David Baldacci Best Stand-alone Books

There was blood on his hands, and something worse in his eyes. And it terrified her to death. --- Crystal Peterson's only crime was to fall in love with her brother's best friend, Jaden Astor. She thought he loved her, too. Until he came back home one day with Valerie, the woman he was going to marry in two weeks. Already pregnant and disowned by her adoptive family, Crystal ran away from home without even a word to Jaden. Five years later, Crystal and her son, who had a terminal illness, were barely surviving and trying to make ends meet when she answered a knock on her door one day and found the one man she would rather stay away from all her life standing there and begging for her forgiveness. But forgiveness was something Crystal never had to offer Jaden. Not when she had to sell one of her twins just to keep the other twin alive. Not after being disowned and mocked by her family and everyone she once held dear, loosing everything she ever worked for, including her education. But what happens when she finds out who had actually bought one of her twins four years ago? Does she have a place for Jaden in her heart anymore, or she'd rather stick to Noah, the only man who was ever there for her when her world crumbled to the ground? *** Obsession. Possession. Love. Betrayal.

He slammed into her, harder, deeper, each thrust stealing her breath. “You’re mine tonight,” he growled, voice rough with need. She trembled beneath him, gasping, “Please… don’t stop. I need you harder.” His hands gripped her waist, pulling her closer. One night fueled by hunger and surrender where every whispered command and aching plea pulled them deeper into a dangerous game of craving, control, and obsession… and every touch burned hotter than the last. ️ This story contains explicit, intense sexual scenes, raw passion, and dark romance. Strictly 18+. Read at your own risk.

“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.

"Miss Alice Brown, I am the butler here for your service. Our sir wants to buy the baby in your belly.” Butler replied. "What?!" Does that mean the abortion didn't take place? Did they kidnap her from the operating table? Just to buy the baby? But why her? "You..." Alice was about to ask a question, but the man in front of her said calmly, as if he had expected her question, "Miss, you are pregnant with the master's child, and he needs a child, that's all I can tell you." *** Alice was forced to sign a surrogacy contract and eight months later gave birth to two healthy children. Fortunately, the man was unaware of her daughter's existence. It wasn't until five years later that fate brought them together again...

In my past life, my mate Marcus ran off to the forest to make love with my best friend Scarlett, who was eight-month pregnant. That’s when they'd be surrounded by a pack of rogue wolves. Scarlett, heavy with child, started bleeding heavily. Both of them desperately called for the Border Guard. As the Chief Warrior, I had risked everything to fight those rogue wolves. But Scarlett still died along with her unborn pup. My mate Marcus led others to accuse me of using my position for personal revenge. He personally severed both my hands with a silver blade. "A warrior without morals like you deserves to burn in hell!" he snarled. But I remembered clearly—when I drove off the rogues and got the pack healer to Scarlett, she barely had a scratch on her. Finally, Scarlett's parents arrived. I begged them to examine her body and investigate the truth. Instead, they reported to Alpha that I had neglected my duties. They claimed I was high on wolfsbane while guarding the border. Alpha exiled me for fifteen years. With both hands severed, I had no way to fight or shift properly. I survived by begging scraps from neighboring territories. Fifteen years later, I returned to the pack. I saw my mate Marcus walked through the airport's first-class terminal with Scarlett and their son. They were using my inheritance to fund their luxury vacation to the Maldives. They spotted me. Without hesitation, they pushed me into a silver pit to destroy all evidence. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day Scarlett faked her death. This time, I took one look at the scene and declared them beyond saving. I told my assistant to send them to bury them directly.

To save her sick mother and Carter for her younger brother after the death of their father . She had no choice than to work at a brothel as a prostitute. As much as she hates the job she had no choice and would do anything to make her life better. But life has another plan for her . She met a popular billionaire who wanted her to work for him as his baby's nanny . While working for the billionaire she found out she's fallen in love with him beyond control. What Will happen when the billionaire's ex_wife would do anything to get her killed . Will she escape from the danger ahead .

After a high-profile divorce from Skyview City's most eligible CEO, Anna Shaw is done playing the good wife. No more boardroom diplomacy, no more fake smiles for society's vultures and definitely no more heartbreak. She's rich, ruthless, and freshly single, with nothing to lose and a point to prove.When a night of champagne fueled rebellion leads her into the arms of a dangerously perfect stranger, Anna isn't looking for love she's rewriting the rules. But power always comes with a price, and freedom can be just as intoxicating and just as dangerous as desire.Sharp-tongued, unapologetic, and seductive, The Fall of Anna Shaw is a scandalous journey of reinvention, revenge, and the kind of pleasure that leaves bruises in all the right places.

My best friend, Maya, flew in from Miami for my bachelorette week. My last days of freedom. She insisted on a girls' night in to celebrate, ordering all my favorite takeout. She asked me to hold her mobile phone and wait.Then her phone lit up. A message from some guy. A shirtless pic. Text: I need you tonight. Another photo buzzed through. Sex toys. Bondage gear straight out of a movie. My face burned. My heart hammered against my ribs. I’d just stumbled into her secret life. But the next image made my blood run cold. A close-up of the man's chest. A jagged scar I knew better than my own reflection. It belonged to my fiancé, Luciano Carbone.

Katherine has to marry before twenty eight to inherit her mothers company. Days before the wedding she finds her fiancé with her stepsister. She walks out, drinks, and crosses paths with the low key CEO, Cade Lawson, a man she mistakes for a gigolo. In that haze she signs a marriage certificate with him without knowing. Now she wakes up tied to a powerful CEO and pushed closer to the first love she thought she lost.

“Where are you from, Agosti and what are you doing in Las Vegas" “I am here mainly for pleasure, Rachael” “And have you found pleasure?” “I just did as a matter of fact...You, Rachael are my pleasure” It was just supposed to be one night of absolute fun, damned rules and bad decisions. At least that was what Isabella Romano told herself when she allowed the darkhaired stranger lead her away and into his room. It was bad decisions indeed when she finds out that the man she had so desperately had fun with the night before was none other than the father of her soon- to- be husband and he was not having her explanations about how it was just a one night stand