Blink Malcolm Gladwell

Ryder didn't lose just one mate; he lost two. His first mate died the day he found her. Angelica was his second chance mate. She was his everything. The reason his heart beat and the air he breathed. She was the mother of their child, his beautiful angel. But in the blink of an eye, she was dead. Ryder had to find a way to live, a way to move on without her. He had to for the sake of their daughter. How does one continue to live without the person who breathes life into you? How do you move on from that? Is it possible to love again? Ryder doesn't think so, but she does. She's the complete opposite of Angelica. There's nothing sweet and innocent about her. She's hard, cocky, and speaks her mind. Angelica was soft and delicate; she is hard around the edges, and tattoos cover her body. She finds the mate bond interesting, and he is her next adventure. She doesn't take no for an answer, and it infuriates the Beta beyond belief. He wants to choke her, scream at her, tell her to leave him alone, and never return, but he wants to hold her and pull her into his arms at the same time. It's a battle with his heart. How does he allow someone else in when his heart still belongs to her.

I felt his lips brush against my earlobe, a soft brush that suddenly made my toes curl. His breath lingered on my neck before he finally whispered, "I own you Crystal. The sooner you get to accept that the better for you. I'll make sure you submit yourself to me, be it the hard way or the easy way. And I'll break this ego of yours. I promise you" * * * * * * He was her beast and she was his beauty. He was addicted and she was his favourite drug. He was a sinner and she was his sin. In the blink of an eye, Crystal sees her entire life crumble with the death of her parents and she is forced to take a job that she would never have thought off to make ends meet for her and her sister and pay of her gambling father's debt to a crime boss-- being a stripper. Just a glance on the doe-eyed caramel skin beauty swinging her hips seductively on the pole and Leonardo already knew he had to have her as his. He had to claim her for himself. But he was everything she hated. She despised him and loathed his existence for the pain and anguish he had caused her and her sister. She swore never to succumb to him but what she didn't know was that he was also determined to show her that he would earn a place in her heart and life.

Rose was an orphan girl. Enduring a painful past and a black heart. she never cared for anyone. Love, pity, compassion, conscience. Things you never knew. The orphanage was the only home she knew, she was incredibly beautiful, a devilish beauty, the blink of an eye, one that would make any man kneel to her. She committed every crime, and every sin, robbed, killed, and destroyed many homes. She loved seeing the pain in other people's eyes. She was a heartless beast. The only light in her life that could keep her human was her little sister Catherine, her little angel, the light of her life. The only evidence of her humanity, a part of her was still human, just because of her. Until the day she saw her sister's body, dumped in a garbage can. Revenge was burning her soul. The goal of her life became revenge. But she found it much more difficult than she expected, as her sister's killer was a demon, in every sense of the word. She thought herself a monster, but she was wrong, she was an angel to him. Leo, the killer of her sister, was the most feared man in the world, the leader of the largest gang. And the most feared mutants in the universe. And her heart, which never knew fear, became trembling before his eyes. She hated him and he hated her to the point of madness. A love story between two monsters. Blood, jealousy, and murderous obsession. A love that will not be recognized until death.

The day I found out that I was a fake heiress who had taken the place of the Jones family’s real daughter, my husband, Timothy Lane, was brought back as the true heir of the Lane family. The man who once said he loved me quickly abandoned both me and our daughter. At that very moment, the real heiress, Nancy Jones, decisively broke up with the fake heir of the Lane family and got together with Timothy. According to them, this was simply ‘making things right’. After losing everything in the blink of an eye, Micah Lane, the fake heir, kidnapped my daughter and me, forcing me to call Timothy for help. However, Timothy ignored our desperate pleas and mocked us. "You two are really something. Of course the fake heiress and fake heir go together. No wonder you make such a perfect pair of actors." On the other end of the line, I could occasionally hear Nancy's raspy, suggestive voice. As I listened to them, Micah stabbed me and my daughter to death. I died a tragic, painful death. After we died, my daughter and I were my husband's final assignment as a mortician before he left the job. The man who claimed he did not care about us fell apart the moment he saw our lifeless bodies. "Wasn't it all supposed to be a lie?! Why weren't you lying to me?! "Please, don't die! Don't leave me!"

A deadly curse was unleashed upon the people of Goldenheart Kingdom after King Ethan's his father slayed a boy during a raid on a weak pack. Thousands of people have died because of the curse. Yet the only way of lifting it is if King Ethan willingly sacrifices his own life or that of his fated mate! He has always avoided searching for his mate because finding her would encourage his people to demand that he sacrifices her life instead of his. The Kingdom is at the blink of collapse when Ethan finds his mate, Emma, a stunning beauty who just ran away from the neighboring pack after being betrayed by her own family. She is wolfless. But King Ethan is determined to protect her from anyone that wants her sacrificed to lift the curse. But what will happen when Emma gets accused of cold-blooded murder? Will he keep protecting his disgraced mate when executing her for her crimes would end the curse and save his life? Emma knows she has never killed anyone and everything that has been said about her is a lie. But how will she prove her innocence when her enemy is the person her mate trusts most? King Ethan has a reputation of being unforgiving to anyone accused of such atrocity. Will the truth come out before she gets executed for a crime she has never committed?

