Cold Reads Novels & Stories

Jamie Reyes doesn’t do one-night stands. But after a soul-crushing breakup and too many glasses of whiskey, he lets himself fall—just once—for a stranger’s hands, lips, and whispered promises in the dark. No names. No strings. No future. Until Monday morning, when his anonymous hookup steps into the conference room… as Julian Black, his new department supervisor. Julian is everything Jamie shouldn’t want—older, emotionally locked down, and strictly off-limits. Yet the tension simmers, sharp as ever, and pretending it didn’t happen is impossible when every brush of fingers feels like a memory. They’re supposed to be professionals. They’re not supposed to want more. And if they’re caught, everything Jamie’s worked for could fall apart. But what happens when the lines blur, and a one-night mistake becomes the one thing neither of them can walk away from? A steamy, slow-burn MM office romance filled with forbidden tension, secret glances, and the kind of chemistry that doesn’t stay buried.

Someone is watching Sebastian Mercer. Someone who knows when he sleeps. When he works late. When he stands alone in the dark of his penthouse office. When the threats finally surface, the board hires elite security. They assign him Kane Maddox. What they don’t know is that Kane has already memorized Sebastian’s routines. Already studied his weaknesses. Already decided no one else is worthy of standing at his side. Kane’s protection is absolute. His control is intoxicating. His touch is addictive. And as enemies close in and secrets unravel, Sebastian must decide what’s more dangerous The men trying to destroy his empire… Or the bodyguard who refuses to let him belong to anyone but him.

When I was discharged from the psychiatric hospital, my brother and sister-in-law dropped everything to personally pick me up. Even my nephew, who had just finished his college entrance exams, arrived with a box of carrot cake he had waited in line all day to buy. His warm smile was the picture of innocence. “Auntie, congratulations on your discharge. With me here, you’ll never feel lonely again.” To outsiders, we were the perfect family—envied by all and even awarded the title of a local model family. But behind the facade of family bliss lay a very different story. On the very day my brother transferred the last of the family properties to me, I went live on social media. In front of an audience that idolized my so-called perfect family, I boasted about my "accomplishments." I conned my nephew into paying for a spot at an elite school, duped my sister-in-law into stepping into a scandalous club, and tricked my brother into losing everything he had worked for. “My brother has treated me with nothing but kindness. And I can only repay his kindness with betrayal.”

"Miss Summers, are you sure you want to erase all your identity records? Once erased, it will be as if you never existed, and no one will be able to find you." Adele paused for a moment before nodding resolutely. "Yes, that's exactly what I want. I want no one to find me." There was a hint of surprise on the other end of the line, but they quickly responded, "Understood, Miss Summers. The process will take about two weeks to complete. Please wait patiently."

Billionaire CEO Damien Voss hasn’t slept peacefully in three years — not since the car accident that broke him. When his assistant drapes a forgotten lavender-and-strawberry scented blanket over him, Damien finally finds rest… until the precious scent is washed away forever. Desperate and unraveling, he turns to the blanket’s owner: Liora Kane, his assistant’s younger sister. With a single threat her brother’s job or her compliance Damien forces Liora into a contract: eight hours per night in his bed, nothing more. Her days remain her own. Six months only. He tells himself he is being reasonable. He only needs her scent to sleep. Nothing else. But Damien Voss was once the city’s most sought-after bachelor tall, devastatingly handsome, and powerfully built. Even after the accident, his striking looks and commanding presence remain. And though he has never been with a woman, he quickly learns how to use every inch of his body to seduce the innocent woman lying beside him. Night after night, Liora lies stiff beside the domineering CEO as he buries his face in her neck, inhaling her like a drug. What begins as clinical necessity slowly turns carnal. His touches grow bolder. His hips start to rock against her in the dark. He rubs himself against her thigh or stomach until he shudders and spills in his boxers, whispering filthy praises against her skin while she fights the unwanted heat building inside her. The contract promised safety. It promised only eight hours and nothing sexual unless she consents. Yet Damien’s obsession deepens with every shared breath. Jealousy ignites. Possession takes hold. And Liora finds herself dangerously seduced by the broken, beautiful man who needs her more than air a man willing to break every rule to make her crave him.

