Early American Literature

My Forbidden Husband I kissed my father’s best friend. It was reckless. Disastrous. And worst of all—he hated it. Damien Luca is eighteen years older, untouchable, and every kind of wrong for me. A man carved from power, wealth, and sin—the kind of man who owns half the world and intimidates the rest of it. I told myself I’d let him go. That the crush, the obsession, the pull between us was over. But fate laughs at me—because now, I’m his wife. A marriage neither of us wanted. A vow neither of us can escape. And a fire we’re both trying—and failing—to resist. He’s forbidden. I’m off-limits. But we can’t stop reaching for the one thing we’re not supposed to touch.

Skylar Carter has spent her entire college career focused on one thing: her future. With law school applications looming, the last thing she needs is distractions, especially from cocky jocks who think the world revolves around them. But when her best friend drags her to a frat party, Skylar finds herself in the orbit of the king of them all, Liam Westbrook. Liam is the golden boy of college football, destined to be the number one pick in the NFL draft. He’s used to women falling at his feet, used to getting what he wants without trying. But when he meets Skylar, a girl who refuses to worship him, he's instantly intrigued. She’s smart, feisty, and unimpressed by his status, which only makes him want her more. What starts as a bet soon turns into something deeper, something neither of them expected. Skylar is determined to resist him, but Liam is relentless in his pursuit. As the tension between them simmers and sparks fly, their undeniable chemistry threatens to upend everything they thought they wanted. But love does not come without risks. Skylar has her future mapped out, and Liam is on the brink of superstardom. Falling for each other was never part of the plan. Can they handle the heat, or will their worlds pull them apart before they even have a chance? A sizzling enemies to lovers romance, filled with banter, electric chemistry, and two ambitious souls colliding in the most unexpected way.

(WARNING: R18. Contains shameless, explicit smut. Not intended for young viewers.) *** "Rune," Xavier called, his voice a low, throaty groan that sent heat straight to my core. "Baby, you don't have to do this." Determination surged through me, lighting my nerves on fire. "I want to." That was without a doubt. Even though I have no idea what the hell I'm about to do. I'm about to rely on the wild tales Marcella told me, and that one lesson with a banana. Fucking hell. I'm about to suck her dad off...using her own lessons! **** Rune Vitali is the poster child for "down on your luck." Out of a job, black sheep of her family, and mentally exhausted, the last thing she expects is to find her boyfriend cheating on her with his stepbrother just a day before she brings him home. Hurt and angry, she goes to a bar to drink her worries away. There she meets a handsome stranger. One night of hasty decisions lead to massive fallout. Not only was this stranger Xavier Creighton, the country's most popular and ruthless Criminal Lawyer, he was also her best friend's father. And her new boss. If her life was bad before, it's about to get even worse. How long can she keep her dirty little secret before her best friend finds out? Or before the scandal blows up and ruins her forever? She should stay away. But there's something about Xavier she can't resist. Something almost...supernatural. Like there's a force pulling them together, one she can't resist no matter how hard she tries.

Neera Miller is a sharp-tongued criminal lawyer with one rule: never defend the monsters who tore her world apart. But when a mysterious client drags her into the orbit of Keiran Renzaro—the most feared mafia lord in the city and the very symbol of the life that ruined hers—she finds herself bound to him by a case that runs deeper than the law. As desire clashes with vengeance, and truths are revealed layer by painful layer, Neera must decide if she can be with the man who might be responsible for everything she’s tried to forget. In a game where the lines between justice and crime blur, can she survive falling for the devil himself?

Mara Wolfe has clawed her way from humble beginnings to the top of the city’s legal world, building a prestigious law firm brick by brick-while hiding her true nature as a chubby, fiercely intelligent werewolf. Her world shatters when she uncovers her husband’s betrayal: he’s plotting to siphon her hard-earned fortune with the help of his cunning, much younger assistant. Refusing to become a victim, Mara unleashes her sharpest instincts-both human and lupine-to turn the tables. Just as she sets her trap, an enigmatic new associate, Lucas, offers his help. His price? Just one date. But Lucas is more than he seems, and his unexpected loyalty forces Mara to confront what she truly wants from life and love. As secrets unravel and loyalties shift, Mara must decide whether vengeance or vulnerability will define her future. In the end, when a woman becomes the queen of her fate, she always has the chance to rewrite her love story.

