Hard Times Create Strong Men Book Novels & Stories

In June of 1975, Ryan Baxter's mom moves him and his brother, Matt, to the small seaside town of Bayport, MA to escape their abusive father. For an eleven-year-old, spending lazy days hanging out at the beach and the arcades sounds like a dream.When he meets Leah and she agrees to be his girlfriend, Ryan is happier than he's been in his young life. Then the "Sea Monkeys" knock-off he bought from the back of a comic book starts to grow...and grow and grow.©️ Crystal Lake Publishing

He kissed her over and over again, and she responded: she said yes. All female heat and need; so soft and curved against his muscle and hard planes. King kissed her like he owned her and she ached to just let him take her. Any way he wanted; as many times as she could take him. King shifted her again, held almost her whole weight on one massive forearm, freeing his other hand to move over her now. His fingers tightened on her cheek as he kissed her, the metal of his rings cool against her flushed skin, then he moved his hand down her body. She arched when he caressed her throat and stroked down slowly. **** Naomi Abbott had it all once: talent, success, momentum. Now she runs a nonprofit art program for autistic adults and counts her days sober instead of her sales. She’s smart, beautiful, and barely holding herself together. One year into recovery, Naomi knows the rules: no chaos, no temptation, and absolutely no romance. Especially not with him. Matt “King” Kingston is danger wrapped in muscle, a scowling ex-Marine with a garage, a shadowy side hustle, and a laser-focused obsession with Naomi. He wants her. All of her. And he’s never been good at walking away. But the closer he gets, the harder she resists... because letting King in means risking everything she’s fought to rebuild. As trust grows and walls crack, King becomes Naomi’s anchor. Until she spirals. When the past comes roaring back, Naomi must decide if she’s strong enough to survive it... and if King’s love can endure the wreckage.

BOOK ONE OF THE MAFIA MEN SERIES *** And the sweetest little angel couldn't keep her eyes off the devil. *** The strong, powerful, and ruthless Nikolai Costello ruled over the kingdom of the dark world he was born into, what he wasn’t supposed to do is to fall in love with someone so different from his world while he was betrothed to someone else. He was never supposed to fall in love with someone as sweet and innocent as Evangeline Bolton. Evangeline Bolton has spent her entire life in a single room locked away from the world. Her world was filled with books and movies as it was her window to the outside world. From a very young age, she was told that the world out there was filled with big bad wolves who were ready to tear her apart if she walked out. But what happens when one day, Evangeline's parents get brutally murdered leaving her alone at the mercy of Nikolai “The Devil” Costello, the most feared man in the entire country?

Betrayed on her wedding day, Agatha marries a mysterious stranger in desperation. As her family and ex-fiancé continue to sabotage her life, her new husband becomes her unexpected savior. But how far will his wealth and influence go, and can Agatha trust the man who's suddenly become her rock?"

The explosion wiped out my parents—and their company. All I had left was some insurance cash and a pile of patents nobody cared about. I begged their old partners to back me. Crickets. Then Alex Ross strolled in, played the hero no one asked for, and proposed. Five years deep into our marriage, after my 99th FDA rejection, I finally cracked. I was in the garage when I heard his phone on speaker. Mark's voice came through: "Dude, you're still handing Lily Emma's blueprints before she even files? How many times has she flopped now? Girl's relentless, huh?" Alex? Straight-up ice. "Ninety-nine. She'll quit soon." "You're really tanking your wife to boost Lily's brand? Worth it?" "Lily's launching her new product tomorrow at the Boston Medical Summit. Patent number 100. Watching her blow up from nothing... makes me proud." "But it's all Emma's stuff. Your dad made you marry her for her brain, didn't he?" "Don't bring up my father." His voice turned sharp. "He forced me to dump Lily. I just played along." I sank into the driver's seat, frozen. I wasn't a partner. Just a pawn—revenge bait for his dad and backup fuel for his ex.

My mother is in the late stages of cancer. Yet, she sits in a wheelchair with an oxygen tube and endures a long train ride just to attend my wedding with Isaac Pudley. But when it's time for him to walk down the aisle, I don't see him anywhere despite screaming his name. It turns out his childhood sweetheart, Megan Ericsson, is having another depressive episode and is threatening suicide again. "Isaac, I can't live without you," she screeches. Isaac is always so stern and composed, but he now holds Megan in his arms and begs me to call off the wedding so they can leave. Relatives and guests watch the spectacle with thinly veiled amusement. To make matters worse, my mother is so angry that she faints. However, Isaac believes that my mother is feigning illness. He only wants to take Megan with him and leave. He even takes away my mother's wheelchair. But he seems to have forgotten that he has hurt me 97 times by now. After he hurts me 99 times, I’ll definitely leave him.

