Looking For Love At All The Wrong Places Novels & Stories

Imagine loving someone in secret for a decade, watching them chase the one person who could never truly accept them, believing their wedding would finally free them and you, only to see him drop to his knees in front of everyone, begging her to stay and calling you, his best friend and secret mate, “just friend”. The pain rips through you, you drown it in alcohol, follow a scent that feels like home, and wake up beside a man who looks exactly like him and wants nothing more than to ruin you, strip every ounce of innocence from your bones, and worship the grounds of your sanctuary day and night.

"If I touched you, you’d never go back to him." Arden's words rang in my head. My breath caught. Now that I was out of the palace, nothing stood between us. No gilded cages. No cameras in every corner. No Ivana breathing down my neck. Nothing to stop him from making good on those words. And the worst part? A traitorous part of me was curious. What if he was right? Arden was Richard’s brother. The wrong man. The forbidden man. And yet my body betrayed me. My heart beat harder just thinking about him. My lips tingled at the memory of his voice, his smirk, the way his eyes had lingered on me like he saw everything I tried to hide.

The news spread quickly—my mate, David Jonson, had been promoted to Tactical Analyst and was heading to Texline to take on a new assignment. He proudly shared the news with every member of the pack—everyone except me, his mate. I was the only one he hid the truth from. Why? Because in his eyes, I wasn't a smart mate. My wolf had been badly damaged in the past, so I had a poor memory and I tended to be clingy constantly, something he looked down on with disdain. "I'm really grateful to my best friend, Commander Johnson, who governs in Texas, for recommending me so I could get this promotion." I overheard him say to someone. "As for Pearl? That clingy she-wolf who follows me everywhere—there's no need to tell her. She'll come to Texline looking for me anyway." Hearing his words, I was excited—finally, a chance to prove I had a sharp memory after all. I stormed to my room and began packing my clothes. David had always made decisions without me, often leaving me behind. But this time, I would leave first. I would get to Texline before him, and when he arrived to find me already there, he'd be shocked at how clever I could be. But the next day, when I arrived at the airport, my confidence crumbled. I stood at the counter, suddenly blank. I couldn't remember where I was supposed to go—Texline, Texas, or Tennessee? My damaged memory failed me again. The last flight to Texas was about to depart, and the impatient airport staff didn't want to wait for me. She rolled her eyes and was about to close the gate. Worried I might miss the flight, I gave her a pleading smile and said, "Texas, Miss. I'm going to Texas."

Jasmine has been best friends with Hunter Carrington since she could crawl; she has always been there for him at every point in his life. She has also had a crush on him since junior high. Hunter never saw her as more than a best friend, and Jasmine had to live with the crushing unrequited love. Jasmine’s world stopped when he announced his engagement to her cunning and manipulative half sister, Lily. She never knew they were together, and it hurts even more that she had to plan their wedding while going through the worst heartbreak. Things take a wild turn when Lily abandons Hunter and leaves their engagement ring at his doorstep. Both of their worlds were shaken and overturned. The stakes were even higher, and the wedding had to happen. It would merge the Carringtons and the Blackwoods Hospitality business, and Jasmine is at the centre of it all. She is forced to marry a man she once loved but hates now.

After I closed a million-dollar deal right before Memorial Day weekend, the company followed tradition and handed out employee bonuses. Everyone in my department got thick envelopes stuffed with cash. Yet, all I found was a stack of fake money that looked like it came from a Halloween prank when I opened mine. I went straight to my manager. "Was there a mistake with my bonus?" She sneered and threw a termination notice in my face. "A cheap slut like you thinks you deserve a bonus?" She looked me up and down with open disgust. "Fake money's still money, right? Maybe you can use it where you're headed. Since making money on your back must be exhausting, I figured I'd be generous and give you plenty." Then, she pointed toward the door. "And this came straight from the CEO. Now, get out before you dirty our floors." I stared at the contempt on her face. Then, I laughed at her face. I thought, 'The CEO's decision? Funny. Why did my brother tell me about this?'

It was just another morning commute—until he happened. Across the train aisle sat a man who looked like he’d stepped out of a high-end magazine and straight into a power struggle. His voice sliced through the air, sharp and commanding, as he chewed someone out over the phone like he ran the damn universe. Arrogant. Entitled. Dressed like a Wall Street god. Correction: he looked like a god. That’s where the charm ended—or so I thought. When the train screeched to a stop, he stood up in a hurry, stormed off… and left his phone behind. Did I pick it up? Yep. Did I snoop? Absolutely. Photos, contacts, a few mysterious texts—I couldn’t help myself. Did I keep it longer than I should’ve, building stories in my head about the man behind the voice? Yeah… I did that too. When I finally gathered enough nerve to return it, I marched into the glass-and-steel fortress he called an office. He wouldn’t even come out to meet me. So I dropped his phone on the desk outside his office door. And maybe—I left a photo on it first. Not exactly the professional kind. What I didn’t expect? A message. From him. What followed were late-night texts that burned hotter than anything I’d ever known. Words became whispers. Whispers turned into fantasies. I was falling—for someone I hadn’t even really met. He and I? Total opposites. Fire and ice. Chaos and control. But when we finally came face to face, it wasn’t just sparks. It was an inferno. What happened next? Let’s just say… falling for him was the easy part. Surviving what came after? That’s where the real story began.

