everything changes when she’s tricked into the lead role of the school play. And the worst part? She has to practice kissing scenes with him—Killian Lancaster, the untouchable bad boy wrapped in leather and mystery. But Killian isn’t just a rebel on a motorcycle. Beneath the smirks and defiance lies a secret the school knows nothing about—a truth darker than anyone could imagine. As their worlds collide, an undeniable pull draws him to Brielle—one he can’t explain, control, or resist. But when she discovers who—or what—he really is, will she be his salvation… or his downfall? Because in the end, Brielle isn’t just a girl he can’t ignore. She’s the key to breaking the curse that haunts him and his kind. The only question is… will she save him, or doom them all?

A client splashes water in my face. I'm trembling as I endure his insults and mockery while Wayne Gale stands and watches calmly. His arm is around his assistant as he says, "I can't believe you're incapable of handling such a menial task, Georgina. My company doesn't need useless staff!" I wipe the water from my face and down my drink. Then, I fill it again and splash the client back. Whoever wants this job can have it. I quit!

I am enjoy swimming, I don't know how long Marco has been gone. I didn't realize that I had reached the bottom of the waterfall because of the hot weather and the feeling of the cold water on the body feels really good that I even thought if I sat at the bottom of the waterfall to let the water pour over my almost naked body. I've only been there for a minute when I felt my brassiere come off my chest! It's because there's no lace and the brassiere I am wearing is in tube style. I was shocked by what happened and confused what to do first, how to cover my naked breasts. Should I jump off the water again to get my brassiere before the water washes it away, or should I stay here in the falls to get help from the water to cover my naked body. I looked around first to find Marco for help but he wasn't there! He is nowhere to be found! Shit! I immediately went down to chase after my brassiere when it was being swept away by the water. Now I am not sure if Marco not being here is a good or a bad news, but as I think of it realized that I would really faint if he sees me naked right now! Good thing I know how to swim so I got my brassiere at the right time. I immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Great! Just in time!" I said to myself while holding my brassiere. Of course, my breasts are exposed, well I'm the only person here so it's okay anyway. "Wow, nice breasts. Round and big!" It was as if my soul left my body when I heard an unfamiliar voice from somewhere.