“I wish that, in your next life, you would spend 16 hours a day with your true love—just being together, even if in silence.” – Kate Leslie “I hope in your next life, you’ll only be able to work for someone else—never a boss, never in control. May you feel what it’s like to be commanded, even oppressed, in your job.” – Rex Leslie “I wish that in your next life, every single one of your companions would be from the underworld—no decent people, no respectable connections at all. May you experience the pain of having to interact with the very people you despise, and may you even lower yourself to fear them and obey, trapped by your own fears and prejudice.” – Max Leslie “I hope that in your next life, you’ll be gay—and not just any gay man, but the kind who is submissive, the kind who finds himself under another man. Not just one, either—let’s make two, no, three or maybe four. I want you to experience what it feels like to be completely dominated.” – Kix Leslie ...... Noah Leslie was a self-made successful businessman who unexpectedly got a chance to reborn. However, his new life was not determined by him, but shaped by his family. At first, he had confidence in his family's view of him, but when he heard their true wishes, he was shocked and unable to accept them: to fall in love and nothing but love, never to be a boss, interact with the mafia, and love men. Faced with these unbelievable wishes he could not agree with, Noah had no chance to argue. His new identity filled him with helplessness and rejection, but with no other choice, he had to accept this strange and oppressive second life.

"I thought I was paying a debt. I didn’t realize I was selling my soul." Lizaib "Iza" Moreno had one rule: Don’t look him in the eye. To save her father from a death sentence handed down by the city's most ruthless underground fixer, Iza enters a cold, calculated arrangement with Dark Valerius Thorne. He is a man of shadows, a predator who treats pleasure like a business transaction and emotions like a weakness. For six months, she belongs to him—no names, no strings, and absolutely no falling in love. But the dark has a way of swallowing you whole. On the final night of her contract, Iza disappears. She leaves behind the silk sheets of Dark’s penthouse and the suffocating heat of his touch, carrying a secret that could destroy them both: She’s pregnant with the devil’s heir. Six months later, Iza is living a quiet life under a new name, thinking she finally escaped the Thorne empire. But Dark doesn't lose what belongs to him. When he finds her—distressingly beautiful and visibly carrying his child—the "no-strings" arrangement is officially dead. Now, he isn’t just demanding the debt be paid. He’s claiming his family. As Iza is dragged back into his world of blood and luxury, she discovers a terrifying truth: her father’s debt wasn't an accident. Dark has been waiting for her since the very beginning. And this time, he’s never letting her go.

Aurelia cross was never meant to fall for the one man that held her future in his hands, not when he was her professor at her law school, not when he was the boss and owner of the law firm she had just started to intern at, not when he was the Levi Vale, the infamous billionaire and prolific lawyer who hides too many scars behind his icy blue eyes and stony expression. Should the fact that her brother’s freedom hung loosely in the balance should she choose to give in to her forbidden desires stop her? Probably but what’s life with a little sin right? Levi Vale, the enigma of a lawyer and business mogul however has one too many skeletons in his cupboard, one of them- he is an unfeeling sociopath who is caught by surprise as he watches the talented and confident Aurelia in his class as she dominated every single time. Diagnosed by his therapist, he is declared to have a condition where he feels nothing but the brown skinned sharp mouthed lawyer in his class and office fills his heart and mind with something that feels a lot like……emotion.

VOWS WRITTEN IN SILENCE He never signed the divorce papers. She never stopped dreaming about the night he destroyed her. Raiyan Al Mansoor built an empire, raised their daughter alone, and practiced hating Zoya Al Fayez every morning for eight hundred days. Zoya became the most feared barrister in the country, raised their other daughter alone, and never told anyone his name still lived in her chest like something that refused to heal. They were separated by lies neither of them knew were lies. By forgeries. By silence. By seven words he said that he cannot take back. Now she is prosecuting his family. Now they are in the same city. The same courtroom. The same war. And everything they buried is about to surface. Including the children. Including the truth. Including the fact that you cannot hate someone this specifically unless you never stopped loving them.

Julian’s life is already a nightmare. He was just brutally dumped by his wealthy, arrogant boyfriend, Chase Sterling. To make matters worse, Julian’s twin sister runs away on the morning of her arranged marriage to Chase’s terrifying, billionaire father—the ruthless patriarch of the city's top law firm, Victor Sterling. Knowing Victor will destroy their family if the bride doesn't show up, Julian makes a desperate, suicidal decision. With his slender build and identical face, Julian puts on the wedding dress, the heavy veil, and walks down the aisle to marry his ex-boyfriend's father. Julian thinks he just has to survive the wedding night and find a way to annul the marriage later. But he severely underestimates the man he just married. When the bedroom door locks, Victor doesn't even bother lifting the veil. Instead, he unbuckles his belt and whispers, "Did you really think a piece of lace could hide you from me, Julian?" Victor knew it was Julian the entire time. In fact, Victor secretly orchestrated the sister's disappearance just to force Julian into his bed. Now, Julian is trapped in a strict, BDSM-laced contract marriage where his terrifying new husband will train him to be a lethal lawyer by day, and a perfectly disciplined boy by night.