Isabel Blackwell was never a wife. She was a sacrifice. Isabel endured three years of a marriage built on cruelty and betrayal. Her husband loved another woman, her own twin sister, and his family made sure she never forgot her place. The night she collapses from exhaustion, abandoned by the man who vowed to protect her, Isabel is rescued by the last person she ever expected. Desmond Blackwell. Her husband’s cold, dangerous older brother. He was never meant to be her savior. She was never meant to fall into his arms. But when the family that broke her throws her away, Isabel must decide. Will she return to the life that destroyed her, or trust the man the world fears most?

Andrea has always being her twin's shadow. The quiet, obedient daughter cast aside for being less than perfect Aria, the ruthless perfectionist is engaged to the dangerously powerful Mafia King, Alexander Hawthorne. But perfection slips When Aria’s betrayal destroys Alexander’s only lead to his missing parents, he doesn’t want revenge, he wants ruin. He wants to do something to her that will redefine the word sadistic. Terrified of the monster she’s let loose, Aria forces Andrea into a deadly swap, using a secret from their past to blackmail her. On their wedding day Andrea is publicly humiliated when someone finds Alexander being intimate with the daughter of an ambassador. The guests mock and ridicule her for not being able to keep her man. Even though her marriage was a lie she still felt humiliated. Andrea arrives at the Hawthorne estate expecting tedious chores and slandering. Instead, she becomes a prisoner in rough sheets and locked doors. Alexander doesn’t see innocence. He sees betrayal. He plans to make her pay for every lie, every secret, including a horrific crime against his cook’s daughter. But Andrea isn’t Aria. She tries hard not to slip or act out of character. But Aria wasn't just a spoilt brat, she had gotten on nerves of many evil people and they want a pound of her flesh. As Aria's enemies close in on Andrea and the truth threatens to explode, Alexander has to protect the woman he had wanted to badly hurt. Andrea has to make a choice. Tell Alexander she's not who he thinks she is or let the secret she's kept for years get exposed and face the wrath of her parents and the law.

⚠️WARNING: This book contains explicit sexual content, possessive and toxic male leads, manipulation, emotional abuse, and disturbing themes that may be triggering to some readers. This is nothing like healthy love. ¥¥¥¥ I loved Tyler Beaumont for twelve years. Years of hoping and waiting, believing that one day, he would finally choose me. So when my parents told me I was being arranged to marry into his family… I thought it was fate. I thought I had won. But I was wrong, because the man waiting for me at the altar isn’t Tyler. It’s his brother, Grayson Beaumont. The one I never heard of—the one with cold eyes, a cruel mouth, and a hatred for me sharp enough to bleed. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. I don’t even remember. But he does. He remembers everything. He didn’t marry me for love, because from the moment I became his wife, he made one thing clear—I would pay for a past I don’t even remember. “I tried to forget you,” he tilted my chin, staring directly into my soul. “But watching you love him? That was the first time I understood what hatred really feels like.” And Tyler? The man I spent twelve years loving? He won’t let me go. “I don’t need you to choose me,” he whispered. “I just need you to understand… no matter whose name you take, you will always be mine.” Two brothers. One filled with hatred. The other with obsession. And me? Caught between a past I can’t remember…and a truth that could destroy us all. Because somewhere between lies, desire, and betrayal, I realize the most dangerous thing of all: I was never meant to love the right brother.

“If your offer is still on the table, let’s get married.” The words felt hard enough, and I watched as Zane Della-Ross eased into a smirk. Of course, he would smirk, I was asking him to marry me. Sloane Reed walks away from her wedding after finding out that her betrothed partner of fourteen years has been nothing but a cheat. But with her father’s last testimony suddenly having a loophole by the breakage of her engagement, Sloane must marry before the clock hits 12 midnight before her 25th birthday. With four days and no other option left, she does anything a desperate heiress would do, she gets into a contract marriage. Not with a random stranger but with the one man she’s avoided for the last ten years of her life. With the eldest son of the Della-Ross family. Zane Della-Ross. It’s just a contract, a means to secure her wealth. But what Sloane never knows is that Zanek Della-Ross never needed a reason to want her. l When power dynamics and desire collide, will Zane and Sloane be able to stick to what this is? A contract?