But He's My Grumpy Neighbor

When Jerome, her best friend's older brother, enters her life, Stacy's simple world is turned upside down. His charismatic presence and compassionate nature draw her in, but their forbidden attraction threatens to ruin her closest friendship. As they navigate the dangerous landscape of their feelings, Stacy must confront her own vulnerabilities and the fears that have held her back. Will she risk everything for a chance at love, or will the weight of her past and the pressure of her present tear them apart?

On the day Veronica went to confront her stepbrother Bruno about their forbidden attraction, she received the most shocking surprise of her life. She discovered their secret affairs had led to an unplanned pregnancy. As if that wasn't enough, Bruno's family blamed her for seducing him, and her own family turned a blind eye. Devastated, Veronica fled the city, carrying a secret that would change their lives forever. Years later, Bruno reappears in her life, and they must confront the consequences of their past actions. All Veronica wanted was to raise their child in peace, but Bruno's return sparks a love they can no longer deny. However, their families' disapproval and the weight of their past secrets threaten to tear them apart once again. Will they find a way to make their forbidden love work, or will they give up.

"How does it feel? Knowing deep down that the person you hate, is your mate?" I glared at him - perhaps willing daggers to shoot out of my eyes and kill him but alas! Magic wasn't one of a werewolf's abilities. "Whatever," I muttered turning away, "you can take the mate shit and shove it up your ass - because I don't care." "You might not care, sweetheart, but you are bonded to me. You belong to me...and I promise you, there's no way on earth I will ever let you go. Better start getting used to the idea." ******* Nina Her perfect little life came crashing down, when she caught her childhood friend, her mate, in bed with another man. Heartbreak led her into a hot one night stand - with a rival. When Nina finds out that the one who she had grown to despise because of what they did to her mum, was her mate she tries as much as possible to fight and break away the bond - but this efforts would prove futile when Elias refuses to let go. However, things start turning around when hidden truths behind her mother's death starts being revealed to her, and she has to join hands with the one she hates.

I slide into the bath and let my muscles melt. My mind drifts—back to dinner, the city skyline glittering behind Tommy’s head. I close my eyes, biting my lip. One hand trails beneath the water, slow and lazy. I don’t mean to. But it’s all still so fresh—the way his hands felt on my skin, how deeply he— Except, it’s not Tommy I’m imagining anymore. It’s the doctor. Suddenly, it’s his fingers I’m imagining spreading me open. That cool composure cracking as he groans my name into my neck. “Oh, fuck,” I moan, breath catching as the orgasm rips through me like a shot of white lightning. My back arches against the porcelain. Water sloshes. “Dr. Cole,” I gasp before I can stop it. And then I freeze. What. The. Hell. **************************************************** He’s her gynecologist. Her client. And her boyfriend’s father. What could possibly go wrong? Beth thought dating Tommy was the start of something stable. Sure, he was cocky and impulsive—but charming, right? Until the red flags started piling up. The gambling. The secrets. The mood swings. The way he always blamed her when things went wrong. But then she meets his father. Dr. Stacy Cole. Silver fox. Calm. Collected. Everything Tommy wasn’t. And she already know him. He’s her OB/GYN. Her firm’s newest client. And the man who makes her body betray her every time he’s near. Beth knows she should stay away. But when Tommy starts spiraling and Stacy starts looking less like a boundary and more like a lifeline… she’s forced to face a terrifying truth: She might be falling for the one man who could destroy everything. Taboo. Addictive. Slow burning. Emotionally dangerous. This isn’t your average age-gap romance.

When I had just received an offer from a French ballet company, my right leg was amputated due to a car accident. My fiance could not accept my disability, so he married my competitor, Gabriella Smith. I was about to have a meltdown when my childhood best friend, Joe Anderson, carpeted my hospital room with roses and proposed to me with a diamond ring. Throughout our five years of marriage, he treated me extremely well and loved me as he did the very first day we married. I thought that he was a gift from God to compensate for my tragedy until I accidentally overheard his conversation with his friend. “Joe, I heard that Gabriella is the principal dancer of the top ballet company in Paris. If only you hadn’t turned Fiona into a cripple for her... Do you feel guilty?” “I feel guilty about it, that’s why I married her and treated her well. I’ll repay her with my life.” I grabbed the armrests of my wheelchair as I held back my sobs. The happy marriage that I thought I had was just a lie. The husband whom I thought loved me was the culprit behind my plight. He only loved Gabriella. If that were the case, I would give my blessings for them to be together!