Adam lifted her high into the air. “Hold onto the bar, baby.” Startled, she reached up and grasped the metal, her back against the wall. He stepped right under her, wrapped her legs around his neck and shoulders. His hands gripped her rounded ass and pulled her pussy right up against his mouth. She gasped and arched her back. Adam felt her incredible need. “I’m not going to make you wait, sweetheart.” “Please,” she whispered. “Please.” **** When Katie Lloyd learns her stepfather is dying, she’ll do anything to reach him. Stranded by bad weather and no transportation, she’s forced to accept help from the last man she wants to be trapped with: Adam Pierce. Big, brutal, arrogant... and the one person she’s argued with nonstop since the day they met. A five-day road trip with him sounds like hell. But Katie is out of options. Adam respects Katie’s talent as a photographer, even if her stubbornness drives him insane. Then an accident exposes the truth about her past... and everything changes. Adam shifts from adversary to protector, determined to get Katie home and face the man who destroyed her childhood. Along endless highways and dangerous truths, attraction ignites where anger once lived. And when the journey ends, Adam wants more than her survival – he wants to help her rebuild. In his arms, and in his bed, if she’ll let him.

As we make our way to the city hall, Paisley Doyle is struck by regret once again. After seven years together, this is the 11th time we've found ourselves at this crossroads. Every time we reach the city hall, she claims she needs more time to care for her sick first love and can't bring herself to marry me. Unable to hold back any longer, I finally decide to confront her. "If his condition never improves, does that mean you'll never marry me? Tell me, what do I even mean to you?" Paisley's temper ignites, and she snaps back at me without a second thought. "I promised to take care of him for the rest of my life! Can't you stop being so selfish? "Besides, we've been together for seven years. What does it matter if we're not legally married?"

My fated mate, Alpha Kaelen, rejected me seven times. The first time we bonded, he whispered against my ear, his breath hot. “From now on, my soul sings only for you.” But then his first love, the Omega Seraphina, came back for him. And just like that, he rejected me. They shared a mate’s mark from their past. It left her hopelessly addicted to his scent. “I’m sorry,” he’d said. “I have to be with Seraphina. The scent addiction is destroying her. She can’t even shift. Her wolf is weakening.” The first time he rejected me, I slashed a silver dagger across my wrist. I let the blood flow, hoping the pain would make him look at me. It worked. Kaelen was horrified. He left Seraphina for a moment and rushed to my side, holding me, comforting me. The third time, I disguised myself as an ordinary pack wolf. I got an internship at his pack headquarters, just to breathe in the air he breathed. But this time, he looked right through me, as if we were strangers. By the sixth rejection, I had learned how to calmly erase my scent from his suite. I left without a sound. My screams. My surrender. My begging. And what I got in return? Every time he was with her, the full moon would rise, and he’d call me back. Just to play the same sick game all over again. Until now. I heard Seraphina was coming back again. So I handed him the ceremonial dagger myself. He set the date for my return, just like always. He had no idea. This time, I'm the one severing the bond for good. And I am never coming back.

“You don’t have to go through with this if you don’t want to, Lilliana,” Dante reassured me, standing in his tuxedo, looking far too delicious to be saying that on my wedding day. “But everything is settled,” I said, trying not to smear too much of my makeup as I cried uncontrollably. “Why doesn’t he love me, Dante?” A sob tore through me. “Come with me,” he said, his voice low and dark—practically a command. “What?” I asked, looking up at the stoic, dangerous man in front of me. “Come with me,” he repeated, holding out his hand. “I’ll make sure everything goes away, fiorellino.” I looked down at his hand, at the tattoos swirling around his fingers. And even though a hand like Dante Gallo’s should have scared me, nothing had ever felt so safe. So I stepped forward, took his hand in mine, and looked up at him. “Take me away.” ** Two ruthless men. One stolen bride. A love too wild to be contained. Lillian thought she had finally secured the life she always dreamed of — until her perfect engagement crumbles in one night of shocking betrayal. Whisked away from the wreckage of her wedding by the dangerous and devastating Dante Gallo, she finds herself caught between two powerful forces: Dante, the mafia king who has loved her from afar, and Damien Volkov, the lethal enemy who refuses to let her slip through his fingers. Torn between loyalty, passion, and a fierce desire for freedom, Lillian faces a choice that could break all three of them. But what if she refuses to choose at all? In a world of power, obsession, and forbidden love, some hearts aren't meant to be divided — they're meant to be shared.