Running late for work, I had no choice but to call an Uber. As luck would have it, my boss turned out to be my Uber driver. We stared at each other awkwardly. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Let me guess... running late?" Me: ... Later, he docked my pay. I gave him a one-star review.

Just like her name suggests, Mirage seems like a painful illusion for Elven. What does Mirage mean? Illusion. Right. For her mother, she's just a wonderful illusion. Because as soon as her mom gives birth to her, Mirage dies. And so they believe that she's gone forever. But she's not. Mirage lives a happy and contented life with her husband Elven and their daughter, though she faces different problems like any other person. But then she'll be caught up in a twisted fate that'll give her family an indescribable sorrow but eventually it'll put her to where she's supposed to be.

**She thought she knew the man she loved. She was wrong about everything.** Vanessa Rodriguez's perfect life shatters in a single morning when she overhears her boyfriend Marcus discussing "loose ends" and how to "handle" her. The sweet daycare teacher who thought she was dating a banker suddenly finds herself running from a man she no longer recognizes—and straight into the arms of the most dangerous man in the city. **Alexander De Luca doesn't trust anyone. He can't afford to.** The ruthless mafia don has built an empire on fear and blood, but his six-month-old daughter Aria is his only weakness. When his longtime housekeeper can no longer care for the baby, Alexander needs a nanny he can trust. What he gets is a woman with secrets as dark as his own. **Some lies are worth dying for. Others are worth killing for.** When Marcus is gunned down in what appears to be a random mob hit, Vanessa has nowhere to turn except the penthouse of the man who just hired her. But as she settles into life caring for Aria, Alexander begins to suspect his new nanny isn't the innocent woman she appears to be. **In a world where trust is a luxury and love is a weapon, Vanessa and Alexander must decide what they're willing to sacrifice for the truth.** *Because some secrets are too dangerous to keep... and too deadly to tell.* --- *A dark mafia romance filled with betrayal, passion, and the kind of love that's worth going to war for.*

When Love Becomes a Prison After twenty failed IVF treatments and four years of heartbreak, Lily Collins finally has everything she's ever wanted: she's pregnant with the miracle baby she and her husband James fought so hard for. But the man she married is becoming someone she doesn't recognize—controlling, secretive, and increasingly dangerous. When James strikes her for the first time, Lily tells herself it's the stress. When he isolates her from friends and monitors her every move, she convinces herself it's concern for the baby. But when she discovers he's been lying about their fertility treatments, she realizes the father of her unborn child might be hiding something far more sinister than she ever imagined. **Meanwhile, across the city...** Alpha werewolf Ace Winters has spent years searching for his destined mate. When the bond finally calls to him, leading him to a pregnant woman living in fear, his protective instincts roar to life. But his mate is human, fragile, and already running from one dangerous man. One wrong move could send her fleeing forever. One right move could save her life. Two men. One woman. A baby caught in between. As Lily fights to uncover the truth about her husband's deceptions, she has no idea that her salvation might come from the mysterious stranger watching over her or that accepting his protection will thrust her into a world where fairy tales are real. Love can be written in the stars. But first, she has to survive long enough to discover that monsters don't always look like monsters... *And heroes don't always look entirely human.*

Gilbert Pierce, my wife's male trainee, bragged that he could disarm a bomb just by relying on his senses and with his eyes closed. However, he misjudged it and triggered the bomb's secondary detonation sequence. I stepped in at the last second and used the most dangerous method available, liquid nitrogen flash cooling, to save the entire building. Gilbert was pulled off frontline duty and placed on suspension for review. My wife, Jasmine Clem, tried to speak up for him, but I stopped her cold. "If you defend him now, you won't save him. You'll just get dragged down and suspended alongside him." Unable to handle the pressure, Gilbert blew himself up in an accident. In his suicide note, he accused Jasmine of choosing self-preservation when he needed her most. Jasmine said nothing. She only locked that letter away in her study. Years later, Jasmine became a nationally renowned bomb disposal expert. During a terrorist attack, I was captured and strapped with a timed explosive. Jasmine came to the scene personally to defuse it, but right in front of me, she repeated the exact same mistake her trainee had made years ago. She watched the countdown and smiled lightly at me. "See? He was just nervous back then. If I had encouraged him, he'd be a hero now." The bomb detonated, and I was blown apart. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment she was about to defend Gilbert. She didn't know that inside that building sat the nation's most classified core servers.