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” his raspy voice dripped with lust and uncertainty as his eyes scanned my exposed cleavages, “your father…” “Shhh.” I stopped him mid-way, placing my finger on his soft lips, “We both want this. I have seen the way you look at me, Mr. Richard. Do not hold back now.” I whispered sultrily. He swallowed hard and I saw him clench his well-chiseled jaws. I opened my mouth to continue my protest when all of a sudden, he grabbed me by the waist, pulled me closer and covered my lips with his in the hungriest manner ever. My body melted, succumbing to his burning desire. *** He was my father’s childhood best friend. He was always there for me since I lost my mother at the age of four. My father grieved hard and found it difficult to recover for many years, so Mr Richard was the father figure I had. However, he left the country after my thirteenth birthday and I almost forgot about him until he returned. I had turned twenty-one and when I laid my eyes on him, all my childhood memories came rushing back. But that wasn’t all there was. I noticed how hot and sexy he looked for that age and how his gaze lingered way too long on my mature body. And then, fate kept bringing us together, all I had to do was call on him. He was just being nice, right? Nothing more should have happened but my body refused to listen to my brain. I wanted him! I wanted him around me all the time, I wanted him to whisper in my ears and punish me accordingly if I did something wrong… I wanted him INSIDE ME.

From the time I was small, my mother told me I was my little brother's second mother. Hence, from age four, every mistake Danny Hartley made became mine to bear. When Danny dirtied the floor, I scrubbed it clean with a rag, inch by inch. When Danny stole, I wrote the apology letters. Then, I turned seven, and Danny accidentally hurt the convenience store owner's son. When the heavyset Hugo Osborn came to our door, Danny pointed at me without hesitation. "Sienna did it!" Mom did not hesitate either. She shoved me toward him. "Mr. Osborn, I didn't raise her right. That's on me. Take my daughter. Beat her, scold her, do whatever you want." What she had not known was that once Mr. Osborn took me away, I would never come back.

The housekeeper’s daughter, Selena Greene, deliberately chose to get married on the same day, at the same hotel as me. When our cars passed each other on the way to our weddings, she rolled down her window and asked to switch my bridal bouquet with hers. My bouquet, however, wasn’t just any bouquet. It was hand-carved from priceless jadeite by my grandfather himself—a one-of-a-kind heirloom and his blessing for my wedding day. “Trish,” she pleaded softly, “please. I’ve sacrificed so much for this wedding. I just want it to be perfect. I’ll give it back to you as soon as we get out of the cars.” My heart softened. Against my better judgment, I handed her my bouquet and took her cheap, plastic flowers instead. However, when we stepped out of our cars, she refused to return it. Worse still, during her ceremony, she tossed my jade bouquet onto the floor, shattering it into countless pieces. That bouquet had been my grandfather’s way of being present at my wedding. It was all I had left of him. Yet, in front of everyone, Selena put on an innocent act and accused me, “Who takes back a bouquet after a switch? A glass bouquet like this is all over online shopping platforms for ten bucks. I’ll just pay you back. Trish, you’ve made my life hard enough on normal days. Do you have to humiliate me on the most important day of my life, too?” Furious, I confronted her, but she ducked behind my fiancé and my brother, wiping at her eyes like the victim. My fiancé immediately went to comfort her, leaving me standing alone at the ceremony, humiliated and ridiculed by everyone. My brother, too, called me cruel and heartless. He cut me off financially and threw me out of the family home. Selena’s husband, having quickly risen to success with the help of powerful backers, unleashed his relentless revenge on the now penniless and alone me. In the dead of winter, hired thugs found me and brutalized me to death. And Selena? She became their princess, adored by all three of them. I sank into darkness, full of rage and regret. However, when I opened my eyes again, I was transported back to the day of the wedding.

We have been neighbors our whole lives and were best friends when we were kids. Now he is my bully who claims that I am his to torment. There is only one little problem, I have been in love with him since I was sixteen. For two years, Jace Palmer has tortured me with his cruelty in the halls of our high school, but how do I make him stop when it's those same actions that excite me more than they should. Especially when he slams me against my locker and whispers, "You've been a bad girl, Ella."

The Rossi family has a rule. If you want to be the next Donna, you have to prove yourself. Make three hundred million dollars, clean money, in a single year. All on your own, no family help. I spent ten years trying to do it for Vincent. I built ten companies from the ground up. But every single time, just as I was about to cross that finish line, something would go wrong. Everything would just… collapse. This year, I finally did it. I ran to his study, audit in hand, my heart hammering against my ribs. I thought I’d finally won. Instead, I learned my entire life was a lie. He handed my entire empire to Ava—my father's bastard. All because she supposedly saved his life once, and he wanted to make her the real Donna. I gave up. On him. On my family's dream of rising with his. Then I picked up the phone and called the Outfit in Chicago. "Your marriage proposal," I said. "I accept."