To scrape together my mother's surgery money, I worked myself to the bone at this company for three straight years. My performance was always number one. By myself, I supported half the sales department. Then, a newly hired HR director decided every desk needed an AI camera, claiming it was to optimize efficiency. Every blink, every breath I took was measured and calculated by the system. "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray blinked more than twenty times within one minute. Mental distraction detected. Fine: 50." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray took 3.5 seconds to drink water, exceeding the standard by 1.5 seconds. Slacking detected. Fine: 100." "Warning. Employee Nathan Gray's mouth corners drooped for over thirty seconds. Suspected spread of negative emotion. Fine: 200." The most ridiculous part was the way he stood in front of the entire department, pointing proudly at my data on the giant screen. "See that?" he said smugly. "This is the power of technology. In front of AI, you lazy freeloaders have nowhere to hide. Nathan, your bonus for this month has already been wiped out by the system. If you don't like it, get lost. Plenty of people are lining up to take your place." What he didn't know was that the AI system he trusted so blindly had its core code written by me. Tonight, I was going to show him what happened when he angered the one who built the machine.

When a fire destroys young Valiant's family home she finds herself hurled in a life that is attempting to destroy her. "Malcolm, please. I'm tired. It's been years and I haven't told anyone. I just want to be left alone." I pleaded with him for mercy hoping he'd been satisfied with the devilment he'd kept up for years. He grabbed my butt and hissed, "Bịtch, you don't get to say when you're tired. As long as I have access to you, you'll open up and let me fûck you. Now, where's the money I gave from the last time? Did you spend it? Do you need more? I'll stop by tonight. Since you weren't here last night....wait did you fûck him? You let him touch what is mine." My eyes widened in terror knowing that my revealing the truth to him would cause me more pain. I cry uncontrollably for minutes until I hear Roman's voice shouting! "I'm going to kill that motherfūcker!" But there appeared with Roman Driggs, his best friend and battle buddy Reece Shields, sexy, confident and dangerous. Charged with keeping an eye out for Valiant, Reece begins to fall in love with his friend's girlfriend... **** "Damnit woman! I love you! It kills me everyday that I'm not the one! He doesn't deserve you and in spite of what you think about yourself, you're the perfect girl for me. I've never wanted or needed something so bad." He had tears streaming down his face. **** "Reece, I love you and am in love with you. Please help me." "I think I'm pregnant." There's a trail of betrayal, lust and schemes that tear apart the world of two military friends and complicates the love of the remaining couple.

The annual ranking of the most popular Werewolf Academy professors had just been released and, once again, my Alpha mate, Trevor, took the number one spot. In an interview with The Wolf Tribune, he touched the bond ring on his hand and gave a helpless smile. “If my Luna sees this, she’s probably going to get jealous again tonight.” Everyone said that he was hopelessly in love with me. However, in the blink of an eye, rumors about him and one of his students, Rin, were spreading through the entire pack like wildfire. Trevor kissed me, coaxed me in bed, swore that he only admired Rin’s talent and promised to let me decide her fate. Hence, I arranged for Rin to study abroad in a neutral territory. Who would have thought that she would be ambushed at the border by rogue wolves on her second day away from the pack. Her wolf spirit was shattered and she was left a broken shell of herself. The whole pack was rife with rumors that I had set a trap out of jealousy, trying to destroy her because she was close to my Alpha. Even Trevor did not trust me. He rushed off to be by Rin’s side that very night. When he came back, he had already removed his name from our mate registry and instead registered himself with Rin. I uttered the words, one by one, “Trevor, let’s end our bond.”

"You're an insensitive Bastard," I say. I want him to say something to do something, but he just leans against the wall staring at me. To my horror, I feel the telltale sign of tears, but I blink it away aggressively. Max walks towards me and cups my face "You've no idea," he says, leaning in. I don't know what I hope for, but I lift my head to face him anyway. We stare at each other for what feels like an eternity when he whispers "Do you think I'm not tired Callista, you should know by now that I am an addict and you are my addiction, I know I should back away, but these days when it comes to you, it seems my body doesn't obey my commands. I close my eyes, and i see you. I breathe, and your scent fills the air. Every day, i crave a taste of you. You everything to me. " His nose caresses my cheek, and he takes a long inhale, and I realise he's breathing in my scent. He then puts his forehead to mine, and his lips brush mine when he says "I'm never going back to how I was before, am I?" When I open my eyes, he's gone.

"Part One: TakenJessie Coford had a plan: work hard, save money, open her own restaurant. She sacrificed her relationship with the man of her dreams to get it. Then, in the blink of an eye, she lost her job and her apartment and her life crashed around her. Until a letter taking her to Fort Mavis, Texas, and an unexpected windfall.Part Two: TamedShea Prescott was astonished when million Cruz Castillo chose her to design his new home on his ranch. They hardly traveled in the same circles. But Cruz had been hot for Shea since he first saw her and at their first meeting the chemistry between them ignited. Cruz coaxed her deeper and deeper into a whirlpool of erotic sex, awakening latent sexual desires and bringing her orgasms beyond her wildest imaginings. Her body screamed yes at his every touch, but will she say yes to the most important question?USA Today best-selling and award-winning author Desiree Holt writes everything from romantic suspense and paranormal to erotic. and has been referred to by USA Today as the Nora Roberts of erotic romance, and is a winner of the EPIC E-Book Award, the Holt Medallion and a Romantic Times Reviewers Choice nominee. She has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning and in The Village Voice, The Daily Beast, USA Today, The (London) Daily Mail, The New Delhi Times and numerous other national and international publications.Taken by Surprise is created by Desiree Holt, an EGlobal Creative Publishing signed author."